Bardic Bootleg....

A review by Soaraway Skyhawk
(Aka Arthur Billington)

This bootleg recording was made "in the field" at the recent Summer Camp; roughly half of it is "live", the other half courtesy of the Studio Bender. It is all, naturally, "unplugged".

On this showing, Druid grassroots music is in great shape, and getting better. We've always had good musicians (especially in the percussion section!) but this recording reveals the growing strength of songwriting within the Order.

Four songwriters are presented here:

ANDY LETCHER feature two new songs to me (though clearly not to others): the first, "Let it Rain", is a hymn passionate enough to inspire the most watery Piscean. "Faerie Castles (Follow Me, Follow You)" is a Bardic song quite definitely contemporary: it evokes a magical landscape where antic figures like the Merry Pranksters, Sergeant Pepper, the Might Walrus and Alice's Red Queen gambol and strut their stuff. Andy had developed a singing style which is both convincing and wholly idiosyncratic; and this song perfectly fits his Jester persona.

For a person who was muttering vaguely a mere three years ago about "doing a bit more music", DAVE SMITH has made frightening progress; now an accomplished performer on harp, mandolin, guitar and bodhran, he has also been writing songs of true depth and integrity, which he performs with gusto. As well as his classic Pagan anthem "Oak, Broom and Meadowsweet" ("Call the May") - a song anyone could be proud to have written - we find here "The Wheel", and oblique and lovely melody with a haunting refrain; and like his other songs, clearly straight from the heart.

Guitar and harmonies are provided on this one by CHRIS TINNISWOOD who also contributes his own song "Wendel's Mount" a musing on the Long Man of Wilmington:
"Who's the Man upon the downs?
Is he a King without a crown?"
More please Chris.

What these three songwriters have in common is devotion to themes rooted in Pagan culture, strong delivery and tunes which almost force you to sing along. We're supposed to be practising Bards, after all, and we need to find ways to make our music together. These songs are one way. Our own voice.

The fourth Bard is a fish of a different colour; SIMM'S compositions are deep, complex and intense. They pile words together in great heaps: his powers of improvisation are instantaneous and his imagery prodigious. You don't sing along, you sit spellbound with your mouth open. First the eco-warrior howls his range at Modern Man: then the "Obsidian Song" a letter-day parable somewhat in the style of Lord Buckley. Both songs are powerful and deeply-felt (rather like the man himself!).

There's plenty more on this tape: masses of gorgeous harp (I don't mean the blues variety, though that's there as well) - thank you SIGGY! - singing in Welsh, bowed psaltery, howling wolves and less identifiable creatures, a pedestrian "John Barleycorn", MORGANA and of course ROSEMARY'S wonderful song.

We await the CD with impatience!

[This tape forms part of a PhD exploration of the Bardic tradition being undertaken by Andy Letcher. The tape is not commercially available yet, so please don't write in for a copy. However, in the future Andy does intend that parts of the tape will be produced as part of a 'Bardic' compilation CD. We await with anticipation - Ed]