Live Again (album)

Live Again is the 12th release from legendary Scottish folk band Silly Wizard. The album contains a complete recording of their 1983 live concert from Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The project was released exclusively through the Birnam CD Online Shop on 16 February 2012. It is the first release from the band in 24 years.

Overview

The performance on Live Again was originally recorded in October 1983 at Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the time, the band was touring as a quartet as long-time fiddle player Johnny Cunningham had left to live in the United States. For this concert, however, Silly Wizard invited Johnny along to join them on-stage which proved to be the catalyst for him to rejoin the band permanently. The concert went on to be widely regarded as the definitive Silly Wizard performance as the band stormed through a set full of Wizard favourites such as the Andy M. Stewart–penned songs "Queen of Argyll" and the ever-popular "Ramblin' Rover", as well as traditional songs including "Donald MacGillavry" and "The Broom o' the Cowdenknowes". At the end of the show, the band were given a lengthy standing ovation from the sell-out crowd of 1,200.

The concert recording and post-production was funded entirely by the band themselves, with accordion player Phil Cunningham personally taking charge of production back in Edinburgh. After the mixing was completed the recordings were licensed to companies in Scotland and the USA for release on vinyl and cassette. Originally the recordings were released as two separate albums, Golden, Golden and Live in America. In 1988 the American company released a shortened CD version as Live Wizardry, which omitted two of the instrumental sets from the original releases.

The idea to re-master and re-package the complete album had been around for some time and was taken on by bass player Martin Hadden whose business Birnam CD had been established as Scotland's leading CD and DVD production company for many years. The original master tapes were retrieved from Edinburgh's REL Studios and sent to London to be carefully (due to their age) transferred to a digital format. From there, the tracks were sent north to David Shearer at Norwick Mastering in Wick to be digitally re-mastered. As an added bonus to fans, Martin persuaded Scotland's finest music journalist Alastair Clark to briefly come out of retirement to write a fresh appreciation of the band for the release. Alastair's words were then included in the album's final package, along with gathered memorabilia such as rare archive photos, original concert tickets and posters, all of which were integrated into the final artwork by Birnam CD's graphic designer Mike Garden. The completed album was released exclusively through Birnam CD's Online Shop on 16 February 2012 and attracted orders from around the world within the first few days of going live.

Track listing

Reels: "The Green Fields of Glentown" / "The Galtee Reel" / "Bobby Casey's Number Two" / "A. B. Corsie: The Lad from Orkney" – 3:42
"The Queen of Argyll" – 3:24
"The Valley of Strathmore" – 7:16
"The Parish of Dunkeld" / "The Curlew" – 4:09
John & Phil – Reels: "The Humours of Tulla" / "Toss the Feathers" / "Saint Anne's Reel" / "Lexy Macaskill" / "The Limerick Lasses" / "Jean's Reel" / "The Musical Priest" – 9:10
Reels: "Mrs Martha Knowles" / "The Pitnacree Ferryman" / "The New Bob" – 3:12
"The Ramblin' Rover" – 3:18
"The Banks of the Lee" – 4:53
Reels: Miss Shepherd" / "Sweeney's Buttermilk" / "McGlinchey's Reel" – 3:50
"Donald MacGillavry" / "O'Neill's Cavalry March" – 3:56
"The Blackbird" – 7:49
Jigs: Scarce o' Tatties" / "Lyndhurst" – 3:23
"Golden Golden" – 4:53
Jigs: "Mac's Fancy" / "The Cliffs Of Moher"; Reels: The Rose of Red Hill" / "Clootie Dumplings" / "The Laird o' Drumblair" / "Sleepy Maggie" – 7:11
"The Broom o' the Cowdenknowes" – 6:35

Personnel

Silly Wizard

Johnny Cunningham – fiddle, vocals
Phil Cunningham – accordion, whistle, keyboards, cittern, vocals
Martin Hadden – electric bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards, vocals
Gordon Jones – acoustic guitar, bodhran, vocals
Andy M. Stewart – lead vocals, tenor banjo, whistles

Production

John Nagy (USA) – engineering
Neil Ross (Scotland) – engineering, mixing
David Shearer – digital re-mastering
Martin Hadden – Live Again re-issue project co-ordinator
Mike Garden (Birnam CD) – graphic design
Silly Wizard – executive producers
Alastair Clark – sleeve notes

External links