RadZ 2024
Greetings From Grolloo
The thinner the stock the wider the scope: two folk-rock stalwarts expand the unexpecting punters’ horizons.
When Fairporters split from their motherlode, it’s usually with the prospect of creating something special of rather large proportions, yet for every offshoot spearheaded by Ashley Hutchings, Iain Matthews, Sandy Denny or Richard Thompson, there have always been smaller but no less interesting projects such as this. Even though guitarist Nicol and violinist Sanders recorded a few albums in similar couplings – the former with Dave Swarbrick, the latter with Gordon Giltrap – and ventured out as a duo from time to time for years now, Simon and Ric didn’t get to issue a platter credited solely to them. That’s what makes the document of the pair’s Dutch outing all the more unique and amazing – and not only that.
Whereas lesser artists who turn acoustic might want to stick to stripped takes on their classic pieces, these mainstays of electric folk scene offer their audience just two familiar melodies – of course, the pensively ethereal “Portmeirion” from 1986’s “Expletive Delighted!” which was Fairporters’ first offering to list Sanders as a band member, can’t be deemed as familiar as the immensely tragic “Crazy Man Michael,” the English ensemble’s genuine gem, penned by the other guitarist-and-violinist brace – and a whole array of exciting surprises. While a smattering of traditional tunes, like the elegantly frivolous medley of “Sheriff’s Ride” and “Upton Stick Dance” at the start of this performance or the finale of “The Widow Of Westmorland’s Daughter” – all arranged by Nicol and Sanders – are par for the course here, the intimate atmosphere of some of it is not. Still, the pair’s sense of humor is at the fore not only of their often educative banter but also of the slightly histrionic seriousness that lies behind their vaudevillian, ragtime-slanted reading of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto and chamber delivery of Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” segueing into McCartney‘s “Here, There And Everywhere”: two most shocking entries in Ric and Simon’s concert repertoire.
Not that the misty-eyed “Over The Lancashire Hills” from Nicol’s solo LP and Sanders’ “Woodworm Swing” or the passionate covers of one Steve Tilston and two Huw Williams cuts seem less impressive in a starker setting, with a bow fluttering over the strings to spice up a robust, albeit delicate, strum and soft vocals; it’s just that the imaginative joining of McTell’s “The Hiring Fair” and Gershwin’s “Summertime” will provide a stronger stylistic contrast. And a wider scope, too – the scope which may hold a lot of genres nobody expected of these veterans. An astounding curio!
*****
