Recently I received what was then an early
advance copy of the yet to be released “Pretty
Peggy,” CD. I confess
thereafter, I played it over and over again. It is an excellent
album, packed with big production, accomplished vocals and evocative
instrumentation. Frankly, it just oozes class. Unsurprising really,
as it comes with a hell of a pedigree Sam's first EP won a Radio 2 “ Best Emerging Act” Folk Award. Mike Harding, Mark Radcliffe
and Seth Lakeman are among those to have already praised the band, so
with such plaudits from Folk Royalty, who am I to disagree? ( I
won't).
Sam was a Britain's Got Talent
Finalist aged just 19. Irish ancestry, born in Norfolk,living in
Cornwall, what can possibly go wrong? (It doesn't). Still only 24,
Sam's singing style shows character beyond his tender years. It is
very distinctive and impossible to stereotype or define. Stripped
down, it stands alone as a classic traditional voice. But he can
embellish that with rock and Indie undertones.
The band-his regular
touring and Festival line-up-are simply brilliant on the CD. His guests include no less than Cara Dillon, Geoff Lakeman and Mike
McGoldrick, How can it fail? ( It doesn't).
Pretty Peggy herself is the
inspiration behind The Bonny
Lass of Fyvie. A
song covered and recorded by many others, but
here with additional vocals from Cara Dillon and the excellent pipe
playing of McGoldrick, it soars.
The Keeper is
a refreshingly up tempo treatment of an old English song which many
of us first learned in school. The
Close Shave is an
hilariously classic tale of cross- dressing and mistaken identity.
(Happens all the time in Barrack Street).
Greenland
Whale applies a modern
touch to a traditional subject matter. The frantic banjo picking is
more Appalachian than Celtic, yet it works. The vocal is again
honourably traditional:the chorus is one which will get festival
audiences bawling and the whole piece just drives along.
Beware
Angeline The Baker.
An ancient Stephen Foster Minstrel song, it is the album's ear worm.
I had no doubts over choosing it as the sampler on my radio show and
I've been humming it (and the instrumental bridges) ever since.
The
Shining Ship is a magnum
opus coming in at just under six minutes. An epic,layered performance
opens with a ghostly vocal echoing whispered fragments of House
Carpenter and the 17th
Century ballad Demon Lover. If Jack Sparrow were to record an album
track I imagine it might sound like this. Plenty of effects and
overlays and some intricately woven accompaniment with a distinctly
oriental touch and a brilliant ending. The
Rose explores similar
territory. With its repeated central melody it is weirdly hypnotic,
Mr Sparrow and his crew would like this, too.
The
eerie When The Reivers Call,
is another big production, as is a powerful Folk Rock version of
Dylan's Crash On The Levee.
Indisputably, the boys can rock it up, but they are also capable of
sophistication. “If I were
a Blackbird is a haunting
piece of music and beautifully sung, with a tiny tiny bit of tremelo
sparingly used, and some splendid choruses. The
Rose too, is atmospheric;a
reworking of an original by Belgian band Naragonia.
The
plaudits for this band are richly deserved. On Pretty
Peggy, they are at the top
of their game- gifted, confident, innovative and energetic. Superbly
engineered and produced, if there is a better Folk album than this
released in 2017 I look forward to hearing it. The word “Classic”
is applied to far too many albums. It is appropriate here. Sam
and company are touring later in the year. It should be a sell-out .
