Different Tongues (PUG CD 005)

A recording filled with songs of sailors, poachers, highwaymen, sinister
strangers, deserted lovers, and supernatural revelations, not forgetting a
Richard Thompson cover. Some nice melodeon tunes too, and accompaniment
from Jeff Davis, Gordon Tyrrall and others.

Jolly Roving Tar (MP3); All Around My Hat; Nottingham Castle / The Spa; The
Outlandish Knight; Bold Lovell (MP3),Mr. Moore's Hornpipe / The Red Otter; The
Bonny Bunch Of Roses-O; Pretty Nancy Of Yarmouth; Sailor's Delight /
Cobblers' Hornpipe; Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still; The Gallant Poacher;
Two Sisters; Pretty Maggie / Marquis Of Huntley's Reel / The Dead Cow;
Waltzing's For Dreamers; The Water's Edge

From The Living Tradition
Different Tongues
Many of Brian Peters previous albums have highlighted his magnificent instrumental playing, especially on melodeon and concertina (see Squeezing Out Sparks for instance) and although there are a few tune sets on this new offering, this time he has concentrated on songs, He has a fine ear for choosing material and has assembled a really excellent batch, which are performed to his usual high standard. It's great to hear All Around My Hat restored from a chugalong pub thrash to a thoughtful, wistful beautiful song once again.

The album is nicely varied with slower, wistful songs like Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still juxtaposed with the drive of Bold Lovell. The accompaniments are sensitive and beautifully done, with some particularly effective fiddle from Jeff Davis and lovely guitar from Gordon Tyrell to complement Brian's squeezers and guitar. For me, the highlight is the unaccompanied version of The Outlandish Knight, a superb version (from Irish Traveller Bill Cassidy) which is given a superb performance, nicely paced and quite riveting. A lot of the best albums don't require much to be said: I think this is Brian Peters' finest album to date -and that's saying something.
Paul Burgess