‘Cavalier’ is the new album from Eddi Reader and it’s a cracker.
Sixteen songs mixing original compositions and traditional material – a handful of them co-written with her husband, John Douglas. Recorded in Glasgow it features a vast array of well-known musicians – Boo Hewerdine, Alan Kelly, Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker, Phil Cunningham, Simon Dine, James Grant, Monica Queen and last but, by no means least, Stephen Douglas from the Trashcan Sinatras – all make appearances.
Maiden’s Lament (An Charraig Donn) is a traditional Irish waltz and opens the album. Things speed up with Wonderful, the first of the new songs. A bit of a poppy number about finally accepting your children are no longer children. It’s followed by the title track Cavalier – a song about freedom that’ll get you up on yer feet. Hands up, I was caught by my daughter shaking my backside to it in the kitchen. Not ashamed.
Starlight wouldn’t look out of place in an old smoky jazz club, with it’s lovely baritone and tenor harmonies.
Next, we go way back to the 18th Century. Meg O’ The Glen – a Robert Tannahill poem – is an uptempo Celtic cracker with accordion, fiddles ‘n’ whistles.
My Favourite Dress features a stunning vocal by Eddi accompanied by soft piano and guitar. A lovely song of remembrance and past times and the wanting of living your life again though your too old to do so. There’s something about the vocal on Deirdre’s Farewell To Scotland that’ll tug at yer tear ducts. Ethereal, and reminicent of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser.
Fishing and Maid O’ The Loch are back-to-back numbers in the middle of the album. Both written by John Douglas, the former seems to be about keeping yourself afloat in troubled times, with the latter, about the last ever paddle steamer built in Britain, which is currently being restored. A happy accident in the running order?
There’s A Hole In The Desert Dear Darling was written for an absent friend. Swaying back and forth with Phil Cunningham accompanying on accordion, it’s wonderful stuff. Old Song written by Boo Hewerdine, is bookended between A Sailor’s Farewell To The Sea and The Loch Tay Boat Song – a cracking hat-trick.
A talented bunch…
Pangur Bán And The Primrose Lass is a 9th century Irish poem about a cat reworked into a traditional folk tune. It’s a quirky, jaunty tune that’ll get you smiling and tapping your feet.
Go Wisely, is the one song on the album, for me, that resonates the most. Being a Dad to a sixteen year old daughter, I’m at that stage of trying to let go, hoping she makes the right choices. Eddi sings, “Go ahead, I always knew this day was comin” So true.
With all the nonsense going on around us in the world, it’s fitting that Eddi closes the album with a rendition of Robert Burns’ A Man’s A Man For A’ That, a hopeful lament that one day we can all come together and be in harmony – a bit like this album.
Bloody wonderful!
2018 Eddi Reader / Reveal Records
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Here’s a few historical gig listings from various music papers. Maybe you’ve been to a few of these? …
1990 – 2007
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The Trashcan’s UK tour is about to start next week, so perfect timing for this post.
The other day I received an unexpected email that included a couple of pictures of a cassette.
The cassette belongs to Iain Wilson. Those of you who are regulars at Trashcan gigs will have no doubt seen him behind the merchandise table – but he’s more than just the ‘merch guy’. A friend of the band for many a year, he’s also been responsible for driving the band all over the country from town to city and back again.
I believe Iain is heading back out with the Trashcan ‘container’ on this forthcoming tour, and as you can see from the labels, the cassette hasn’t been the most popular of selections in the tour van.
So, guys, get in the van, enjoy the tour and who knows, maybe big Iain’ll have some new music for you.
2018 Trashcan Sinatras
Filed under: Press | Tags: Glasgow Herald, Interview, Music, Trashcan Sinatras
… lay on the bench, unselected – is a fantastic lyric from the Trashcan Sinatras’ ‘I’m Immortal’. Reminds me of my playing days at Irvine Vics!
However, the band have recently received some well-deserved recognition – not before time I say. In a recent poll by the Glasgow Herald newspaper, the band’s second album, ‘I’ve Seen Everything’ was voted number 2 in a Top 10 of Scotland’s all-time favourite albums.
The band are now off the bench, on the pitch and playing alongside the so-called big boys of the Scottish music scene including Belle & Sebastian, Deacon Blue, Love & Money, Teenage Fanclub, Cocteau Twins and winners, The Blue Nile.
Off the back of this, an article has appeared in today’s Herald with lead singer Frank Reader explaining where the band are now after releasing their sixth album, ‘Wild Pendulum’ in 2016.
The article is written by Craig McAllister. You can find more of Craig’s work over at the quite brilliant music blog Plain or Pan.
9 July 2018 Glasgow Herald
Filed under: Related | Tags: Music, The Irony Board, Trashcan Sinatras, Unsigned
…is the fascinating story of the trials and tribulations of unsigned band The Irony Board.
It’s written by band member John Hartley, who’s name you may recognise from a previous book he was involved in…’Who’s He? an A-Z of The Trash Can Sinatras’ which I wrote about here.
The Trashcans are mentioned a few times in this new book – they are John’s favourite band afterall. There’s also a free CD, which includes remastered songs from The Irony Board’s back catalogue. Oh, and you also get a free Panini football sticker. I got Ricardo, who once played in goal for Sporting Lisbon.
If you love reading about and listening to great music, you should buy this book.
Hartley recommended.
2018 John Hartley / Everything Indie Over 40
