Dreamers Rise An Open Notebook And for those who choose the twisty road, prefer it to the straight Let joy beat out old misery, as love will conquer hate. Illustration by Henry L. Stephens from The Goblin Snob (ca. 1855) A sort of electronic broadside, composed of rants and reviews, conceits and speculations, and whatever else feels the need to be here. Issued as chance will have it. Mozaik: Changing Trains I have to admit that I came to the newly released second Mozaik CD with only modest expectations, having been mildly disappointed with the first, Live from the Powerhouse, which was released in 2004. Not that the latter was a bad record, mind you — it just wasn't quite as much fun as it ought to have been, given the musicians involved (Andy Irvine and Dónal Lunny of Planxty, Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov, and Rens van der Zalm). The sound on the first record wasn't great (it was a live record, after all), and the song selection was skewed a bit too much towards interminable instrumentals for my taste. There were some great songs there — “Mechkin Kamen,” “Never Tire of the Road,” “A Blacksmith Courted Me,” — but Andy and various collaborators had already recorded better versions elsewhere. Not to worry, though; Changing Trains is a refreshing, well-produced, well-balanced record, with some fine new Andy Irvine tunes (new to me, at least), two cuts nicely sung by Bruce Molsky, the rare treat of Dónal singing in Irish, and some very listenable instrumentals. It's a record that sits comfortably alongside such established favorites as Planxty's After the Break and Andy's Rain on the Roof. If you're unfamiliar with the Mozaik project, it was born five years ago or so at the instigation of Andy Irvine, as a way of bringing together some musicians he enjoyed working with in order to explore further the possibilities of the kind of transcontinental musical exchange that he has been interested in at least since the late 1960s, when he first set off to busk around the Balkans. Andy is London-born but is mostly associated with Irish music; Dónal is Irish, Molsky an American, Parov a Bulgarian who works in Hungary, and Rens van der Zalm is Dutch. All of them play a variety of instruments, including a few I can't identify like the gaida and the kaval. The group came together originally in Australia, where the live record was made; Changing Trains was recorded in Budapest, additional tracks by piper Liam O'Flynn (also a Planxty founder) were laid down in Dublin, and post production was done in Okinawa (where Lunny now lives). Drawing from Celtic, Eastern European, and American traditions, it qualifies if anything does as “world music,” but it displays none of the insipid New Age-iness that term often implies. The various traditions are in conversation with each other, but they don't blend into mush, and in fact on this record the studio setting seems to give the five players more of an opportunity to display their individual musical personalities. Among the highlights here is “O'Donoghue's,” a fine Andy tune that (like his earlier “My Heart's Tonight in Ireland”) looks back to his roots in the trad scene of the 1960s. It's quite lengthy and funny, and the band jumps in nicely on the instrumental breaks between verses. Another Andy tune, “The Wind Blows Over the Danube,” has a Hungarian refrain and recalls both “Baneasa's Green Glade” from Cold Blow and the Rainy Night and “Time Will Cure Me” from The Well Below the Valley. “The Ballad of Rennardine” is a version of the song Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention rendered years ago as “Reynardine”; this variant is told from the point of view of the fox himself and features an unusual syncopated melody. “Nights in Carrowclare” is a bit of a parlor ballad, with somewhat stilted lyrics, but it's beautifully sung by Andy and reminded me a bit of “You Rambling Boys of Pleasure” from After the Break. Molsky does a fine job singing “Reuben's Transatlantic Express” and “Train on the Island,” with a purity that suggests Appalachia a hundred years ago (not bad for a Jewish guy from NYC), and Dónal's sean nos vocal on “Siún Ní Dhuibhir ” sounds even more ancient. The musicianship and arrangements throughout are superb. Changing Trains was originally recorded and announced as forthcoming in 2005; for whatever reason it's taken its sweet time getting on the market, but it's now available from Alison Brown's Compass Records. It's well worth a listen. November 3, 2007 [ Permalink ] Previous page Next page Home Index About Email me