Customer Reviews

To the Moon

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Scotland's Capercaillie is one of those bands that always seems able to keep at the forefront of folk. Some traditionalists will decry their flirtation with other sounds and other traditions, because "To The Moon" has an undeniably multicultural feel to it - as though Rob Roy took a quick trip to Spain and the Middle-east, and met some Moors along the way.

While the voice of Karen Matheson has been one of the band's deserved trump cards, this album also highlights the undoubted talents of the other members of Capercaillie. Irish-born guitar/bouzouki player and vocalist Manus Lunny contributes the heartbreaking "Claire in Heaven". Sung from the viewpoint of a child who has died after just 3 days of life, the song is set to a defiantly up-beat tune. Also up-beat is "The Crooked Mountain", a strong song by accordionist/keyboard player Donald Shaw.

It is hard to pick out other highlights on an album that doesn't have a single bad track on it. John Saich's "The Price of Fire" must by any standards be considered a beautiful song - by turns brooding, deep and defiant. Donald Shaw's tasteful keyboard work perfectly complements Karen Mathieson at her most plaintive. Oddly there is little about the song that would define it as Scottish folk, other than a delightful touch of whistle.

Another less Scottish piece, "La Paella Grande", tugs the forelock to Spanish and middle-eastern influences, then turns into a bopping song with an infectious pro-environmental hook. The "Rob Roy Reels", reworked from the soundtrack of the film, are more traditional Scottish instrumentals. The small-pipes of new member Fred Morrison feature strongly.

"To The Moon" shows a top band flexing its musical and songwriting muscles, and going beyond their native Scotland to do so. Traditionalists needn't fear the result, while newcomers will find a beguilingly thoughtful mix of songs and tunes growing out of the Scottish tradition.

This album was my favourite Capercaillie offering for quite awhile; it has a little bit of everything. Many of the songs are of a slow, haunting persuasion, but there's also a country-esque track ("Crooked Mountain"), and a couple rockier numbers. The highlight of the CD is definitely "Ailean Duinn"; this is the beautiful studio version of the song Karen Matheson sang around the bonfire in "Rob Roy". Another part of that movie made its way onton "To The Moon": the "Rob Roy Reels", which feature Michael McGoldrick, whose continuing collaboration with Capercaillie has only made a great band even better.

The best song on the whole CD is Ailein Duinn. But, I personally think that that one song was worth the price of the entire CD. The rest of the songs sounded like traditional folk music.