ASHLEY MacIsaac's latest album evokes a faintly disturbing sensation of one of those collective speed wobbles in three lanes of solid 80 m.p.h. traffic which can be experienced in blazing midsummer heat on the English M1. But in live performance one can truly enjoy the tremendous generosity, magnificent energy and sheer exultation in this gracious boiler suited, punk traditional fiddle alter ego.
The Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) fiddler explodes on to the stage and, with a rock lineup of keyboard, electric guitar and bass, drum kit and bag pipes, keeps up, with Olympic energy, a heavy metal momentum like a truck phalanx in Convoy, like those wonderful Michelin men exulting in the break neck thrill from a pole position bonnet.
Resolution of the fiddle sound, alas, was far from the recording studio precision last Wednesday at Whelans so, too, with Scott Long's bag pipes, the two clashing badly on occasions. But, though the image is almost irreverent, in solo spots MacIsaac demonstrated his ground talent adequately, taking his listeners with him on a sincere excursion from air, through march/strathspey to energy packed reels and jigs.
Guitarist Stuart Cameron's terrific loose shoulder Cape Brelon step dance on the stage front podium also demonstrated with certainty where these very "ladsy" lads are coming from.
An Irish American New Yorker, Carol Butler, added joyous high kicking and scat vocals, to the zest, making this gig, with its mix of Irish, Scottish and Canadian tune standards, an interesting mark in the sand for the continuity of unpretentiousness, which it surprisingly shares with more reserved traditional playing.
