A Review of the Simon Mayor & Hilary James CD
"Children's Favourites From Acoustics"
"Children's Favourites From Acoustics"
by Simon Mayor & Hilary James
(Acoustics Records: CDACS054)
Copyright:
Acoustics 2005.
This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 12/05
Here is a “Greatest Hits” from Mayor
& James. This British duo has more than done their bit down the
years to popularise classical music written for stringed instruments,
especially the mandolin.
The duo also has a long tradition of recording albums aimed at children.
And they have particularly raided the back catalogue of those kids’ CDs
to come up with a fine selection that offers astonishing value as it
delivers 1 hour and 13 minutes of music and comedy.
I have said in a previous review of their work that “they are
ultra-talented, multi-instrumental musicians, and both are vocalists
who can safely negotiate the minefield that an ostensibly simple
lullaby can represent”. That holds true as much for this album as the
previous one.
My favourite cuts were “A Magpie Sitting On A Broken Chair” (one of
their own compositions), the traditional “Lavender’s Blue”, Vivaldi’s
“Concerto for Mandolins First Movement” and the blisteringly-good
all-hands-to-the-instruments “Hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music”.
The occasional comedy sketches are pretty good and relevant to the song
that follows them, but I guess these sketches would register more with
your average 8 year old than 80 year old.
But the songs and instrumentals will register with ALL of us.
Recommended.
Obtainable by mail-order worldwide. Enquire at this address: mail@acousticsrecords.co.uk
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England
daigress@hotmail.com
Copyright © 1998-2008 Kevin & Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews. All rights reserved.
Ownership, copyright and title of this UK folk music CD review belongs
to Dai Woosnam.
Ownership, copyright and title are not transferable or assignable to you
or other parties regardless of how or if you or other parties use, copy,
save, backup, store, retrieve, transmit, display, publish, modify or share
the CD review in whole or in part. Please read the "Terms,
Conditions and Disclaimer" section on my web site for additional
information about using, quoting, or reprinting this CD review.
Return to Kevin and Maxine’s Celtic & Folk
Music CD Reviews home page.
To return to the last web page you visited, click the "Back"
button that appears immediately below: