Dick Gaughan - Outlaws and Dreamers
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CD Details
Artist: Dick GaughanEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2001-11-06
Music Label: Appleseed Records
Soundtracks:
- The Yew Tree
- Florence In Florence
- Dowie Dens o Yarrow
- Tom Joad
- Outlaws & Dreamers
- When I'm Gone
- John Harrison's Hands
- What You Do With What You've Got
- Tom Paine's Bones
- Strong Women Rule Us All
- Wild Roses
Music reviews of Outlaws and Dreamers
Music Review: Another terrific collection from Scots artist Gaughan
Rating: 4 Stars
Early on, advance notice on this disc was that it was every bit the match of "Handful of Earth." Well, that is slightly overstating the case, but as with Gaughan's entire ouvre, this is strong, passionate and compelling music played and sung in Gaughan's idiosyncratic style. Heavily percussive, Gaughan's attack on the guitar strings provides its own rhythm patterns, especially in an instrumental such as "Florence in Florence." The song itself or the music of itself is always foremost with Gaughan, and he seeks to live within the lyrics as fully as possible, be it his affinity for Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs or Si Kahn, or his own Scots Nationalist convictions. Accompanied by the remarkable Brian McNeil, who has authored several on the songs on this disc, the music is uncluttered and all the more dramatic in its effect as a result. The production, handled by Gaughan, is clean, clear and puts the music front and center. This is extraordinarily well crafted.
But is it "Handful of Earth"? No. How could anything be? That album set standards that all by themselves assured Gaughan's reputation and notched his contribution to music, and to Scots music in particular, for all time. "Handful" was brilliant start to finish. "Outlaws" isn't quite "Sail On" or even "Redwood Cathedrals," yet is entirely worth repeated and rewarding listens for the sheer power Gaughan brings to his craft. Even a rather weak tune like "Wild Roses" achieves a dynamic that it does not really command on its own. I am not sure this is a tune worthy of Gaughan, and certainly, it finishes the CD on a less than compelling note. Without Gaughan, it is just another tepid effort from an American singer-songwhiner.
But this is a minor quibble, and perhaps others love this track. The more important thing is that Gaughan remains a force to be reckoned with and continues to speak and sing and play with a conviction that puts every one on notice that music and the power it commands demands all you have. Gaughan never delivers anything less.
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