Since the mid-1980s, Richard Thompson has made his studio albums with producer Mitchell Froom, whose trademark recording effects have tended to homogenize the sound of his projects, whether the artists be Los Lobos, Crowded House, or Thompson. For Mock Tudor, his first studio outing in three years, Thompson chose to work with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, who have twiddled the dials for the likes of Beck and the Foo Fighters, and the partnership has resulted in the guitarist's best release in a decade.

Although Thompson demurs from calling Mock Tudor a concept album, it is a song cycle based on impressions of his callow years growing up in the suburbs of London, divided into three segments: Metro land, Heroes in the Suburbs, and Street Cries and Stage Whispers. Working with a band built around drummer Dave Mattacks, bassist Danny Thompson, and Richard's son Teddy on rhythm guitar and vocals, the sound of this album is rawer and more energized than any of the Froom discs, instead reminiscent of prime Thomp son discs like Across a Crowded Room or Hand of Kindness. Many of the new songs display a keen pop sensibility, full of distinctive details such as the sweeping chorus of "Bathsheba Smiles" and the Eastern-tinged guitar fills on "Uninhabited Man."

Thompson's best writing has often come from his vivid portraits of tramps and angels, and the thematic conceit of Mock Tudor provides a rich tapestry upon which Thompson works his magic, whether summoning up yet another hippie goddess on "Cooksferry Queen," depicting a woman with a heart of steel in "Bathsheba Smiles," or portraying a cast of eccentric urban castaways on "Sights and Sounds of London Town." No Thompson album would be complete without a few really gloomy songs, and Mock Tudor has two exceptional ones. The atmospheric "Uninhabited Man" is a vivid portrait of a once-vital person rendered emotionally vacant. "Hope You Like the New Me" is a creepy, cynical ballad about identity theft.

Thompson pulls off a convincing soul ballad with "Dry My Tears and Move On," and returns to the ersatz ska of "Two Left Feet" for the crisp "Crawl Back Under My Stone." "Walking the Long Miles Home" vividly captures the feeling of walking through deserted London streets after missing the night bus. No recent Thompson albums have been free of clunkers, and Mock Tudor is no exception. "Two-Faced Love" has little new to say, and "Hard on Me" is stadium rock blooze at its worst, although it does include a couple of scorching guitar solos. On balance, however, the disc is a welcome return to form for one of contemporary music's brightest lights. - Michael Parrish (Downers Grove, IL)

Kíla
Tóg é Go Bog é
Green Linnet GLCD 3128 (1999)

Just as the world was being overrun by the latest wave of tradition-based Irish groups — mostly bright-eyed, nimble-fingered, harmonious and all that, but beginning to sound terribly alike — along comes Kíla, a seven-person band based in Dublin whose percussion-rich musical fusion on their first North American release brings to mind the excitement that surrounded the debut of Moving Hearts nearly 20 years ago.

Kíla's crew of multi-instrumentalists and Irish-language vocalists have diverse credits among them, including backing work with the experimental world music duo Dead Can Dance, classic country singer George Hamilton IV, and dance lord Michael Flatley, as well as writing and performing film soundtracks. The five songs and nine instrumentals on Tóg é Go Bog é (which translates to "Take It Easy") mix and match the usual Celtic fiddle, flute, pipes and fretted things with hammered dulcimer, occasional horns, and what often sounds like a roomful of percussive objects from various cultures, including assorted African and Asian drums, mussel shells, and llama toenails. (Yes, llama toenails.) The result sounds like a great roaring Irish session that started up in a well-stocked international instrument shop.

Lead vocalist and songwriter Rónán Ó Snodaigh often sounds like a jubilant tribal shout singer, turning his Irish lyrics into yet another pounding rhythm instrument as he jumps and scats through the songs. "Ón Taobh Tuathail Amach" ("From The Inside Out") is a horn-powered Afro-Celtic chant with a message of peace that practically forces you to get up and dance, as does the equally propulsive title track, a hypnotic, call-and-response mix of chorus voices and drums. "Leanfaidh Mé" ("I'll Keep Going") is another richly rhythmic chorus piece with an uplifting theme that sounds like Ladysmith Black Mambazo singing in Gaelic.

The instrumental tracks sound a little more mainstream Celtic and less African but share the same sense of joy and spontaneity. "Gwerzy" is a Breton-style dance tune where fiddle and hammered dulcimer player Dee Armstrong alternates instruments as flute player Colm Ó Snodaigh lays a layer of bright notes on top. Uillean piper Eoin Dillion solos on the drone-rich "Siege of Carrickfinn International Airport." There are a couple quiet sets, like the ethereal "Jasmine," featuring flute and acoustic guitar with pipes and accordion in the background, and faster, louder mixes, like the quasi-jig "Oh to Kiss Katie." It's consistently creative, exciting, and fun. Welcome, Kíla, to the major leagues of contemporary Irish music. — Tom Nelligan (Waltham, MA)

Bob Hart
A Broadside
Musical Traditions MT CD 301-2

It's hard to pinpoint the most remarkable thing about this double CD release from Musical Traditions. At 46 songs, it's probably the most extensive recording of material from a traditional English singer ever released. Also, despite Hart's being well-recorded (in the 1970s he had a full LP, and seven tracks on compilations, released by Topic Records), this CD is made up entirely of unreleased versions from 1969, making it something of a "time capsule" or "lost album." And, perhaps a point with more far-reaching implications, it's a burned-to-order CD set, a pair of discs made up on a PC and a CD writer. This eliminates the need for a "run," and thus much of the production cost associated with a low-budget, small-demand genre like traditional singing.

What exactly is a traditional singer? The most conservative of definitions will do for Hart. He was a farm worker and a fisherman and sang for recreation. He was well regarded in the sizeable community of traditional singers in the Snape and Blaxhall area of East Suffolk. So what does A Broadside tell us about a traditional singer's repertoire in the late 1960s? Such a repertoire was more eclectic than Hart's Topic recordings would suggest. Hart does sing old ballads like "Barbara Allen" and "The Foggy Dew," and folk standards like "The Banks of Sweet Primroses," "Underneath Her Apron," and "John Barleycorn." His repertoire was also well peppered with nautically themed songs from his days at sea; these include "Blow the Man Down," "Cod banging-O," "A Young Sailor Cut Down in His Prime," and the title song, "A Broadside." His experience as a soldier in World War I is reflected in sentimental military songs like "Comrades" and "Just Before the Battle, Mother." And he also sang many sentimental and comic pop songs from Tin Pan Alley and the music hall, like "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen," "His Day's Work Was Done" and "What a Funny Little Place to Have One."

Hart sings with a tightness in the throat, a hint of vibrato, and clear, careful pronunciation. His voice itself is clear and rather sweet. As a result, he doesn't really sound like anybody else. On these recordings, it's obvious that he really enjoyed singing, that he savored the words and the notes as he produced them, the way all convincing singers do. The result is a very pleasing album to listen to. However, that comes with a caveat: Not every one will love it. Traditional singing is not "easy listening" by any means, and 144 minutes of it can be draining. Some of the tracks have a very low-fi sound, and some of them sound as though Hart himself was tired. So it's not something to put on in the background, nor is it conventionally "listenable" from beginning to end. It will work best for people who want a document of Hart's repertoire or of Suffolk singing, as well as for people who want to learn some fine English songs. For them (for us), it's a rare gem, indeed. — Steve Winick (Philadelphia. PA)