Track Listing

1. Keepers
2. Back O' The North Wind
3. Our Glens (Leave Us)
4. Strong Women Rule Us With All Their Tears
5. Back Of The Aisler
6. Nowhere Else To Go
7. Yellow On The Broom
8. Birnie Bouzle
9. Birks Of Invermay
10. Star O' The Bar
11. Here's Health Tae The Sauters
12. Battle Of Waterloo
13. Soor Milk Cairt
14. Let Us Drink And Go Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51373 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Another great CD from the Macs - if not quite their best.
A solid contribution to the McCalmans' enormous recording history. It is not their most consistent or varied CD (I am very much a devotee of "Songs from Scotland" and "Flames on the Water"), but nevertheless there is much to love here, and there are some stand-out tracks, including the lively "The Back of the North Wind" and the moving "Battle of Waterloo". "Nowhere Else to Go" and "Keepers" are not among Nick Keir's best work, but they certainly aren't bad - the man has high standards. "Our Glens" is not beautiful music, but the lyrics are another great example of the Macs' use of rather melancholy hilarity, with an almost Gilbertian lack of shame about comic bad rhyming.

As usual the voices and instrumentation are both wonderful. The bodhran and voices arrangement of "Birnie Bouzle" is beautifully stark - and demonstrates how little they need the rather fussy accompaniments that interfere in one or two of the other tracks. It also shows off the late Derek Moffat's voice beautifully. There are no solely instrumental numbers this time, which is a shame (although the Macs are notoriously self-deprecatingly about their instrumental playing....).

The songs chosen as usual are a mixture of recent writings and traditional songs, and cover a wide variety of subjects, from the historical to the contemporary, and there is a good deal of the characteristic McCalmans subversiveness, not least in Nick Keir's comically environmentalist "Nowhere Else to Go", and the lovely "Strong Women Rule Us All with Their Tears", a Brian McNeill song which praises Flora MacDonald very much at the expense of Bonnie Prince Charlie...

Pleasingly the recording quality is excellent on this album - better than on some earlier albums such as "Scottish Songs".

I should also add that, wonderful as the Macs are to listen to on CD, they are even better live.

Best ever album from Scotland's most entertaining folk band
As someone who (sadly?) has all of the twenty plus McCalmans albums listed in their discography, 'Keepers' has quality oozing from every track. The title track is evocative, giving full rein to the band's harmony and instrumental accompaniments. There is variety throughout the album, with tracks 4 and 7 being particular favourites, attracting use of the 'repeat' function on the CD player. On the other hand, there is never any temptation to skip any of the 14 tracks.

Arrangements lend colour to the songs - traditional and modern - and a there is a striking match between the band's high quality recording and their live performances of the same songs. The fact that this album is enjoyed by our teenage children as well as my wife and I speaks volumes for the appeal of this excellent album. A fine addition to the collection

One of the best of over twenty McCalmans albums
This excellent and entertaining Scottish folk band has produced one of its finest collections of songs with the release of 'Keepers'. With strong and singable harmony lines supporting evocative melodies, the songs capture some of the variety of Scotland.

Particular favourites are 'Yellow on the Broom', describing the frustrating and limiting winter of a tinker family whose real life is on the road rather than being cooped up in a 'scheme' and 'Strong Women Rule Us All With Their Tears' which questions some of the romantic pictures of Bonnie Prince Charlie through the eyes of a woman watching her man don a redcoat uniform to fight for George after having fought for the Young Pretender years earlier.

The title track 'Keepers' takes the listener around the coast of Scotland, with Nick Keir's lyrics and melody providing a haunting vehicle for describing the lonelier points of the Scottish seaboard, occupied until recently by a hardy breed of lighthouse keepers. Visitors to the Ardnamurchan lighthouse exhibition will relate to this song.

The brisker side of the band's music is also here, with 'Back of the Aisler','Birnie Bouzle' and 'Here's a Health to the Sauters'. 'Our Glens' is a song to make the drinker smile and is from a stable which is always a hallmark of McCalmans gigs wherever they go.

A good benchmark for this album is how much our family want to listen to it. Music to keep a 17 year old, 15 year old and 12 year old happy as well as parents is remarkable indeed and shows how the McCalmans can appeal to a wide range through their music, style and humour.

I have almost a full collection of McCalmans music so must admit to being a 'fan'. I rate this as one of their finest collections with 14 strong and varied tracks. Folk singers will find new material here too, and enjoy singing it.

To those who have never seen the band, take the opportunity when you can! They're extremely entertaining, relate well to their audiences and produce the same high quality sound live as they do in the studio. If you have seen them, then you will not be disappointed by their latest offering...