The Dictator Mountains of Gold

1 Gabriel.  (Luka Bloom) Beautifully angelic song shows Alan's "other" side

Many of our compositions are born from immigration and the restlessness and longing of home. “Out of Alba”, ”The Highlands” and “Sweet Does Flow”, are truly Canadian although their subject matter is immigration and loss of motherland.
They could not have been written anywhere else.
Out of Alba developed into a statement on the highland clearances and their significance upon native American culture, whereas, “The Highlands” comments on the process of becoming “Scots Abroad” particularly when the Scots in question are lowlanders and city dwellers.
“Sweet Does Flow” tells it how it is. ( I have missed you all so sadly that my heart almost bled.) “
Shirley’s Waltz” and “Stepping Out” ‘are marvelous compositions by Carolyn, borne of the mixed blessings of life. Shirley’s Waltz was written for her school chum who was a victim of cancer.
“Stepping Out” speaks to the process of empowerment from within and the courage to act upon it. “Free” an Alan and Jim partnership is an irony of entanglement and dissolution of relationships.
“Flo” was written the day Jim’s mom died.
The music when its played in its truest form (in the kitchen with a few beers) comes to life and ghostly images emerge of Glasgow, Motherwell, Dublin, Winnipeg, Minnesota, the East Coast of Canada (and its blood and roots).
Those mystical Jungian recollections of ancient collectives. The Old Age. The Harpist and the Ceilidh.

To our soul-mates home and abroad . . . We hope you enjoy it.

Stepping Out (Carolyn Kelly © 1997)
Lets step out together, for this my lad is courting weather, and bold as brass with tongue in cheek, we’ll face the world and ne’er be meek.

The Highlands (Jim Coyle © 1997)
Captures a moment of feeling the struggle, to maintain a culture, and the absurdity of a life often far removed from that culture.

Sweet Does Flow (Jim Coyle © 1997)
Immigration is a lonely thing at times. We never lose the yearning for our ‘Ain Folk.’

The Night Visit (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba)
A traditional song that testifies that sometimes, it’s the ladies that are the naughty ones.

The Growling Reel (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba)
This is a combination of The Growlers, Julie Delaney and Emile Benoit’s Jim Hodders Reel with a touch of Out of Alba’s own arrangement. A very difficult tune to bring to life in a studio, its well named!

Out of Alba (Jim Coyle © 1997)
The highland clearances — the upheaval of the North American Natives from their lands fuelled by greed and expansionism, parallels both cultures (at least in their shared destruction). The removal from the land, the imposition of a foreign language and the banning of cultural activities leaves the culture only half dead and smoldering.

She moved Through The Fair (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba, sung by Margaret Coyle)
Haunting melody of lost love tells of the gentleman’s story of how his loved one is lost to him in this life but returns from the grave to announce that “It will not be long, love, till our wedding day” and thus his own death.

The Deadly Medley (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba)
Traditional, something to dance to. Spancil Hill, The Foggy Dew. Lannigans Ball, The Hare in the Corn, The Kerry Huntsman served up with relish.

The Jeannie C (Stan Rogers, arranged by Out of Alba, sung by Tom Young)
Tom’s tribute to the late Stan Rogers, tells the story of the loss at sea of ‘Old John Price’ and the boat, Jeannie C that was named after the mother, and was both family heirloom and lifeblood. A Great Story by Rogers that reflected life on the East coast.

Fill Fill O’Ru’n O’ (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba, sung by Margaret Coyle)
In the Irish, a mother mourns her son’s wanderings from the acceptable path towards the ways of the “World the Devil and the Flesh” and entreats him to return to the priesthood and stop bringing shame to the family. Come, Come Back to me.

Drowsy Maggie (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba)
Maggie is sleeping, the poor wee soul, lost to the world in her feather stole, Dead tae it aw in her soft linen bed, but wake up Maggie its time tae wed.

Free (Alan O’Reilly and Jim Coyle © 1997)
The struggle to disentangle from relationships, betrayal and loss often ends proverbially. Time heals most things.

Shirley’s Waltz (Carolyn Kelly © 1997)
Written in remembrance of a friend.

Black is the Colour (Traditional, arranged by Out of Alba)
A traditional song that speaks to a lover’s beauty, around the River Clyde in Glasgow.

Kitimat Mountain (Composed by Out of Alba with Kid on a Mountain)
This is one of our own compositions spliced with “The Kid on a Mountain”, a traditional piece. Named “Kitimat Mountain” by Peter Melville-Smith (by accident, no doubt) unable to translate Scots and Irish accents into South African.

Flo (Jim Coyle © 1997)
To my family in her memory.