Saturday 26 September 2009

Found music


Wow! Best two quid I've spent for a long time. In rather geeky mood I bought a Logik MP3 player at one of the local charity shops, and found the original owner forgot to purge the contents before ditching it. Particularly, there are many tracks by Thelonius Monk, and a couple of artistes I'd never heard of: Xavier Rudd (though I did know his song Conceal Me) and Eddi Reader. Both are seriously good.

I was especially taken with the Eddi Reader tracks, which come from her album Eddi Reader Sings The Songs of Robert Burns. More about it here: she sings her own innovative arrangements of Burns folksongs. For instance, there's a heartrending minor-key version of "Auld Lang Syne" to a unusual tune resembling "The Unquiet Grave", an exhilarating "The Curragh of Kildare", a dark and driving version of the completely filthy Brose and Butter, and a beautifully orchestrated version of John Anderson, My Jo (above - which was a bawdy song that Burns uncharacteristically cleaned up). The Eddi Reader website has samples: see Eddi Reader Sings The Songs of Robert Burns.

I'd like a chat with whoever - he/she must be local - donated the MP3 player to charity. We might have recommendations to swap.
- Ray

1 comment:

  1. Aye, many a bonny lad lost many a bonny shilling at the Curragh (of Kildare).

    ReplyDelete