Track Listing

1. SONG FOR IRENA - MIKE HERON & JOHN BURNSIDE
2. STEAM COMES OFF OUR HOUSE - DE ROSA & MICHEL FABER
3. A CALVINIST NARROWLY AVOIDS PLEASURE - JAMES YORKSTON & BILL DUNCAN
4. DREAMCATCHER - FOXFACE & RODY GORMAN
5. A SENTIMENTAL SONG - ALUN WOODWARD & ALASDAIR GRAY
6. THE SIXTH STONE - AIDAN MOFFAT & IAN RANKINE
7. GIRL - NORMAN BLAKE & JOHN BURNSIDE
8. THE GOOD YEARS - KARINE POLWART & EDWIN MORGAN
9. THE WAR ON LOVE SONG - SONS AND DAUGHTERS & A L KENNEDY
10. THE LEAVING - ALISDAIR ROBERTS & ROBIN ROBERTSON
11. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE - STRIKE THE COLOURS & RODY GORMAN
12. IF YOU LOVE ME YOU'D DESTROY ME - AEREOGRAMME & HAL DUNCAN
13. THE REBEL ON HIS OWN TONIGHT
14. HALF AN APPLE - TRASHCAN SINATRAS & ALI SMITH
15. THE FIRE - VASHTI BUNYAN & RODGE GLASS
16. WHERE AND WHEN - KING CREOSOTE & LAURA HIRD
17. JESUS ON THE CROSS - EMMA POLLOCK & LOUISE WELSH
18. THE WEIGHT OF YEARS - IDLEWILD & EDWIN MORGAN

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49261 in Music
• Released on: 2007-03-05
• Number of discs: 1

About the Artist
Chemikal Underground Records are proud to announce the release, in March 2007, of Ballads Of the Book, an elaborately ambitious project featuring some of Scotland's best writers and musicians.

The brainchild of Idlewild's Roddy Woomble, Ballads Of The Book began as a simple idea to bring together the literary talents of Scotland's writing community with a diverse range of new and established recording artists. Following Idlewild's work with Edwin Morgan on their Remote Part album, Roddy wanted to explore the possibilities of more artistic collaborations with various writers providing original lyrics for recording artists to interpret in whichever way they saw fit. Having enlisted the enthusiastic support of the Scottish Arts Council and with Chemikal Underground onboard, it wasn't long before the nascent idea and fledgling list of interested parties flourished into a brilliantly realised collection of songs: as musically eclectic as they were elegantly poetic.

From the literary world, the list of those involved reads like a who's who of the great and the good in Scottish literature. The giants of Edwin Morgan and Alasdair Gray rub shoulders with cutting edge, contemporary writers like Ali Smith, A L Kennedy, Louise Welsh and Ian Rankin. Esteemed poets like Robin Robertson, Bill Duncan and Rody Gorman feature alongside successful writers and novelists like Michel Faber, Alan Bissett, Laura Hird, Rodge Glass, Hal Duncan and John Burnside.

From the musical world there is a rich collection of both established artists and upcoming, even unsigned acts. Idlewild, James Yorkston, Norman Blake, Sons And Daughters, Karine Polwart, King Creosote, Alasdair Roberts and The Trashcan Sinatras contribute tracks alongside Chemikal Underground acts Aereogramme and De Rosa. There are rare appearances from Vashti Bunyan as well as The Incredible String Band's Mike Heron as well as solo performances from Emma Pollock and Malcolm Middleton. First time incarnations also feature for ex-Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat (Aidan Moffat And The Best Ofs) and ex-Delgado Alun Woodward (Lord Cut-Glass) in addition to the (as-yet) unsigned talents of Strike The Colours and Foxface.

The album cover is an original, specially commissioned artwork by Alasdair Gray and the genesis of the project is the subject of a film documentary due to be broadcast by Scottish Television around the release. Live performances in support of the album are scheduled for Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January of next year, with additional launch events, acoustic performances and talks by the writers and musicians planned around the release also.

In short, Ballads Of The Book is an extraordinarily ambitious and original piece of work: simplistic in its origins and imaginatively executed, it's hard to imagine an album with more impeccable credentials.

Customer Reviews

A masterful selection of modern scottish music and writing.....
This collection of colloborations between scottish writers and musicians really suprised me, the standard is very high with a varied collection of folk and alternative interpretations of writers poetry.

Tracks 1-13 almost run like a perfect album, the scottish accents blending in with some beautiful arrangements. The stand outs for me are the Malcolm Middleton and De Rosa tracks. One is all effects laden guitar and spoken dialogue,the other a loud,folky lament.

Dont forget the writers here too: Edwin Morgan,John Burnside,Alisdair Gray,Ian Rankin and many others deliver some fine lyrics. Rankin tells the tale of "the fifth stone" while Burnside supplies some dark and brooding material.

Organized by Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble, this is a superb project supported by the scottish arts council and easily one of the best works of 2007 so far!.