This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 2/02
“KININ” Sarah Cheffins & Pete Millard (Form 1801)
Let’s start this review by clarifying the above. The spine of the CD sleeve shows the title, artistes and label, EXACTLY as in my heading.
The casual browser in a CD store would be forgiven for thinking that the SC & PM were performing on an album called “Kinin” (pronounced Kin-een, by the way). But more accurately, Kinin is the name this duo give themselves. So strictly speaking, the album should be “Kinin BY Kinin”. But, that said, there are no more moments of confusion: this is an admirably direct and “to the point” album where flashiness goes out one window and integrity comes in the other.
Right, having got that initial confusion off my chest, I want to stay with the CD sleeve notes for a moment. (An aspect of the CD purchase that is seldom given prominence – or indeed even MENTION – in most reviews.) It is not for nothing that here the words are in white print on a jet black background: such a simple colour scheme is indicative of what is contained therein. Honest, (largely traditional) folk music.
And that “the colours are symbolic” fact apart, other CD producers take note: with type size being – of necessity – so small, you guys have a bounden duty to make your liner notes LEGIBLE. And do you know something? We have never really beaten black and white: why else do the world’s newspapers still persist with the combination?!
So, with the blessing of a well-produced CD booklet, I sat back to listen to this album. Three times all the way through, over a period of a week. (Anything less than three full playings is dereliction of duty as a reviewer.) And I have to tell you that the experience was almost wholly an enjoyable one. There was the odd moment of frustration, which I will come to in a minute.
Most of the songs were well-known to me. Still, seeing the lyrics written down, helped remind me of the merit of the songs: though if truth be known, such is the quality of Pete Millard’s diction that every word is crystal clear, and there is none of the ambiguity that often makes printed lyrics essential.
And along with the lyrics, we have a few lines by Millard on each of the songs: lines that sometimes throw genuine light on the song. Oh WOULD that we could see such insights in all liner notes!
Now to the sounds this duo delivered. Eleven tracks: the first ten containing just the voice and guitar of Millard and the fiddle of Cheffins. (Let me breathe that word “just” back in! It is a very unusual delivery he has. And it is a bit of an acquired taste.)
When I first heard him, I was struck by the excellent slightly abrasive timbre to the voice, but a little put off by what seemed a bizarre accent. No, it is NOT like the cod Irish that some British singers adopt, when the nearest they have ever been to Emerald Isle is the Guinness Brewery in Park Royal, London. But it is a rum accent for all that: one that needs a Dr. Henry Higgins to pinpoint its origins.
But, as long as he SINGS in the same accent he SPEAKS, then who am I to have a quarrel with it? Certainly, as for the voice itself: he can seemingly effortlessly hit all the right notes. But then, so can so many performers. So what else picks him out?
Something very special, and again very peculiar. How can I best put this, without going OTT? [ Thinks]. Right. I’ve got it. Try this idea on for size.
He sings in both BOLD TYPE and ITALICS. It is rather brave stuff. There are times when you think you are listening to a WC Fields singing with these curious “mid Irish Sea” vowel sounds: he has a way with a line that brings its sardonic flavour firmly to the surface. And what I really admire is his willingness to almost SPEAK two or three words mid-line, as a means of emphasising them. There is a brain at work there, in his approach to interpreting the lyric.
Sometimes, thankfully rarely, the brain deserts him. “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” is shown as (trad/Millard). I read that BEFORE I heard the track, and I confess my heart sank. (Only last year I reviewed a version of “My Love is Like A Red Red Rose” where a well-known British folkie wrote a new tune for that masterpiece of a folk-song: I wondered why people want to improve on the sublime!)
I dearly love the melody as favoured by such luminaries as Paul Brady and Nanci Griffith. This one of Millard’s – whilst not without merit – is not “at the races” when compared to the tried and trusted version. Mind you, his notes regarding the song proved truly illuminating.
The other disappointing moment is their choice of Stan Rogers’s “Bluenose”. When will people realise that whilst his loss was a tragic one and whilst he clearly wrote about eight songs that were top-drawer, the incontrovertible fact is that he wrote his fair share of dross in his short life. And this song, whilst not representative of SR’s artistic nadir, is instantly forgettable. If you are going to do a great SR song – and do not want to add yet another version of “Lock Keeper” or “The Mary Ellen Carter” to the archive – why not get your teeth into “White Squall”? It is a song that really has not been given the significance it deserves.
Real high spots are a supercharged version of “The Rocky Road to Dublin” (which cleverly segues into the traditional jig “Sleive Russell”); Stuart Marson’s fine song “Too Close to the Wind” (with wonderful fiddle from Cheffins that speaks to the heart, and simpatico self-accompaniment from Millard); and the stand-out track, the fine traditional ballad “The Banks of Red Roses”. This is superbly performed, and with lyrics bearing an interesting reworking by Millard.
One more “plus” and one more “minus”, before I finish this review.
I have said little about Sarah Cheffins’s fiddle. There can be no higher praise than to say that she has obviously listened hard to those early Carthy-Swarbrick albums. Her support for Millard is rock solid, but blessedly ALWAYS suggestive of flying away on a “flight of fancy”, at the first invitation!
And now the “minus”. The excellent last track – the Stuart Marson song I have just referred to - contains the backing vocals of Gina LeFaux and Paul Whittaker. (In fact, LeFaux was producer of the album.) And how can this possibly be the MINUS?
Well, now, ………… I remember Gina in her previous incarnation as George. And a fine singer and musician he was. And as Sarah Cheffins does not sing, the only voice you hear on the first ten tracks is Millard’s. And I grew to like it. But it seems a pity NOT to use such a talent earlier. It would add a bit of colour.
But hey…..STRIKE that. After all, it is a black and white album!
Dai Woosnam
daigress@hotmail.com
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