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The cd begins with a set of well-known barn dance tunes e.g. Spanish Ladies, arranged by Jason Wilson and backed by his Canadian band lead by Swarbrick. An unusual arrangement, rather along the lines of La Bottine Souriante meets reggae with a bit of broadway musical thrown in for good measure. All a bit over clever and smooth for my taste but Swarbrick’s playing is as sharp and melodic as ever.
Many of the tracks feature unfamiliar and complex tunes from a range of historical periods, backed by well-researched and informative sleeve notes.
On some of the tracks the tune tends to get lost in among the complex arrangement and sometimes the speed seems to take over and the resulting sound can be rather messy, but then Swarbrick’s unique style of bending the notes both in pitch and pace must mean that the more musicians there are backing him the harder it is for everyone to stay with him.
The cd features folk luminaries such as Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick, but apart from Swarbrick’s masterful fiddling it was the guitar work of Kevin Dempsey which I found most impressive. As an accompanist myself, I take my hat off to Kevin who keeps up with Swarbrick’s cracking pace on the faster tracks without losing precision and in Andy’s Waltz, one of Swarbrick’s own tunes, his sensitive guitar work beautifully complements the baritone violin (a new instrument to me).
Another high point for me is the next to last track, a set of three 18th Century tunes which were very jolly and had a good period feel to them.
Just as I was lamenting the lack of any whistleable or, frankly, nickable tunes along came the last track - an absolute delight - a fine tune well-arranged and played.
Interesting is the word I would use for the cd overall, with fine musicianship throughout and Swarbrick having lost none of the bounce in his music. Unique.
For further details see http://www.folkicons.co.uk/swarb.htm.