Hi, got Kevin Crawford’s CD “In Good Company” a few months back and have been meaning to say something about it so here it is. I bought this CD because I liked Crawford’s earlier work like the famous version of “Christy Barry Set” and his rendition of “George White’s Favourite/Sligo Maid”.
It turned out to be something quite different from the earlier stuff, and stuff from Lunasa. This CD is Kevin Crawford playing in a straight-ahead manner with many fiddle magnificents like Tommy Peoples, Sean Smyth, Martin Hayes, Manus McGuire and more. No complex arrangements here. Basically, everyone just plays the melody together like in a session, with guitar and bodhran accompaniment.
I intially thought that the CD tends to get monotonous soundwise because most tracks are just basic arrangement with fiddle/flute combo. However it got much better with repeated listenings as the deftness of these musicians eventually dawned upon me.
This is not a CD for those looking for flashy fireworks or arrangements. Buy it if you like to hear (extremely) good musicians play tunes, without too many twists. Or if you’re looking for a CD with many fiddle legends on it, this is the one to buy.
By the way some of these fiddlers can actually make their fiddle sound like other instruments! Manus McGuire’s fiddling on a slow air (Track eight), actually sounds like Uilleann Pipes! I’m serious! Sean Smyth’s fiddle also sounds suspiciously like a box accordian sometimes.
Special recommendation of this CD for people who are into aural “Osmosis Learning”. Thats what I use it for too. The tunes here are not played too fast and most of the time its only the basic melody with variations kept to a minimum so its actually easy to pick up a melody after a few spins.
P.S. These CD reviews are not commercial plugs!
[ This Message was edited by: Eldarion on 2001-08-25 23:12 ]