Roberts’ six solo albums seamlessly incorporated traditional elements into timeless songs. But today he’s a full-blown folklorist, compiling the rare Scottish field recordings collection Whaur The Pig Gaed On The Spree, and issuing these Gaelic tunes with the Hebridean singer Mairir Morrison.
An initially serious tone suggests diaphanously gowned highland visionaries in dimly lit Seventies regional television studios, late at night, when viewers had ‘their own programs’, but virtuoso guests lighten the anthropological air.
Opening up the spectral lament Ailein Duinn to the rumbling drums of Trembling Bells’ Alex Neilson and surges of ensemble playing suggests the project’s path forward.
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
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Borathigh5, Youtube
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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A D Ward, Twitter
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Dahoum, Guardian.co.uk
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Deepbass, Guardian.co.uk
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Iain, eatenbymissionaries
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
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98rosjon, Twitter
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Birmingham Sunday Mercury
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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Maninabananasuit, Guardian.co.uk
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk