pfeiffer@uwvax.UUCP (Phil Pfeiffer) (11/01/85)
I'm cross-posting this review to net.music and net.music.folk because the
Battlefield Band, judging from last night's concert at the UWisconsin Union,
sounded at times like a group that wanted to land a pop recording contract.
The band is comprised of a bagpiper/flautist/pennywhistler, a guitarist, a
fiddler/guitarist/cittern player, and a synthesizer player ("traditional
Scottish instrument ... invented by MacMoog ... you can still find the old
men sitting around in the pubs playing them ... those too poor to have one
play their digital watches"). Their stage show is a lot of fun -- a constant
stream of droll humor of the sort quoted above -- and, man, can they play
their instruments!! I think both the piper and the fiddle player, in
particular, could have held his own for a two-hour concert.
The Battlefield Band is currently playing a mixture of
o traditional British Isles instrumental music, played HOT.
(Actually, they prefer to play obscure "traditional" tunes, many
of which are obscure because they've been written by the band
members themselves!)
o songs on traditional themes with "modern" arrangements
(i.e., with your standard drum synthesizer/rock mix in the background)
Observations on how the band sounded last night -
o I *liked* the way the band arranged the traditional tunes. I think
the synthesizer works well with the bagpipes. They highlight the
bagpiper's playing. He's super; I would have liked to have heard
a little more of the fiddle in some songs, too.
o I didn't care for the band's song arrangements quite as much. They
weren't bad, but I thought they seemed a wee bit too predictable, too
poppy. It would have helped for an American-born-and-bred listener
like me, who had problems distinguishing the accent at times.
o One exception to the above remark: the band can sing. All four of
them. Wish they'd done a little more a cappella, too.
Personal disappointments -
o The band was lackadaisical about getting both halves of the concert
started on time.
o The band didn't play my favorite song from their repertoire, "Shining
Clearly", a setting of a Robert Louis Stevenson (?) poem.
Personal high points of the concert -
o A reel composed in honor of a Scottish folklorist who refused the
O.B.E. from Thatcher's government. The tune GROWLED.
o Comment by the band: "Pipe tunes are all right, you know, but they all
have such boring names ... we've decided to try to improve on that
with names taken from National Enquirer headlines ... here's a set
called the National Enquirer suite, and the first tune is called
'Di turns Chuck into Royal Wimp' ...."
o The band's first encore number: "This is a setting of a traditional
Scottish Tune that we just learned this past summer ... you may all
want to join in ... 'Ih see ... the bad moon rising ...' ...."
The instrumental solo made John Fogarty's tune sound like a cross
between Scottish and Cajun music.
The bagpiper said the band would be doing a spring tour of the US, probably
next March.
--
-- Phil Pfeiffer
...!{harvard,ihnp4,seismo,topaz}!uwvax!pfeiffer
(608) 263-7308