It was a thrill to see Fleetwood Mac live in 2010 at their Glasgow gig! I remember listening to their Rumours album often and I loved the edge and rock n roll in Stevie Nicks voice and songs, and the stirring voice and piano of Christine McVie. They consisted of two couples; English Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie, and Americans Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks - which brought together British rock and Californian singer songwriter cool. The ensuing sexual tensions led to their most successful and ‘before break ups’ album – Rumours.
(This was making me think of other renowned albums that were also written as bands were breaking apart – maybe emotions were running high! Bridge Over Troubled Water with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle, the Beatle’s Abbey Road – I feel sure there are more!
They were simply such a cool band – and they are still out there touring today. Favourite Fleetwood Mac songs – Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Angels, Rhiannon, Songbird,
The last time I saw Rab play a gig ( at the Oran Mor Glasgow, review on my blog) the venue was not so busy, so it was good to see a full house for him tonight at Celtic.
Friends of Rab’s joined him on stage. Rod Clements of Lindisfarne sang Turn a Deaf Ear with Rab. Jimmy McGregor who was on Scottish television music shows in the 60s, talked of the Skiffle groups and he sang Mormond Breas and Freight Train with Rab. Noakes sang some of his older songs such as Eden’s Flow, Turn a Deaf Ear and Clear Day. He also performed a selection of his newer songs.
Noakes sang his very deep Gently Does It when he talked about all those artists he’d lost in the past year, including Gerry Rafferty. Lyrics, ‘You’ve been n the road so long, Building a highway to take you home.’ Sang Noakes in Living in the Past, ‘The past is a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. Old dreams tie you down.’ Nostalgia also came up in his song Memories.
He always includes one older song and tonight it was the classic Bye Bye Blackbird with Frazer on harmonica.
In between the songs Noakes talked about the story behind his songs. Noakes lets the songs come to him and he doesn’t force anything. He understands the meaning and depth of the songs he interprets and for him it’s all about the narrative. Noakes also talked about the movies that have inspired his work, such as 'Midnight Cowboy' inspiring his song 'I'm Walking Here.'
For his encore song he sang Dylan’s Mississippi. Many of his songs have strong blue grass and Americana influences. Rab has drawn on his Scottish Fife roots and taken on board American artists that he grew up with. I thought about how our music went over to America and then bounced back here!
Rab took to the stage at the Strathclyde Suite concert hall 31st January. I was wishing there was a ‘Best of’ album of Noakes songs! http://www.go2neon.com/rab-noakes.htm
Mànran entertained us with a fun set of tunes at the Late Sessions stage for the BBC Radio at Celtic Connections 2012 on Thursday 2nd February. Manran is a young Scottish band whose style of playing incorporates Gaelic traditions, Scottish folk music and rock The members of the band are Norrie MacIver (guitar/vocals), Gary Innes (accordion), Ewen Henderson (fiddle/pipes), Calum Stewart (flutes/uilleann pipes), Ross Saunders (bass) and Scott Mackay (drums). The band made No 6 in the UK indie chart and in the Scottish Singles chart with their first single Latha Math. http://manran.co.uk/
Scottish piper Fred Morrisonperformed a very enjoyable set of Scottish tunes at Celtic Connections 2012,the Late Sessions stage for the BBC Radio on Tuesday 31st January with Tim O'Brien. Morrison plays the Great Highland Bagpipes, the bellows-blown reel pipes, the Irish Uileann pipes, and the low whistle. He is one of the world's leading pipers and is a renowned composer of music for the bagpipes. His father taught him through the traditional method of canntairachd, the sung vocables used to convey pipe music before notation. "I hear that singing in my head every time I play." He has played with Clan Alba with Dick Gaughan and also with Capercaille. He co-arrange the music for the film Rob Roy. In 2006 he formed the Fred Morrison Band with Paul Jennings, Duncan Lyall, Douglas Miller and Innes Watson. Morrison's album Outlands was released in 2009.http://www.fredmorrison.com/
