Bothy Culture
Martyn Bennett
1997: Rykodisc RCD 10381
A serendipitous trade resulted in this treat entering my collection. A guy in Canada had seen a CD listed here which he had been looking for for years, and he asked if I’d be willing to sell my copy to him; I thought about the CD in question for a bit and decided he’d get more out of it than I was getting, so I told him I’d send it to him for free. He felt he should give me something for it, so I suggested that he send me a CD from his own collection, one he wouldn’t miss terribly. He sent this Martyn Bennett album and Macha’s self-titled one.
I can’t imagine *how* he could part with those two, especially this one! Not only is it an amazing achievement, almost entirely performed and recorded by one person, but upon reading his liner notes (which are hilarious) I found that the wizard Martin Swan was taking time off Mouth Music work to mix this. Suddenly the sharp production and deft balance of speed and arcing melodic flow sounded familiar! A fine, fine album. No way am I letting this one get away from ME!
Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.