Description
The Battlefield Band is a Scottish folk music group that has been around since the mid-1970s. Anthem for the Common Man is their ninth album and it incorporates pop-influenced instrumentation and arrangements. Dougie Pincock and Alistair Russell join Brian McNeill and Alan Reid for the first time on this album, and their addition may have transformed the band's instrumental composition. Anthem for the Common Man is still deeply rooted in Celtic forms, as McNeill's lilting ballad The Snows of France and Holland, hypnotic jigs such as Ina MacKenzie and even the tender reading of Richard Thompson's The Old Changing Way demonstrate.
The Battlefield Band have long been one of Scotland's finest
keepers of the regional folk music tradition. While the group's
earliest releases--which date to the mid-'70s--were steadfastly
true to their Celtic roots, 1984's ANTHEM FOR THE COMMON MAN--their
ninth release--expands the band's sound by incorporating
pop-influenced instrumentation and arrangements. ANTHEM also
signals a change in personnel; founders Brian McNeill and Alan Reid
are joined here for the first time by Dougie Pincock and Alistair
Russell. In part, the addition of Pincock and Russell may have
transformed the band's instrumental composition, since the usual
arsenal of fiddles, citterns, mandocello, pipes, flutes and
mandolins is augmented by the presence of electric guitars,
keyboards, and drum computers. Fans of the band's older material
needn't be alarmed, however, as the songs are still deeply grounded
in Celtic forms, as McNeill's lilting ballad The Snows of France
and Holland, hypnotic jigs such as Ina MacKenzie and even the
tender reading of Richard Thompson's The Old Changing Way
demonstrate.
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