Customer Reviews

The Ladies from Hell

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the best military pipe band record I've ever heard. I'd been told about it about a year ago by the pipe major of a local band, but was put off by the name. I figured it was another typical regimental promo CD, with all the old warhorses. What a surprise! This CD has some of the old tunes, but with new arrangements; great jigs and reels; and lots of seconds on many of the tunes. It's one of the most melodious collections you've ever heard.

This is an excelleent CD of the pipes and drums of the 1st battalion, the Black Watch. In recent years the Black Watch has toured the USA many times. Some of the pipe medleys used in their tours are featured here. The Black watch have evolved over the years into a first class pipe band. When pipe Major Alex Brown decided to take the band into civilian competition the quality of the band sound changed. Many of the selections played and the sytle in which they are performed are very modern in technique. The Black Watch has developed a sound which is not unlike most civilian bands these days. While this may be all well and good, it would be nice if the army pipe bands stuck more with the traditional style of playing. This may be asking too much these days I suppose. The Black Watch certainly show that they can do it as well as the civies can. The band has a nice solid sound, and there are some good selections of tunes, including many older favorites, mixed with the newer fare. What makes this CD particularly good are the extensive liner notes compiled by Pipe Major Small, the current PM of 1 BW at the time. The Black Watch use to have one of the best regimental bands in the British army. This gave the BW a fine musical ensemble, and some interesting combined selections were often played by the military band with pipes and drums. It was the military band combined with the pipes that created some of the best tours during 1976, 1979 and 1989 for example, as well as in the golden years when the BW first toured the states in 1958. Unfortunately those days are over, and the 1 BW lives on without its military band today. For those who want a good solid selection played by a fine army pipe band, you can't go wrong here. Black Watch fans will certainly love it, but I urge you also to listen to some of the other fine British army pipe bands out there as well.

For those of you who think the era of military piping is long gone, hold your horses!

1BW's P&D is indeed one of those bands which have managed to "go up" drastically in the recent years. The band's improvement in tuning, steadiness in blowing, as well as unison in playing is obvious when this recording is compared with their previous ones.

Together with a few new 4/4 and Compound Time march sets, the present recording includes some of the tracks and sets that were featured in their last couple of CDs from the North American Tours. Nevertheless, Pipe Major Small's ingenious selection of tunes, his arrangement of the seconds, as well as the addition of a few new reels and jigs in the sets, have made the buying of this CD all worthwhile.

Perhaps the fact that Pipe Major Small himself is much of a good hornpipe/reels/jigs player could be best reflected by the band's great performances in those types of tunes in this recording (e.g.Maxwell's Bonnet, Maggie's Pancakes). Together with some other more traditional marches, such as the Battle of Waterloo and Jacobites By Name, this CD offers an excellent balance between both traditional tunes and those "post-modernist" pipe tunes written by Canadians and Aussies such as Grey and Soul.

For those army piping fans out there who are frustrated at the absence of any recent recordings made by the Scots Grauds, the RSDG, or the Highlanders, 1BW's Ladies From Hell is no doubt a pleasant surprise to all of us.

This is lively, modern piping style. No piano, synthesizers, or band instruments....no nonsense. The Black Watch avoids the technically arcane(often tedious)classical pipe works with names unpronounceable by the un-kilted. Frankly, the music reminds me of the emotionally rousing piping so popular with us "colonials" attending the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle. This is excellent highway music on a frosty morning.

This is a very good cd of a famous band. There is an excellent mix of music on this cd which includes older tunes such as Roses of Prince Charlie and Kilworth Hills, but it also includes newer music like "Kelsey's Wee Reel," the 4-part harmony of "Steam Train to Mallaig" and, one of my favorites, Robert Matheson's "Calypso Piper." The only thing I can say about this cd is that the recording quality isn't great, the drums sound a little muted and the pipes sound a little off, but otherwise this is an excellent cd.

I recently went on a bagpipe CD binge, which included purchasing CD's from the museums of individual regiments themsleves and non-military pipers who'd come highly touted. I have to tell you, it either all sounds the same, or when they stray from what we Americans consider "traditional bagpiping", it sounds corny.

What earned 5 stars for "The Ladies from Hell" is that it's a tight CD. Compared to other pipe and drum CD's, this one is powerfully stirring (the first time I listened to this CD, all I could think about was Sean Connery wading ashore in "The Longest Day" muttering about Dunkirk) and the arrangements are all compact and solid. None of it sounds corny either (which is the most important thing to me).

It's perfect for those black, pre-dawn mornings before work where it's just you and your coffee.

Worth it for the "Rue du Bois" painting on the cover alone.

I was very disappointed in this CD. It is very poor quality and certainly not CD quality, probably due to the original recording.