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Product Description
Review
There’s nothing like anger to concentrate the mind, and it’s the global banking crisis, along with the bonuses claimed by bankers and MPs alike, that provides the inspiration for this impressively varied and entertaining album by one of Scotland’s great veteran bands.
The theme here is greed, and the tragedies that the search for wealth can bring. The best track, Robber Barons, written by Battlefield Band’s founding member Alan Reid, sums up the mood. It’s a song of quiet and thoughtful fury, rather than furious polemic, in which he’s backed by accordion, pipes and whistle to tell the story of medieval robbers who made a fortune by extracting dues from merchant ships travelling up and down the Rhine. They are compared to those in present-day banks who helped to cause the banking crisis, but have continued to award themselves with huge salaries and bonuses, and there’s an added attack on those British Members of Parliament who abused the expenses system.
It takes a mature and sophisticated band to do justice to such a song, but Battlefield Band are just that. Founded 40 years ago in the Glasgow suburb of Battlefield, they have become one of the great institutions of the Scottish music scene. They have experimented both in their instrumental line-up, matching fiddle and bagpipes against guitar and keyboards, and the way they have mixed traditional and contemporary songs. But though they have toured widely, playing everywhere from China and India to the USA, they have never quite earned the level of success they deserve.
This album should help to put that right. Half of the tracks are songs, which range from the bleak whaling story Greenland’s Icy Waters and an equally dark story of unrequited love, Plain Gold Ring (originally sung by Nina Simone), through to a song in Gaelic (again concerned with gold) backed by a haunting combination of fiddles and Highland pipes.
The other half consists of instrumentals that show off the band’s classy and varied playing. The tunes range from quicksteps to Irish jigs, featuring fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, keyboards and pipes. But even here it’s anger at the corrupt fat cats that provides the inspiration: Bernie’s Welcome To Butner is a ‘salute’ to Bernie Madoff, convicted of the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history, as he begins his new life in Butner Federal Correctional Complex, North Carolina. --Robin Denselow
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Review
No tricks, no gimmicks, just very fine music --Mojo
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a listen,
By
This review is from: Zama Zama: Try Your Luck (Audio CD)
This was bought as a birthday present for my father as he has been a big fan of the Battlefield Band for years. It is particularly pertinent as this is the last album they will ever record since they will disband after the founder member, Alan Reid, departs the group at the end of 2010. I listened to it before I gave it to Dad and I can honestly say it provides a very pleasant listen. It is typically traditional Scottish folk music with a bit of oomph, and if you enjoy this type of music, you will definitely enjoy this album.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
...battlefield band to blame for global recession?...,
By
This review is from: Zama Zama: Try Your Luck (Audio CD)
I was a latecomer to the Battlefield Bands party, being one of those Scotchmen inherently embarrassed by all things Scotch, but after seeing them play a show in Musselburgh, the arrival of this put a skip, if not a jig, in my step.
Of all things, this 30th anniversary album, has turned out to be a concept album! It started out as a collection of songs and tunes about gold, but was developing into ideas about about wealth and greed. Then. Boom! The world economy begins to collapse. Now I'm not saying the Battlefield Band are to blame, but.....co-incidence? As always it's a mixture of originals and trad arrs, with some fiery instrumentals, plaintive ballads and social history. Of the latter, 'The Auchengeich Disaster' strikes a chord as I trace my family history through the Lanarkshire oil and coal fields, of the former I have an especial fondness for 'Bernie's Welcome To Butner / King George IV'. To continue the family theme, 'Greenlands Icy Waters' also struck a chord, with its tale of the whaling, and if you're looking for a guid old blaw on the pipes, then you'll be heading for the medley that starts with 'Ruairidh Dubh (Black Rory)'. It's a fabulous album, with the whole band at the top of their game. Maybe I'll pass Wee Fat Ecks Scotch test yet!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Scottish band sings (and plays) about wealth (and greed) through the ages,
By Steven I. Ramm "Steve Ramm "Anything Phon... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Zama Zama: Try Your Luck (Audio CD)
The four member of the Scottish traditional music group, The Battlefield Band, have been playing jigs and reels and composing new history-based songs for FORTY years now. The members change except for Alan Reid, who plays keyboards, piano and accordion.
Their newest CD has a theme: Money. There are traditional songs about the Robber Barons in Germany, greedy mine owners in Scotland and the story of the Zama Zama Boys, men in South Africa who forsake like and limb to dig in the gold mines in this, the 21st century! As with their other albums there is a mix of vocals and strictly instrumental medleys. In the latter you really can't tell if the song has anything to do with the album's theme. So though the fifth track is cleverly (and topically) titled "Bernie's Welcome To Butner" (as in corrupt investor Bernie Maidoff being shipped off to Butner Federal Prison) you can't really be sure, since its an instrumental tune. All in all, this is another fine album by this long-standing band and will appeal to fans of the Boys of the Lough and other Celtic bands. Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic" |
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