The Columbia
Gypsy 
BATTLEFIELD BAND
Time & Tide
Temple (2002)
http://www.battlefieldband.co.uk
Battlefield has undergone a bunch of personnel changes since I first heard them in the 80s, after responding to a line on an LP that said "Scotland Like You Never Heard It Before." In the past couple of years, this well-known quasi-traditional folk band has changed their fiddler from former enfant terrible John McCusker to Alasdair White, and their vocalist/frettist from the late Davy Steele to currently-Malinky's Karine Polwart to Pat Kilbride...actually it seems more complicated than this. So here's a new CD with the new lineup (a line which I've heard before) and a new version of the old sound. I think it sounds a little crisper and less pop-influenced.
The larger change in sound seems to be with vocals from Pat Kilbride, who is Irish. His original
but traditional-influenced "Camden Town" is set in an Irish section of Central London, and
though he doesn't have much of an accent, what is there is not Scottish. Slightly esoteric, it is
deals with music and with something else bigger:
I've sailed upon your waters dark, I've seen you from the sky,
I've tunneled underneath your heart but still you pass me by.
Maybe this metaphor is the ocean, the time and tide itself, the great life force.
Battlefield original Alan Reid does sing Scottish, and his best song here is a charming pretty,
almost magical "Nancy Whiskey" taken from Robin Laing's contemplative "alternative" which
you can hear as well in Robin's fine album about alcohol. Alan's there also with his usual
historical composition. This one, "The Bonny Jeannie Deans," is about a now retired
paddlewheeler of Clyde that he remembers from his childhood.
My name is William Geddes I was once her engineer
They said for fun that I would race the seagulls.
[This reminds me of the story of a Columbia River paddlewheeler which made a record run after
which the captain turned in his license because he knew he'd endangered his passengers. I guess
this isn't the place to tell it.]
If Mike Katz doesn't have a flute in his mouth accompanying these songs, he has the great highland pipes. You can hear his familiar skillful bellows voice as the album commences with the "She Put A Knee In the Old Man" set, to which he has contributed two of his own compositions. There are slightly new sounds here, though. Alasdair White's fiddle seems a little sweeter and more fluid than John McCusker's did. The frets also seem a little "plunkier." Alan Reid's keyboards seem less conspicuous. An exceptionally fluid piece is the "If Cadillac Made Tractors" track, this time featuring Alasdair's compositions. One moment it's Mike on small pipes, the next it's Alasdair on smooth fiddle. In duet they are hard to separate. "The Walking Nightmare" tune on fiddle and guitar seems a little darker than most but the set slowly lightens to what you would expect from Battlefield.
I see on the Battlefield web site where Colin Irwin has praised the solid, expert, gimmickless style on this album, and it would be wise for me to second the opinion!
The Columbia
Gypsy