Broken Ground: Waterson: Carthy (Topic Records)
Prolific or what? Now joined by the handy melodeon box-work of Saul Rose, this English folk family powerhouse seem to release albums by the month: veteran folkster Martin Carthy MBE's hard-core minstrelsy, with songs here like the hilarious, rollicking Bald-headed End of the Broom (backed up by the Phoenix New Orleans Parade Band); the dark-chocolate gypsy voice of his wife Norma Waterson kneading the social conscience with We Poor Labouring Men; or their daughter Eliza on fiddle and songs of love and loss like The Forsaken Mermaid. The quasi-shambolic directness soaks up emotion throughout, each song steeped in the sawing, wheezing, bumping instrumentation, which comes into its own on the English and Quebecois waltzes, or the uplifting Rowling Hornpipe set in 3/2 time. Another rough, effortless-sounding little gem.
Mic Moroney
Celtic Aire: (Narada)
These west Galway women - whistler Mary Bergin, fiddler Dearbhaill Standun, harpist Kathleen Loughnane and singer Martina Goggin - are justifiably mortified by the album title imposed by their record company. But this is authentic material and typical of Dordan's folk-meets-baroque mix: from Bergin's clipped whistle-warble to renditions of O'Carolan's Sir Arthur Shaen, a drifting Handel Gigue and even a reworked Mozart tune. Newer are the harmonies on Padraig O hAolain's song, Coilin Phadraic Sheamais, or the original melodies: Loughnane's descriptive tunes, Bergin's reels and slipjigs, a lovely Donegalsy air from Standun, even Goggin's hymn-like song. The gossamer instrumental blend floats free of any percussive undertow, despite the unintrusive guitar of producer Steve Cooney, whose respectful catalysis rarely intrudes on the ensemble's eccentric personability.
Mic Moroney
