strathspey@strathspey.org:27611

Strathspey

RE: Island CD Survey

Oct. 1, 2001, 2:16 p.m. (Message 27611, in reply to message 27501)

What a splendid thread this is! Thanks Anslem! My selection, in order of
preference, is as follows:

"Yellow" Highlander Vol? by David Cunningham
"Special Requests Vol II" by Colin Dewar
"Clashmadden" by Nicol McLaren and the Glencraig Band


Three is an incredibly tough number to keep to, even rejecting all
recordings other than those I happen to have on CD and any that don't fall
into the strict Scottish Country Dancing bracket.

The reasons behind my choice are that the David Cunningham is for me the
best dancing CD in terms of tempo, tune selection and rhythm that I have
ever danced to - brilliant.

Colin Dewar represents a fine contrast in style to David Cunningham, relying
on a dominant piano/bass to give the wonderful solidity in his sound whilst
the technical execution of the melody is second to none.

Nicol's CD edges out all the others for very personal reasons. Nicol and his
family are close friends and we visit each other regularly with plenty of
music involved of course. Nicol has a wonderful swing to his playing which
again makes it one of the most dancable CDs on the market - again a great
contrast to the styles of David and Colin. My favorite track on this CD -
the strathspey "Partens in his Creel". The fact that two of the tunes on
this track were written by my father for me and Caroline, my wife is
probably not entirely coincidental.

I don't know if Anselm intentionally took this idea from Desert Island
Discs, a radio show in the UK. If you did Anselm, you will know that one
luxury is also allowed. In this vein I would like to take along a full set
of band equipment - accordion, fiddle, drum kit, piano, pa etc. By careful
persuasion I might be able to get three of the monkeys to play the
accordion, fiddle and piano so that we can have a great jam session!