Reviews roundup – Songs of Separation vs. Fay Hield vs. Keith Emerson Trio vs Sam Coulson
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Songs Of Separation
Navigator
“Songs of Separation celebrates the similarities and differences in our musical, linguistic and cultural heritage, and set in the context of a post-referendum world, the work aims to evoke emotional responses and prompt new thinking about the issue of separation as it occurs in all our lives. The collected songs will aim to get to the heart of what we feel when we are faced with a separation, both good and bad. Providing a ‘thread through time’, joining us to previous generations who shared the same human experiences and responses to separation, and to the generations that will follow.”
That’s the smell of art, fart and hippy all rolled into one. It’s so painful, it almost makes my teeth hurt.
It also translates as “my hard earned taxes have went to pay for a bunch of folkies to have a weeks holiday on Eigg.” Sweet. Nice to know the 60-70 hours a week I put in is going to a good cause. It’s the kind of thing that really gets me riled up, and regardless of the fact that there are some good songs on here, it should not exist.
If Eliza Carthy, Karine Polwart, Mary Macmaster, Kate Young, Hannah James, Hazel Askew, Rowan Rheingans, Jenn Butterworth, Jenny Hill and Hannah Read want to have a beano, then do it of your own back. A cast iron reason why the likes of Creative Scotland and the Arts Council are moribund, ein welt bureaucracies that should be shut down now. Shameless.
FAY HIELD
Old Adam
Soundpost
So buy this instead. Because it is a cracker of a folk album. The third solo album from Ms Hield, following on from The Full English project, this is chock full of sparkling performances allied to some great songs.
You can well understand why she has so many award nominations under her belt, as she tackles material from the seventeenth century right through to the modern day. Which takes us from the outstanding ‘The Hag in the Beck’ to the dull as ditchwater Tom Waits tune ‘The Briar and the Rose’. But that’s just about the only stumble on an excellent record.
The highlights for me were ‘Green Gravel’ and ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’, but you’d be hard pushed to pick favourites here. The arrangements and performances from her band, The Hurricane Party, are exemplary, which is no surprise with the likes of Rob Harbron and Sam Sweeney in fine form, alongside guest of the calibre of Martin Simpson.
It’s due out early in 2016, but don’t be surprised if you’re still playing it at year’s end.
THE KEITH EMERSON TRIO
The Keith Emerson Trio
Emersongs
A curio this one, from the very early days of the keyboard maestro, Mr Keith Emerson. Turns out someone came across a copy of an acetate he’d recorded with his band, back when he was just a wee boy. It’s been out as a limited edition vinyl record, but now everyone can get their hands on the CD version.
Turns out that back in 1963, the seventeen year old Keith sat down in the front room of his parents’ council house and recorded a number of jazz songs with his trio on a reel-to-reel recorder. The band got a copy each and the spare was used to try to get gigs.
Fast forward fifty plus years and you can hear his combo run through jazz standards by the likes of Hank Mobley and Oliver Nelson, while there is an airing for one of his early compositions, ’56 Blues’. Is it any good? Well, it’s not bad, but there is nothing here that is essential listening. Fans, though, will enjoy hearing his early work, especially on ‘Soul Station’.
SAM COULSON
Electric Classical
Japan Castle Records
For those of you who don’t know, Sam Coulson is the current guitarist in melodic prog rock band ASIA. He took on the big job of replacing Steve Howe, something which would have daunted many, but he seems to have taken it in his stride, both live and in the studio, as the “Gravitas” album attests.
Away from that, he has a large online following for his tutorial, all leading to this, his first solo album. “Electric Classical”, as the name suggests features his guitar interpretations of famous classical works from artists such as Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert among many others.
It’s a respectful guitar album, so don’t come here looking for Malmsteen styled sturm und drang. Instead, he keeps to the melody, and expresses himself with style rather than flash. I won’t be the first person to point out the similarities to Jan Akkerman, so if you yearn for some respite, then this could be for you.
However, it would be remiss of me not to point out that you are being asked to pay full price for 25 minutes of solo guitar music. Which is a bit cheeky, no matter how enjoyable it is.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
12 responses to “Reviews roundup – Songs of Separation vs. Fay Hield vs. Keith Emerson Trio vs Sam Coulson”
I think Stuart Hamilton is a semi-literate fool. His attack on Songs of Separation is based on his own personal prejudice, that he believes that government should not sponsor the arts. Most people I know recognise how much music and the arts enrich our lives and have a positive impact on our society (more positive for example than nuclear weapons).
Just to be clear, The Full English project was also a project funded by the Arts Council via EFDSS. Does that bring the rightful/ wrongful existence of that album into question.
The comments about The Songs of Separation album are completely unjust and have a speculative assumption of where the funding went, and, the outcome. I have heard clips online and personally can’t wait to hear the full album. What couldn’t be better than a collaborative effort to tie in different musical traditions which also crosses geographical boundaries?! Well worth the funding actually. I also know that to produce that in one week, with its level of musicality, beautiful harmonies, excellent input from all involved and general outstanding quality means the musicians could not have just ‘been on holiday’ for the week. This review comes across bitter, from someone who hasn’t listened to the exceptional music created instead focuses on a personal vendetta against government funding. Without Creative Scotland and The Arts Council funding the majority of music would not exist. Furthermore, the money attributed to successful and worthy applicants acts as only a kick start. The groups that are successful still have to work incredibly hard to create, produce and promote their hard work. You say the album is shameless, actually, it’s your narrow minded and bitter response I find hard to take. Everyone else, listen to the album and make up your own minds.
As everyone can see from the above comments, I am more than happy to allow people to express an opinion, unlike the Ein Welt so called intelligentsia who shriek at anyone who disagrees with them. I happen to believe that there should be no public funding of the arts. If someone wants to write, paint, sculpt, sing, whatever, they have my blessing. But if they want that to be their income provider, then it is up to them to ensure that the wider public are willing to support that with their hard earned cash. I’ve worked and paid tax for 35 years now, and have a variety of hobbies, none of which are publicly funded. But I strive to look after my family and put food on the table for them. To be fair to folk musicians, I doubt they get anything near the money that the likes of the Royal Opera House get given to them, but the fact remains that there are worthwhile causes crying out for public investment. Singing isn’t one of them.
I’m in complete accord with the last post – I’m afraid I find your view that arts should not be supported by state funding pretty moronic, and also unresearched.
Do you not realise that The Full English Project led by Fay Hield (who you rightly praise) was also part-funded by the Arts Council? I for one am more than happy to contibute money through taxes to help enable the production of music that has a social outlook, something the Songs Of Separation project clearly does.
In that case I heartily disapprove of the Full English project as well. This is the sort of topic where such diametrically opposed opinions will never find any common ground. Sadly, for me, mine is not one that will prevail, but I will continue to be moronic, ill informed and semi-literate, as is my right.
Stuart, you, sir, are an ignoramus who does not understand the power, influence and part that traditional/folk music has, does and always will play in society. The fact that your creative efforts do not receive public funding is your problem not that of those musicians that you have unjustly criticised. Where does your principle of “no” public funding of the arts” start/end? No art galleries? No museums? No BBC? Stuart, I hope that I have sent you homewards to think again. If not, it’s off to the (publically funded) Tower for you to do the Tyburn Jig. (Gordon J Campbell, The Spirit Roots, Miglo Records, Fife)
The classic museums were not funded with taxpayers money. The great folk music of the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries wasn’t written and performed by middle class university graduates performing for an Awards Officer at a Grants Committee meeting. They were real people singing about the struggles of their everyday lives, not celebrating “the similarities and differences in our musical, linguistic and cultural heritage, and set in the context of a post-referendum world”. Whatever the hell that is. I love folk music, but this is the kind of rubbish That Should Not Be. And don’t get me started on the BBC.
Just because people, since the 18th century, have taken such an interest in arts and culture to warrant university study doesn’t make musicians or outcomes from university graduates any less of an art. Furthermore you certainly can’t make sweeping statements which suggest that just because they went to university their music has any less credibility. Fair play to the people, who, regardless of background or class, strive to find success in a very hard industry. You think the ladies in Songs Of Separation aren’t ‘real people’ with ‘everyday struggles’?! You actually have no idea what people have been through. This seems more like a negative view on the current industry and funding processes, not a review of the musical content of the album. I think it’s wonderful that this project has brought musicians together from very different geographical and economic backgrounds; recognising the potential creative outcomes through the sharing of ideas and the opportunity to engage a wider audience and therefore putting more money into the arts.
Regardless of whether or not you believe that the arts should be funded, declaring whether or not something should exist for spurious and ill-informed reasons is rather pointless. I have worked since i was thirteen, never claimed the dole, paid taxes since i was seventeen, and have seen my hard-earned money go towards funding the army, Trident, buying out the banks and building nuclear power stations for as long as i can remember. I have never worked on a funded project before, have always paid my way. The Arts are a central part of human existence, beneficial for all aspects of the human condition emotional, intellectual and physical, and should not be given any less weight than any other human being’s interests and pursuits. Artists pass comment and market the human condition. We’re not more important than anyone else, nor are we less. And this piece of work *should* exist, because it is a piece of work that will make people feel something. I’m very far from a hippy, i’m very much a “do as you would be done by” though. Carry on Stuart. But, you know, fuck off while you’re doing it mate. Holiday my arse, you have no idea what it takes to get something like this out in the world.
PS “Have went”? See, i’d be a lot happier funding state education, domestic infrastructure and the NHS than foreign wars with my taxes. But i didn’t get a choice in that. You think you’d be better off with Sky News than the BBC? Good luck making informed choices in the future if that ever comes to pass. Good luck finding anything on the radio not funded up to the eyeballs by entitled millionaires with record companies in their pockets. Without public funding, good luck finding anything without a pure capitalist agenda, the few benefitting from the many.
The paltry amount of funding that the Arts receive is massively out of kilter with the various benefits to human health and welfare. And yet most of us have never done anything other than try to take care of ourselves, and have watched many talented friends fall by the wayside in the attempt trying to navigate the many ways that society is not constructed for people like us, how it often frustrates attempts to work at the most basic level in seemingly random and pointless, thoughtless ways. This is not a statement of entitlement. It’s the vehemence of your review that prompts this response. God knows where it comes from. But please, check yourself. As i said in my previous post, you clearly have no idea what it takes to do this job.
All the comments above just go to confirm my earlier remarks on One World thinking, where those who profess their belief in freedom, only want it for those who agree with them. I agree, that I have no idea what it takes to be a musician. I’ve been a miner, building site labourer, scaffolder, deck hand on container vessels, amongst many other things. It doesn’t make my opinion any less relevant. I’ve been working for 39 years now, and there isn’t enough time to list all the things I disapprove my taxes being spent on, some of which Ms Carthy and I share common ground on. But the arts isn’t one of them. I was however, graitified to see that it didn’t take long for a foul mouth to enter the equation.