Mermaid Song

• Artist: The Tannahill Weavers
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1992
• Total Time: 71:52
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: World

Review

The Tannahill Weavers pull off a minor miracle with their ninth release, the breathtaking Mermaid Song. For the first time in over 20 years of recording, the band has made the transition from one album to the next with all but one member intact. Piper Iain MacInnes, who finally found his muse on the group's last effort, Cullen Bay, has been replaced by Kenny Forsyth. Forsyth gels immediately, launching into the opener, "Greenwood Side/The Highland Laddie/Pattie," with a zeal that bodes well for the band's future -- if they can manage to hold onto him. Singer Roy Gullane provides the record's most beautiful ballad, the melancholy seafaring lament "The Cuillins of Rhum." Similar instrumentation and melodies are used to great effect on the album's centerpiece, the epic "The Mermaid's Song/The Herra Boys/Captain Horn/The Fourth Floor." "Come Under My Pladie" is a bawdy tale about the many uses -- or abuses -- of a kilt. Forsyth and co-founder Phil Smillie close the record with a beautiful tin whistle rendition of "The Ass in the Graveyard," bringing the delightful Mermaid Song to a lovely and whimsical end. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Greenwood Side/Highland Laddie/Pattie	Traditional, Neil Dickie	The Tannahill Weavers	(3:10)
Logie O' Buchan	Traditional	The Tannahill Weavers	(3:58)
Elspeth Campbell/Kenny Gilles of Portnalong, Skye/Malcolm Johnstone/Th	Peter MacFarquar, Theodore Douglas, Traditional	The Tannahill Weavers	(4:43)
The Cuillins of Rhum	Gordon Bok, Traditional	The Tannahill Weavers	(3:38)
The Mermaid's Song/The Herra Boys/Captain Horn/The Fourth Floor	Traditional, Gordon Duncan	The Tannahill Weavers	(6:11)
Are Ye Sleeping Maggie?/The Noose and the Ghillie		The Tannahill Weavers	(3:04)
A Bruxa/Unknown	Anton Seoane	The Tannahill Weavers	(3:41)
Come Under My Plaidie		The Tannahill Weavers	(3:44)
Welcome Royal Cherlie/Campbell's Farewell to Redcastle	Traditional	The Tannahill Weavers	(2:39)
Flashmarket Close/Macarther/Colonel Fraser/The Swallow's Tale	Traditional	The Tannahill Weavers	(4:17)
The Ass in the Graveyard	Terry Tulley	The Tannahill Weavers	(2:31)

Credits

Kenny Forsyth (Whistle (Instrument)), Phil Smillie (Mixing), Phil Smillie (Flute), Phil Smillie (Bodhran), The Tannahill Weavers (Arranger), Donald Sanders (Illustrations), Phil Smillie (Whistle (Instrument)), Duncan J. Nicholson (Photography), Les Wilson (Vocals), John Martin (Viola), Phil Smillie (Vocals), Kenny Forsyth (Bagpipes), Les Wilson (Bouzouki), Peter Haigh (Engineer), John Martin (Vocals), Roy Gullane (Vocals), Roy Gullane (Guitar), Les Wilson (Keyboards), Kenny Forsyth (Scottish Small Pipes), Peter Haigh (Mixing), John Martin (Fiddle)