 | | Reviews | | |  EDDI READER
Sings The Songs Of Robert Burns
Rough Trade RTRADECD97
"I sang My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose to a bunch of 'worse for the drink' people in a Glasgow bar one cold January night and I felt something happening between me and the words and the people listening, something profoundly moving." Thus inspired, Eddi Reader's impassioned dive into the centuries-old word-pool of Scottish national bard Robert Burns taps right into a rich emotional seam that's just been waiting for this moment.
While the lush strings of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra may occasionally be a tad high on shmaltz-factor, Kevin McCrae's orchestral arrangements fit Reader's emotional interpretations like a dream and meld beautifully with the contribution of a slew of top folk musicians (Ian Carr, Phil Cunningham, Colin Reid, Ewen Vernal) under the musical direction of Boo Hewerdine and John McCusker.
Through songs of love, friendship, social observation and political comment all pervaded by Burns' earthy attitude to drink and women, Reader gives it her all from soft-focus ballad to tartan romp with love in every breath. There's the devotional Ae Fond Kiss, the bawdy Brose And Butter, the brilliantly anarchic version of Charlie Is My Darling where we meet the album's folkier cast members masquerading as a jazz band in a brothel - many a familiar song or verse rendered anew with insight and playfulness and prompting an unexpected tear or two in the passing.
If you thought that Robert Burns was for the highbrow or that this album would be worthily precious, think again. Reader's aim was to get under the skin of Burns' work, to spread the word of this most earthy and human of poets. Mission accomplished!
Mel McClellan - July 2003
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Folk & Acoustic
