No’am Newman wrote this review which first ran on Green Man Review.
Cuillin may be the next big name in folk rock music; they also may supernova and explode in several directions.
Let me explain: Cuillin (pronounced “cool in”) are a six-piece group hailing from the Atlantic side of Canada. Judging by the notices posted on their Web site, they have recently wowed many audiences during their recent tour of America. Almost every track on this, their self-titled debut album, could find a home in the folk rock hall of fame. Their problem is that they tend towards the schizophrenic, following at least three styles of music simultaneously. To make matters worse, two of the personnel listed on the disc (including the lead singer) appear to be no longer with the group, having been replaced by others.
The disc (ten tracks, 45 minutes long) starts with an enthusiastic cover of The Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s blues”; interspersed with the song are two traditional tunes (“Dan Collin’s Father’s Jig” and “The Konnaught Man’s Rumble”) which are played in unison by violin and whistle. The result is a fine piece of folk which rocks.
The second track is a pleasing violin-led instrumental entitled “Orange Crash” and is composed of four different tunes: “Crash” (written by Dave Matthews), and the traditional tunes “Mountain Lark,” “Green Hills Of Tyrol,” and “Mouth Of The Tobique.” Following this is the traditional sea shanty “Haul Away Joe,” which is given a very modern rendition; this begins with a violent electric guitar chopping out a reggae-like rhythm, before bowing out to a more conventional violin folk rock sound. Cuillin bring more changes on this one track than some groups would do on an entire album.
Following this is “Ready For The Storm,” in which vocalist Arthur O’Brien’s rough but powerful vocals are accompanied by a lone acoustic guitar — singer/songwriter time. This is followed inexplicably by the long “The Witch Of The West-Mer Lands,” also an acoustic guitar-based song. This is the only example of poor sequencing, putting two very similar sounding songs next to each other. As is common with many of the songs written by Archie Fisher, “Witch” has many verses and little harmonic content; it thus occupies more than its fair share of the disc’s playing time and is probably the weakest track of all.
“Major Dipstick” is one of the more controversial tracks on this recording: manic bagpipes play two traditional-sounding but modern tunes (“Drum Major Bruce Downie” and “The Appropriate Dipstick”) to the accompaniment of assertive drums and various distorted sounds. It would be very interesting to see what reaction this tune would get on the local disco’s dance floor! This track also owes more than a nod to Eliza Carthy’s drum’n'bass experiments on her Red album from two years ago.
The hit single comes next, being a cover of Split Enz’ “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” — perfect commercial folk rock. I don’t know whether this actually has been released as a single, but it ought to be, as it would garner much airplay. The disc is rounded out by a pair of pleasing instrumentals.
In some senses, I can see parallels with the early Fairport Convention: they were a six-piece which constantly underwent personnel changes, their first album was an exercise in eclecticism and multiple directions, and they went on to make the first landmark record in folk rock. I sincerely hope that Cuillin stay together and find their direction, because on the basis of this disc, their second should be the folk rock record of the 21st century.
(Turtle Music, 2000)
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