‘Rory McLeod & The Familiar Strangers’ present Rory McLeod’s songs in a fresh and exciting new musical environment and bring a musical depth and range to compliment Rory’s outstanding talents as wordsmith and to match his engaging and earthy performing qualities:

Lyrics see Rory’s song book available through www.rorymcleod.com

All songs made by Rory Mcleod
Arranged by Rory Mcleod and The Familiar Strangers.

Rory McLeod has produced a great album, 21 tunes, songs and stories which carry us on a journey with the wind. The wind and breath are kind of an overall theme on the album and as pointed out in the sleeve notes some of the material is also used in ‘Huff Puff and Away’ a dance-theatre piece for kids by Scottish Dance Company ‘Tabularasa’. Right from the start the rhythm of the tap shoes, percussion and guitar claims your attention, and the voices and syncopated rhythms of breath tells you straight away that here is someone who can tell a story, sing, play and mix it all up into a magic potion.

I think one of the ideas behind this, was to make an album of new songs and stories for children which broke away from the sometimes rather condescending pat-on-the-head approach. It does exactly that, it’s full of poetry and wisdom on life.

Windfall is a story of relativity, how meanings and abstracts exist not in spite of but because of their opposites. This is told in the story of a windfall, a year of good luck, when the apples fell down from the trees and harvest was easy. ‘If some people didn’t have bad luck there would be no luck at all’.

Pernille Rutzou. LIVING TRADITION.

In which the inimitable Rory McLeod joins the likes of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton and Cilla Fisher in making a children’s album. But Rory being Rory is several steps beyond nursery rhymes and while the themes and imagery certainly have child appeal, it carries enough charm and wit to appeal to grown-ups too.

Songs, tunes and monologues all come with that glint in the eye and sideways smile that invariably characterises the McLeod songbook, with invigorating harmonica, trombone, guitar, banjo and all manner of percussion and tap dancing to keep you listening.

A lot of the material is already tried and tested having originated in a theatre piece for children, Huff Puff And Away, performed with the Scottish dance company Tabularasa, and there’s one particularly compelling story, Death In A Nutshell, sometimes told by Taffy Thomas. And if anyone fancies calling on Rory for tea one day, then full and detailed instructions are given in the absurdly infectious Directions song. Fun for all the family.

Colin Irwin.

FOLK ROOTS.

The reverse sleeve photograph depicts the artist wearing a high visibility fluorescent yellow jacket bearing the word ‘INSECURITY’. It’s a wry reflection on the state of mind that appears to have driven Mcleod to record a set of songs of such disarming honesty, heart-felt, soul-bearing and pained vulnerability.

Break-up records have a long and checkered history in popular music, but through the candid scattergun lyricism of ‘Your Mummy And I’ to ‘Moment Of Weakness’, ‘If You Take The Words Of Others You’ve Heard’, ‘I Shouldn’t Be Here Without You’ and ‘I’m Married’, we get the full range of emotions and scenarios engendered by the fall-out….betrayal, gossip, despair, loneliness, regret, guilt, retribution…. Confronted by such a brutally bruised and exposed heart, I’d normally be fleeing for the hills- and there are occasional moments when you think –‘too much information’-but this is Rory McLeod, spraying killer words with such wide-eyed intensity it’s impossible not to be gripped by the unfolding stories, even when he enters even darker territory still, as he directly addresses grief on ‘Mel, Don’t Go’- about the death of Australian singer Melanie Shanahan- and confronting everybody’s ultimate fear on ‘I’m Not Ready To Die’, dedicated to the late Alistair Hulett.Yet the odd thing is that, for all the sense of tragedy and hurt revealed in such vivid detail, it’s not a depressing album. Musically in fact, it’s refreshingly uplifting, wrapping his irresistible storytelling in some inspired arrangements. The forlorn message of ‘I Just Want To Be Loved’ is transformed into a sophisticated country rocker by BJ Cole’s pedal steel; Diego Laverde Rojas delicious Columbian string harp and Bob Morgan’s mesmerising clarinet lift the issues about the addictive intoxication of fame explored on ‘Applause’; the loaded ‘I’m Married’ is couched in a jaunty fairground mood; soaring clarinet and sax abound in a dazzling array of styles, while McLeod himself spreads light at all turns with the bushy tailed urgency he invests in everything he does. One of the most arresting tracks is the brilliant harmonica-led instrumental ‘Lassooing The Bees’.

He never takes easy options but breezes airily through the difficult ones, whether it’s the suicide of a friend, adapting Loudon Wainwright’s ‘Your Mother And I’, or –perhaps most daringly of all- adopting the persona of a teenage mother who abandons her baby on ‘When You Were Born.
Remarkable.

Colin Irwin.

A Cut In Pay marries a clever lyric about monetarism, which someone should send to Bob Geldof to play at the next G8 summit, to a full-blooded Caribbean steel drum sound. It also includes some mighty yodelling on Hank Williams’s Rambling Man, an optimistic cover of Dylan’s The Man In Me, a glorious soulful acapella version of the standard Glory Of Love that’s worthy of Smokey Robinson, an unnerving, unaccompanied old-timey Oh Death (a variant of which was once sung demonically by Peter Bellamy) and a lovely slide guitar romp through Jerry Reed’s Guitar Man, famously covered by Elvis. It’s fun but it has substance and his own songs offer the authentic voice of the intrepid, singular troubadour McLeod has been for so long. He’s always sided with the underdog, but with Guitar Man pointing the way, the poor old travelling songsmith is invariably the one being championed here in colourful, anecdotal songs like the 7-minute Not For Sale, the gorgeous, gently defiant Cold Blow These Winter Winds and, mostly for laughs, The Man Who Couldn’t Say Goodbye. Emperor’s New Clothes – played to a background of his son’s sampled voice – must surely rank as one of the best things he’s ever written. I’m not too sure the deceptively jaunty arrangement works with choir and all, but Ballad Of  The Burston School Strike – relating the extraordinary story of a strike by Norfolk schoolchildren in 1911 with far-reaching consequences – could even become his The World Turned Upside Down. It’s true that the best live performers can’t always transfer the magic into the studio and some element of that may also apply to Rory’s past recording career. Not anymore it doesn’t though. This is the poodle’s rude bits.Colin Irwin.
FOLK ROOTSWe’ve waited far too long for a new album from this maverick iconoclast of a performer, but this fulsome showcase is no disappointment in any respect. Setting off listening to it, well it’s just like going to see him live – you don’t quite know what to expect, other than that you’ll be entertained big-time: stunned into heady silence by his full-on friendliness and innate instrumental virtuosity and his eclectic mastery of every musical idiom in the world (and several others besides, no doubt!), and by turns enchanted, provoked and delighted by his ultra-creative lyrics.Brave Faces also reflects Rory’s live act in the sense that the guy’s virtually unstoppable – you get the feeling that if a CD wasn’t physically limited to 79 minutes there would be loads more music here. He shows no sign of running out of steam or ideas or energy even after 78 minutes! And that would be considered great value, whatever the standard of the music, but you’ve no worries on that count either, for these 19 tracks represent Rory at his most persuasive. 12 of these are brand new own-compositions, stylistically unpredictable as always but containing such invariably brilliantly characterised storytelling and thus absolutely typical of Rory’s art. But even though Rory’s previous record releases have always provided a more than satisfying memento of his live act there have been occasional longueurs and moments which haven’t always translated to the harsher recorded medium. Brave Faces, however, succeeds entirely and keeps one’s interest throughout with its dazzling parade of ideas and sounds.

The new songs are tremendously strong, almost too powerful to cope with on first hearing or even second. They make well-observed statements without ever preaching – Rory is able to convey depth of feeling and highly-charged views without oppressing your brain! – just take a listen to the jaunty calypso-backed A Cut In Pay, or the caustic irony of Cold Blow These Winter Winds couched in a deceptively gentle whimsy, or the heavily-accented “alienation tango” of No More Blood For Oil.

Two opposite poles of intimacy are provided by the potent global concerns of Thirsting For War and the beautifully intimate and affectionate Doing Time Together (the latter one of a handful of tracks featuring the gorgeous Aimee Leonard, here on both vocals and bodhran – otherwise this is very much a Rory McLeod solo tour-de-force that transcends any casual novelty value).

Several of the songs last longer than 5 minutes, but not so you’d ever notice for not a word or chord is wasted or superfluous. And another thing I constantly find unbelievable (that is, when I take a breather to think about it!) is that however desperate or depressing the subject matter, ideas and/or lyrics, Rory’s music is always fun to listen to, and full of interesting and unusual textures. He’s clever but not clever-clever, if you hear what I mean, for he’s got the skill of communicating immediately and acutely with his audience, you’re gently compelled to listen just like you would to a good mate.

Rory’s truly unique: a creative minefield, against whom a hell of a lot of other self-styled singer-songwriters can so easily seem one-dimensional. And that creativity extends right out into the cover versions (there’s five here, and two purely instrumental tracks too): two of the highlights on this set are acappella treatments – the traditional Oh Death is given a chillingly wayward reading, whereas The Glory Of Love (never a favourite song for me) wins me over completely by being superbly inventive, fresh and Fun. Then there’s the old Elvis number Guitar Man, which has Rory’s tap-dancing bottleneck in full flight, while I don’t think Hank Williams’ Rambling Man has received a better cover.

On the closing track, The Man Who Couldn’t Say Goodbye, Rory may be obviously playing for laughs but it’s also a perfect, larger-than-life re-creation of the man, his personality, his ultimate irrepressibility (the image persists of Rory lifting up the coffin lid with a cheeky “Hello”!). Brilliant, and definitely Rory’s best yet; if this don’t convince you the man’s a major talent then nothing will!

www.rorymcleod.com
David Kidman

Phil Daniels -Online review

With a mammoth 19 tracks on this new offering, the people who said Rory McLeod had been away too long certainly have something meaty to get their teeth into. 19 tracks that jump for one musical style to another as frequently as the lyrical content. McLeod has produced something here that is not only complex and intriguing, from start to finish it is utterly compelling.

It’s fair to say that Rory McLeod is one of the best storytellers on the scene and has gained the huge underground following because when people listen to him they are instantly hooked. That happens here as from one song to another the mood is constantly changing, you really don’t know what direction the record is going to leap in next, which certainly adds to it’s charm.

Hugely powerful songs come thick and fast here, which at times are really disturbing. However the blatant ‘telling it like it is’ style is very refreshing even in such edgy numbers. Songs about the opposition of war sit side by side with songs about domestic violence and the depression of alcoholism. Now I know that sounds like this album should be filed in the slit your wrists category but the fact many of these dark subjects are performed to a musical backdrop including flamenco and calypso, keeps the songs accessible whilst still getting the message across to the listener.

With 12 brand new songs, 5 covers and 2 instrumentals, you definitely get your money’s worth. The brilliant version of Hank Williams ‘Rambling Man’ stands out, with a superb vocal performance, however it’s Rory’s self penned songs that make this record for me and reiterates what an all round fine musician this man is. It’s also great to see ex Anam singer Aimee Leonard popping up on the odd track, as she possesses one of the best voices in Celtic music, that can only enhance things.

It is a fantastic record, but you do have to give it time. Really listen to the lyrics, as it is just 19 stories being told perfectly by one of the best performers on the circuit.

Record Collector November 2005.

Brave faces Review By Ken Hunt.

Back in the Vinyl 1980s there was this bloke with elongated vowels called Rory McLeod. Being introduced to his musical dynamism was one of the best turns anyone did me in a decade of painful partings. I never did the upgrade shuffle; so ‘Brave Faces’ (TALKATIVE ****)
Is the first time I’ve heard him on Compact Disc.
His prelude recitation to ‘Another Glass Of Forgetfulness’ is priceless, going from humour to studied desperation. ‘Ballad of The Burston School Strike’ reminds me of Guthrie and Ochs. ‘A Very Nice Bloke’ reminds me of Brecht and that is no bad thing because I need to think of Brecht’s writings more (since the Brecht Bookshop closed in East Berlin just by Brecht’s burial site.
I have visited Brecht’s connected places instead of reading him.)
‘Brave faces’ made me think and smile. And then it all came swimming back. The ‘exactly why’ McLeod ranks as one of the most incisive insightful songwriters and interpreters. Here he does Dylan’s ‘The Man In Me’
One of my fave trad blues from the strangulated vowel delta, the post Georgia Sea Islands singers ‘Oh Death’. And his measured, harmonica led percussive, body-stomping version of the klezmer clarinettist maestro Dave Tarras’, to the disciple of the Trisk Rabbi.)
Listening to Brave faces brought it all flooding back. 19 tracks may be recklessly overgenerous but I could fill a page or two of this magazine just narrating or responding to McLeod’s generous musicianship.
His ‘A Cut In Pay’ should be force-fed down every employer that whines and whinges about paying, say a freelancer.
Do expect this at the end of the years best.