This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 6/05
Whenever a new “artistes’ cooperative” record label arrives on
the scene, one automatically wishes it well in its struggle to find its
feet in the hard commercial world out there. But when it provides the
launch for a fairly substantial album like this one, then somehow one
DOUBLY wishes it a fair wind.
Tom Clelland is clearly a talent. I regret to say that he was a totally
new name to me. His gigs tend to be North of the Border and thus he
does not get down to Lincolnshire where I reside. And I’d missed his
debut album “Little Stories”. But if this second CD is anything to go
by, then that was my loss.
But I have to declare an interest (of sorts). He won me over from the
moment I read the liner notes (before actually playing the CD): he took
his album title from a remark of the great Robert Frost. Now, I have
been a Frost aficionado all my life, so I figure that anyone who
revered that American giant just CANNOT be wanting in the “good
taste” department.
And so it proved. This is a thoughtful, easy-on-the-ear album, where
Clelland’s warm, Eric Bogle-ish voice is splendidly supported by some
classy musicians under the direction of multi-instrumentalist and
producer, Davie Scott.
It is nice to find songs that rhyme, scan and MAKE SENSE. I am not sure
that any of them are assured of real longevity, but that said, they all
provide decent stabs at achieving memorability when it comes to the
first-time listener.
I particularly liked “The Wine Song”: his interesting liner notes quote
Sir Walter Scott’s famous paean of praise to the fruit of the noble
grape.
Trust me, this song does a better job than the “The Laird of
Abbotsford” ever could. It is the standout cut on the album. If only
the makers of the recent smash-hit movie “Sideways” could have heard
the song before finishing film production! I’m sure they’d have
snapped it up as the theme song.
If all the songs don’t scale the heights, it is still fair to say that
there is not a dud song on the album. But one other song also made a
real impact. Indeed it is fair to say it quite moved me. I refer to his
closing number “Slip Away”.
This shows he has sat at the feet of the John Prines and the Guy Clarks.
But that said, it is not especially derivative: and apart from its
strong rhymes, its constant refrain “don’t let it slip away” proves a
bit of a masterstroke.
Why? Well, because it is so cleverly placed at the end of the album.
And thus it works in the overt way (i.e. it’s a strong song that leaves
you wanting more), but it also works on the subconscious: one feels
that one must not let this talent “slip away” either.
This East Lothian singer apparently waited until he was over 50 to
record his first album. It would be a shame if his light was to quickly
vanish after it took so long to start to burn.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England.
daigress@hotmail.com
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