The Unthanks Here's The Tender Coming (EMI)

The three adjectives in the headline are taken from Lucky Gilchrist, a spellbinding track on the Unthanks' new album that marks the death of a Glaswegian friend of Rachel Unthank, Gary Gilchrist. They could also apply to the album.

Here's The Tender Coming is the complete answer to those who cried "can't sing", "not folk", "commercial sellouts" and the rest during the strange debate - especially at Mudcat - that led to Salut! Live's gripping interview with Rachel 20 months ago.

It may be a function of age, but I need time before I can fully appreciate some new releases. Bob Fox mocks me to this day over my initially measured verdict on Dreams Never Leave You, which I went on to make my album of 2000. I had to hold up my hands: it simply grew and grew on me.

I still have some difficulties with the Unthanks' first album, Cruel Sister. But this is quite different. Perhaps the instant appeal had something to do with playing it at full blast while driving through beautiful Richmond Park. Maybe I am just a sucker for the seductive singing, with irresistible North-eastern accents, of Rachel and her sister Becky. I could even be right in an early impression that the album owes a little to hints of a Geordified The Celts. Some would regard that as a slight, but I am not among them and would sooner listen to Enya any day than what became of Clannad. Lucky Gilchrist's name is chanted almost in football terrace fashion, which also works perfectly for me, despite the tribal distinction that divides the Unthanks and Sunderland-supporting Salut! Live.

Looking for an outstanding performance on an album of such integrity, substance and flair is a tough challenge. Fed on a diet of classic versions by Nic Jones, June Tabor, Mary Black and Sinead O'Connor, I approached Becky's reading of Annachie Gordon with a trace of uncertainty. I had no need to worry. The phrasing and timing are exquisite, adding even more power and agony than usual to this wonderful but tragic ballad. And feel the suspense created by the solemn, dramatic instrumentation with an extraordinary array of tools from chime bars, "dampened piano" and tubular bells to Chinese temple gongs.

But even that is not, for me, the standout track.

Anyone who has ever doubted the scale of human suffering in the mines, chimneys, factories, mills and fields of Victorian Britain should be made to listen to The Testament of Patience Kershaw, a quite remarkable work based on the words of a 17-year-old girl to a Royal Commission on children's employment in 1842.

The appalling existence described, with a mixture of exaggerated courtesy and grim honesty, could have made for difficult listening. But Rachel has turned it into a triumph of gritty, understated polemic and done great justice to a tremendous song.

Becky's Nobody Knew She Was There, Ewan MacColl's portrayal of another woman's hard life, as a cleaner, and the sisters' vocal interplay with Niopha Keegan on Graham Miles's Sad February are also strong elements. In truth, though, there's nothing I would wish to change in what is an excellently sung, magically produced (by Adrian McNally) and fascinating folk record.

One has right on his side and supports Sunderland, the other hasn't and favours Newcastle United.

Quite what the good folk of Peebles and Plympton made during the recent tour of their banter and rivalry, we can but guess. At the tour's end, just outside Sunderland at Washington, Co Durham, as I insist on calling it, the warm glow of victory (albeit courtesy of a beach ball) was evident on many faces.

Billy was in a minority and, to make warm glow warmer, had to endure the occasional barbed quip about the day's other scoreline: Nottingham Forest 1 Newcastle United 0.

But forget the colour of the stripes on the shirts. What a show the Tyne-Wear collaboration conjured.

Life away from the UK has kept me from live performances - folk performances - for far too long. Bob and Billy was my first in quite a while. And I nearly didn't make it.

Under plans finalised in Row 30 of the East Stand at the Stadium of Light a little earlier, Pete and Joan were to keep seats for us. When we arrived latish, having lost our way as I always do anywhere near Washington, there was a Folk Club Full sign on the door.

I have run folk clubs. The sign was no more than the start of negotiations. But we have friends already here, we said, having waltzed through the reception area others feared to pass. We've come all the way from France (a case of being extravagant rather than economical with the truth).

Pity was taken on us. But Pete and Joan were nowhere to be found in the Davy Lamp folk club at Washington Arts Centre. Seeing the same sign, they'd climbed forlornly back into the car, sent a bunch of unread texts and made a few unreceived calls and retreated to the Scrabble board (warm and glow possibly featuring among the triple word scores).

The floor singers, arranged on stage as a band but taking turns to perform, were - much as I recall from my own folk club days and performances - patchy but enjoyable. From then on, everything - including Eric Freeman's dry humour as compere - was perfect.

Bob dipped into his repertoire, Billy into his. The mix of material was sparkling, full of punch and beautifully executed. We heard gems from the songbooks of Tommy Armstrong, Robb Johnson, Joe Wilson (Bonny Gatehaead Lass), Jimmy Nail (Big River - wrong river, but a good song) and Mitch. We saw and heard superb instrumental interplay on guitars and mandolin. And they finished, fittingly, with Meet Me On The Corner, virtually a folk song by now.

For Salut! Live, a mighty reintroduction to live folk at its best. From the Davy Lamp folk club, a reminder of the professionalism and attention to detail that, if I remember correctly, brought Eric and his own bonny lass, Terri, the Best Folk Club award at the annual BBC honours not so long ago.

Sharon Shannon (plus lots of friends) ... Saints and Scoundrels (Independent Records)

It is now an established feature of Irish music that any new Sharon Shannon album will feature not only the wonderful Co Clare accordion player and fiddler, but whichever other artists she has roped in for the session.

Session is the operative word. As Sharon suggested in her interview with Salut! Live, sessions are a vitally important aspect of her musical life. She still loves dropping into a pub to play with a random group of musicians. And that passion for sharing and for collaboration underlines each new recording project.

For Saints and Scoundrels, she persuaded - probably without any great difficulty - Shane MacGowan, the Cartoon Thieves, Imelda May, the Waterboys, Jerry Fish and Carol Keogh to add their voices or musicianship.

She is right to rave about Saints and Angels, a song written for (but not, in the end, included on) the Waterboys' celebrated Fisherman's Blues album, on which she played having joined the band from Arcady, and about the closing track, featuring Shane MacGowan.

I am not convinced, however, that either song, or indeed the contributions of the others, will come to be remembered - and demanded by audiences - in quite the same way as Steve Earle's Galway Girl, although the Cartoon Thieves' Mama Lou, with its insistent chorus recalling the Small Faces, may prove me wrong.

Even so, it is another outstanding album that reinforces the feeling that Sharon Shannon is one of music's most gifted innovators in any genre.

Let us just say that the tunes on which no voices are heard work best for me, and none more so than Cape Clear, written for the Neil Jordan film Ondine and the jaunty Lady Luck.

But that says a great deal more about my greed for Sharon's playing than about the quality of her studio guests, and takes me straight back to the Belfast bar where, not far short of 20 years ago, a stranger turned to me and said: "I could listen to that girl all night."

The last part of Salut! Live's interview with Sharon Shannon was necessarily brief. Others were waiting to speak to her. But it didn't matter since all that remained for our purposes was to pepper her with one-line questions and prompts and collect her one-line replies. Sharon has always been, in public, a woman of relatively few words (that immense, beaming smile more than making up for the vocal reticence), and that suits the tradition Salut! Live quickfire questionnaire. Here is how it went (and a review of Saints and Scoundrels is still to come) ...

Your most powerful musical memory?

Hearing Tommy Peoples playing the fiddle for the first time

Who are you listening to just now?

The Cartoon Thieves (They appear on two tracks on the album)

If you have time for books and films, any current or all time favourites?

I want to see The Hangover

Best gig?

Too many to single out one

And worst?

Plenty of them too!

Champagne or Guinness?

I don't like either

To be honest, I don't see much of a difference among the people I hang out with

Name your favourite place in the world

Home

What is the best gadget you possess?

My mobile phone

I don't really follow football. That must make me seem very boring (Not at all - the question says more about the questioner! - ed)

And finally, what does Sharon Shannon want to be doing 10 years from now?

Relaxing at home

* Sharon photographer - again - by Pete Shaughnessy in Dolans, Dublin (use courtesy of Sharon's representatives)

Abject apologies, more than before, to Roy Bailey, Debra Cowan and others whose albums should by now have been reviewed here. It will happen when time permits, and I don't mind in the least that the reviews will look on the late side. For now, though, please allow Salut! Live to reintroduce you to a giant of traditional music, a woman whose technical authority is matched, surpassed even, by her extraordinary inventiveness and thirst for experiment, but who remains steadfast in her assessment of Irish music as for ever the essence of her art ...

The telephone rings. Sharon Shannon is fashionably late, but the County Clare brogue is instantly recognisable. And she's in a chatty mood, covering much ground from details of her new album Saints and Scoundrels (Independent Records, out now) to the difficult territory of her long-term partner Leo Healy's sudden death last year.

Come back in a day or so for Potted Sharon, her quickfire answers to Salut! Live's quickfire questions - something of a tradition when this site conducts the big interview - and for a review of the album.

Salut! Live: Hearty congratulations on your Lifetime Achievement award at the Irish Meteors. It is hard to believe the young woman I saw billed as a teenage accordion sensation when she was in Arcady has now put 22 years into the industry.

Yeah, it's great. I am really, really amazed at how well and how long it has all gone. Delighted - and absolutely honoured by the award. I couldn't believe it.

A recent article in the Evening Herald, Dublin starts with the assertion that everyone thinks the world of Sharon Shannon. I certainly haven't come a cross anything other than admiration. Are you aware of the fund of goodwill and does it carry certain responsibilities for you as a performer?

I suppose I have rarely seen anything negative, which is brilliant. So far, so good. It really helps when your work is well received and yes I do appreciate people saying nice things. I find performing really enjoyable anyway, especially if the audience are enjoying themselves. I don't feel obligated or under pressure as a result but that does make it very easy for us. Vice versa: if they aren't having a good time, it won't be an easy gig.

Saints and Scoundrels is a great name for an album. Who are your Saints in music, any genre?

There's a bit of the saint and bit of the scoundrel in everybody. I don't think in terms of revering anyone but I do like the people on the album. I really admire people who dedicate themselves to music and work hard, like for example Mike Scott (Waterboys), who is so dedicated and works so hard that it's inspiring.

That was meant to be the easy part. But who are the scoundrels?

There is not one person who has only a saintly side to them or only scoundrel. But it's only meant to be a bit of fun in any case. I suppose people would regard Shane MacGowan as the ultimate scoundrel but you know, he's a big softie as well. I suppose I've ruined his reputation now. But I've been doing live work with Shane for the last three years and it was brilliant to have him on the album. I love the song - Rake at the Gates of Hell - which is a great last track that sums up the whole album.

I imagine a lot of people close to Leo Healy will have been touched by your decision to dedicate the album to him, much as you are determined not to trade in any way on his memory. Would you care to pay some form of tribute to the man and the musician who, as you have said, had the idea for the album in the first place?

I wouldn't know where to start. It would take hours. Leo was a really passionate music lover. He'd be rooting for the album; in fact.I am sure he was doing so, guiding us from wherever he now is. If I started to tell you about Leo, it would take me too long and take over the whole interview. He was just a really good, loving, amazing person.

Only one further point on a subject which must be acutely painful for you. I wrote recently about an English footballer, Jody Craddock, who found his gifts as a painter helped him enormously after his baby son was a victim of a cot death. Did music provide some kind of therapy for you?

It definitely did.

Let us leave it there. On the new album, there is what we have come to expect from Sharon Shannon: great tunes in the traditional idiom and lots of variety with a string of guest performances. It must have been particularly pleasing to play again with the Waterboys, but what other tracks give you special thrill?

I adore that song (Saints & Angels, with the Waterboys). And then there's Imelda May, who recorded her song (Go Tell the Devil) in the middle of a 60-gig tour. She was at Limerick on the Wednesday, Galway on the Thursday. My studio is just outside Galway on the Limerick road and she suggested dropping in on the way to the Galway sound check. The whole band did just that, recorded the song in a few hours and went on to the sound check. They worked really hard and made so little of it, making it feel so easy. Imelda wrote the song especially for the album; we'd only met once but we had a few phone conversations and she sang it down the line to me.
It was just so brilliant. I admire her get-up-and-go spirit, with no airs and graces, She is completely down to earth with such a work ethic.

I make no apology for seeing you as one of music's great inspirations, in any style, not only for the music you play yourself but for your innovative spirit and a rare ability to bring together disparate singers and musicians to collaborate with you. What is the most important part of your work for you?

I adore Irish traditional music. That's the music I was brought up on and it's the most important part of my music. I love bringing it to a wider audience by incorporating it with more modern, popular music. I love seeing really young people who would not normally be interested in it getting up, going mad and dancing to jigs and reels. Definitely for me, it's the base, the tree trunk, the backbone of what I do. I would never not be involved in that kind of music.

Has there ever been a time when you've regretted not pursuing your university education (Sharon dropped out while studying Irish and German).

Never! There are people like the American comedian Des Bishop, who speaks Irish very well, who are doing wonderful things for the Irish language, making it very cool. I love that. I do understand Irish but am not that great at speaking it. German? I don't know hardly any!

Lots of different influences on the album: Chile, tango, waltz and I think I even detected a jug band theme. But where did the the Small Faces come into it (The Cartoon Thieves' Mama Lou with a hook suspiciously like Sha La La La Lee.


The Small Faces? They're new to me. Must check them out

What ambitions remain unfulfilled?

None really. I don't actually sit down and decide I want to do this or that thing. I have tended to let things happen day by day and don't having any driving ambition.

Picture: by Peter Shaughnessy for the Sharon Shannon website Coming soon: Potted Sharon - quickfire answers to quickfire questions of topics ranging from drinking to Roy Keane.

]]> Salut! Talks colin randall Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:24:35 +0200 http://www.salutlive.com/2009/10/sharon-shannon-the-salut-live-interview-1.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SalutLive/~3/XDuC0e6f3J0/class-acts-and-schoolgirl-french-.html http://www.salutlive.com/2009/07/class-acts-and-schoolgirl-french-.html Not before time, Salut! Live returns to business. The moving is done, for now, and with abject apologies to readers and to artists and their champions who have sent CDs into the void of this neglected site, here we go...

Not before time, Salut! Live returns to business. The moving is done, for now, and with abject apologies to readers and to artists and their champions who have sent CDs into the void of this neglected site, here we go again ...

Ruth Notman ... Si Tu Dois Partir (Mrs Casey Music)

Over at The Guardian, we are told, people cannot stop playing Ruth's remake, 40 years after Fairport Convention took it into the charts, of the Frenchified version of Bob Dylan's If You Gotta Go, Go Now.

Since it is inconceivable that the Graun arts department would employ anyone old enough to remember the original, that is perhaps not surprising.

I like it, too, though if I am to be honest, I do not like it not nearly as much as I enjoyed Sandy Denny's interpretation. That is not because Ruth Notman is not a fine singer - she is much, much more than that, as is confirmed by a sneak preview of The Life of Lilly, the album from which this single is taken - but because Sandy was and remains incomparable.

My first thought was that Ruth's French accent reminded me of mine, except that she has the excuse of not living in France. I cannot recall whether Sandy also pronounced the final consonant in the phrase va t'en, which the French wouldn't do ... but then this is leading us into a minefield of pedantry.

Who remembers the story behind the song? Did Sandy rattle off the French translation backstage one night, as one account has it, or did Fairport call out for a French person or speaker in the audience at a gig and get him/her to do it, as I believe another version suggests?

Either way, and despite the unjust nitpicking (the moment Ruth informs me she has A level French and did a year as an au pair in Tours, I will take it all back), this is a thoroughly enjoyable summery sort of record from a young artist of immense charm and class, and in a fairer world it would be a hit. And just wait for that new album ...

Various Artists Trades Roots Live (Trades Roots Recordings)

Hebden Bridge is not a place I have visited. It follows that I cannot have been to the Trades Club, though I do have clear memories of typing its name repeatedly when preparing listings for The Daily T***graph.

This superb album of live performances from some of the exceptional artists who have played at the club fills these gaps in my experience, and in admirable fashion. It also enables me to mention one or two of the individuals who took the trouble to send me their own albums at a time when Salut! Live was effectively silent. By a happy coincidence, their contributions are among the most compelling.

Steve Tilston, for example, has been played over and over again in the car, both his own album and on the Trades compilation where two of its tracks appear. If a better song than The Road When I Was Young appears this year or next, I want to hear it.

In fact, the album features people who have turned up over the past year and a half for Steve's monthly sessions at the club (I believe he lives close enough to make that feasible).

Among the contributors, you will find Robin Williamson, Chris Smither, Wizz Jones, Stephen Fearing and Clive Gregson. And Flossie Malavialle's striking take on Jacques Brel's Amsterdam, a song written decades ago but so intense and evocative that it is still heard at least once a week on French radio.

There is little that doesn't warm the heart but my own preferences - again thinking of those unreviewed CDs - include Jez Lowe’s Yellow Hair. In an age of beleaguered live venues and grim Cowell-driven music, Trades Roots Live is a sparkling treasure.

I will add links or references to those neglected albums, perhaps in a subsequent review that will also take in Martin Simpson, Debra Cowan and many more, but here is the full Hebden Bridge running order:

1 The Road When I Was Young Steve Tilston

2 Leave the Light On Chris Smither

3 For the Loan of a Glass of Beer Robin Williamson

4 Corrine Corrine Wizz Jones

5 Amsterdam Flossie Malavialle

6 Yellow Hair Jez Lowe

7 Shepherd's Song Pete Morton

8 The Big East West Stephen Fearing

9 Northern Soul Clive Gregson

10 Artificial Martha Tilston

11 Cowboy Phase Michael Chapman

12 Blood of the Lamb Duck Baker

13 Gunsore Kirsty McGee/Mat Martin

14 This Old English Town Steve Ashley

15 Visions of Johanna Chris Smither

16 Pretty Penny Steve Tilston

17 Going Down Slow Robin Williamson

18 Another Train Pete Morton

]]> Salut! Reviews colin randall Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:04:44 +0200 http://www.salutlive.com/2009/07/class-acts-and-schoolgirl-french-.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SalutLive/~3/nw5D9ZbGFKQ/welcome-.html http://www.salutlive.com/2009/06/welcome-.html Lots of people are stopping by here for some reason, and I apologise that everything you find is already quite long in the tooth. Read back and you'll see why I have been so busy, and take my word for... Lots of people are stopping by here for some reason, and I apologise that everything you find is already quite long in the tooth.

Read back and you'll see why I have been so busy, and take my word for it that things have become worse rather than better, at least in terms of pressure of work (though I rarely complain about having to go to Paris).

But if you read back a bit more, and have not been around these parts before, I hope you find something that makes the visit worthwhile. Some sort of service will be resumed as soon as possible ...

]]> Salut! Commentary colin randall Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:15:49 +0200 http://www.salutlive.com/2009/06/welcome-.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SalutLive/~3/N-wHWeZiFS4/oysterbands-john-jones-and-a-solo-tour-within-walking-distance.html http://www.salutlive.com/2009/05/oysterbands-john-jones-and-a-solo-tour-within-walking-distance.html Salut! Live breaks its long recent silence, on which can be blamed a fraught move between Abu Dhabi, the UK and southern France, to spring back into action with an account of John Jones's decision to walk the 175 miles...

Salut! Live breaks its long recent silence, on which can be blamed a fraught move between Abu Dhabi, the UK and southern France, to spring back into action with an account of John Jones's decision to walk the 175 miles between a series of gigs starting in Hay-on-Wye tonight and ending in Leicester on June 19 ...

Most musicians, gazing at an easy-on-the-eye pastoral landscape from the tour bus, would be grateful to be off the motorway for a change.

Other thoughts occur to John Jones, lead singer of Oysterband. He finds it difficult to suppress the urge to get off and complete the journey on foot.

Starting tomorrow, that is what he will be doing as he combines a bit of moonlighting from the band with the passion for hiking instilled in him in childhood by a grandfather who was convinced that walking was "good for working class".

John's solo tour, called Feet Don't Fail Me Now, actually begins in Hay-on-Wire tonight (Thurs May 21) and will involve a relatively sedate walk around the town before the gig at The Globe.

He hits the road in earnest first thing tomorrow, aiming to cover 20 miles across the Wye Valley to the next stop on the tour, his home village of Titley.

"It's a idea that has been hatching in my mind for a long time," says John, who will be accompanied on each leg by a changing cast of friends and fellow musicians, including - unless plans change - Seth Lakeman, Oyster's The Chopper and the producer Al Scott. "If I see a range of hills from the tour bus, I just think how fanatstic it would be be walking the distance."

Oysterband's decision to take a break and John's desire to tour solo and make an album in his own right - Rising Road, due out in July - finally presented the opportunity to turn the idea into reality. Full tour details, and a lot more about John's activities, may be found at this link.

"A lot of Rising Road is inspired by walking and openness," he says. "For me, all sounds have a visual aspect. I have wanted to record some traditional songs for some time and the ones I have chosen have that panorama of stories with the huge sweep and scope you get from traditional lyrics. A lot of these songs I imagine as outdoors songs and I try to write my own in the same way."

He is especially pleased, on the forthcoming album, with a couple of his own songs, Walking Through Ithonside and Henry Martin, and the traditional Rocks of Braun, with its story of a farmworker's hard labour and "a gorgeous melody".

John has been walking seriously for several years, starting in mid-Wales and the English/Welsh border country where he has made his home and branching out to Snowdonia and Spain. Some of his non-musician walking pals will join him for parts of his trek.

The route will take John and walking companions, after Titley, to Leominster, Hereford, Worcester, Cheltenham, Nettlebed, Banbury, Braunston, Rugby and Leicester.

"I am pretty fit," John says, "but I've never combined the two things. I'm really more concerned about my voice as I'm having to do so much talking. i know I can do the walking but the cumulative effect will be interesting.

"I want to make sure I arrive at gigs with plenty of energy to perform well."

]]> Salut! Talks colin randall Thu, 21 May 2009 12:22:27 +0200 http://www.salutlive.com/2009/05/oysterbands-john-jones-and-a-solo-tour-within-walking-distance.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SalutLive/~3/tJ96FSO7PEI/even-poorer-show-but-the-record-is-about-to-change.html http://www.salutlive.com/2009/05/even-poorer-show-but-the-record-is-about-to-change.html Yes, I know what I promised. The excuses are jostling for position: my possessions at sea between the Middle East and Marseille, a frantic start to my resumed freelance career, flood damge at my home in France ... The list... Yes, I know what I promised. The excuses are jostling for position: my possessions at sea between the Middle East and Marseille, a frantic start to my resumed freelance career, flood damge at my home in France ...

The list could go on.

But here is the firmest commitment I can make: Salut! Live will be properly live again within the next few days. Unless I'm a Dutchman or a Mag.

]]> Salut! Commentary colin randall Mon, 18 May 2009 20:52:13 +0200 http://www.salutlive.com/2009/05/even-poorer-show-but-the-record-is-about-to-change.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SalutLive/~3/YvTtMomlGiQ/poor-show-will-do-better.html http://www.salutlive.com/2009/04/poor-show-will-do-better.html Salut! Live has not evaporated. Its editor, publisher and general dogsbody has not, to the best of his knowledge, died. He hasn't even lost interest. He can do little more than appeal for a little patience. I am in the...

Salut! Live has not evaporated. Its editor, publisher and general dogsbody has not, to the best of his knowledge, died. He hasn't even lost interest.

He can do little more than appeal for a little patience.

I am in the middle of a three-country move, UAE-UK-France - that's me, below on the left, at my farewell party on the beach in Abu Dhabi. There are logistics to sort out, a newish granddaughter to spoil, a troubled football club to support and work that pays the rent - very much unlike Salut! Live - to do.

What passes for normal service should resume around these parts towards the end of April. So apologies to Bruce Murdoch, Jack Crawford, Jez Lowe, Steve Tilston, Kerfuffle and others whose albums are well overdue review.

As Niall Quinn once wrote, when invited by me in the middle of a relegation season to put something positive in a personal message in the autobiography I was buying at the time: "Keep the faith."

]]> Salut! Commentary colin randall Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:17:00 +0200 http://www.salutlive.com/2009/04/poor-show-will-do-better.html