A New Guitar Compilation From Ireland Sure To Please

as well recorded as it is played

No apologies need to be made for this musically and sonically attractive collection of contemporary Irish guitarists and their music, yet the compilation producer Cian Nugent, who also contributes a tune, felt it necessary and does so in his annotation. "Passing a Dublin tourist trap pub, the sound of a plastic piezo strum can elicit horror in the passerby". "But", he adds "the guitar can also be a tool for dreaming and mystery".

And that's what he presents in this ten track anthology, which begins with David Murphy's pedal steel rendering of "The March of The King of Laois"—a traditional tune as are the majority here, though Aonghus McEvoy's "Cry, Want" is a cover of a Jimmy Giuffre composition from his 1961 Verve album Fusion by The Jimmy Giuffre 3—the two others being Paul Bley and Steve Swallow.

No apologies necessary for Irish recording quality, that is for sure, as most Tracking Angle readers know. Windmill Lane Recording Studios produces notoriously good sounding recordings. No studios are listed for this compilation but the sound quality is uniformly excellent—natural-sounding and intimate and not bathed in excess reverb. Think John Fahey not Irish pub!

Though nothing presented is less than compelling and worthwhile, the highlight for me is the guitar transcription of "Cry, Want", perfectly placed second to the end of side two, which concludes with Sean Carpio's melancholic "Labour of Love" bathed in just the right amount of regretful reverb.

The manufactured somewhere in Poland pressing was as drop dead quiet as this music requires and it's housed in an attractive jacket with an equally so inner sleeve. Buy this. You won't be disappointed putting it on the same shelf as your Fahey, Jansch and Renbourn records.

Available directly from Tompkins Square Records