This is a truly rare (overused word in vinyl circles) album, I have only seen one other copy on the market in the last couple of years. The band are also a bit of a mystery and I have not been able to find anything about their background, but I believe Gerry Beldon (the driving force behind the band) now runs a pub ‘The Exchange’ (with great real ales, not bad for a guy who studied theology) in North Shields and is still very active promoting folk evenings on a weekly + basis.
The album is great fun and with some excellent musicianship, plus great vocals by Gerry and well supported by Lynne Stevens (who also designed the cover). The album gets off to a great start with Gerry leading the vocals on ‘The Calling Song’ with great harmonies, leading into ‘The old grey cat’ which has some really atmospheric bhodran to get your foot going. ‘The lazy river’ is fabulous and starts slowly, but the river turns into a tumultuous, foaming river with some fast and furious playing and eventually calms down as it reaches its destination. The next traditional instrumental deserves a mention for Jonathan Ginn who is outstanding on fiddle throughout the album, but especially on the ‘Teetoller/The scholar’. ‘Adieu sweet lovely Nancy’ is another great traditional number, with Lynne providing great harmonies behind Gerry. The title track is one of the outstanding tracks on the album, agin with Gerry and Lynne sharing the vocal lead, but the climax of the track is again some fast and furious fiddle playing, supported by the other members of the band.
Great mandolin, banjo and fiddle start the second side’s instrumental ‘Chief O’Neill’s favourite/The college hornpipe, which is followed by a great version of Lindisfarne’s ‘Meet me on the corner’. ‘Give me your hand’ has a great Irish feel and is another brilliantly played instrumental. The great ‘Sally free and easy’ starts with haunting recorder (Bud Abbott) and banjo (Alan Horton) before the vocals from Lynne and Bud join to tremendous effect – great version. The last track is a lovely version of ‘As time goes by’ , while not as slick as Harry Nilsson’s version, this still is a great track to finish on.
All in all, a really good folk album, that will make you laugh, sing out loud and get your foot tapping. I love playing it and it is in fabulous condition. Recommended for folk fans.
