Salut! Live

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In his magnificent composition, Brian McNeill encapsulates not so much the Scottish diaspora (since its heroes return) as the restlessness of generations of his countrymen, introducing in turn a soldier, trapper, preacher, ship's engineer and musician to depict the exotic worlds of those who pursued new lives overseas. It appeared on a cracking album, Celtic Hotel, and is as deserving as any song I know of its slot in the Song of the Day series (these days less a daily event, more a case of a song when we think of one).

I knew I had reviewed Celtic Hotel favourably when The Daily Telegraph's folk writer, and was pleased to locate a cutting from December 1987. This is what I wrote then, in such a subversive frame of mind that it's a small wonder I wasn't censored:

Celtic Hotel is best described as the Battlefield Band's imaginary refuge for casualties of Mrs Thatcher's Britain.

Leaving aside the thread of bitter social commentary linking the whole, the sound produced by these inventive folk-rockers from Scotland is as close to perfection as on any folk album I have heard this year.

Robin Morton's production and , in particular, the mighty talents of Brian McNeill and Dougie Pincock have concocted a winning brew of Highland bagpipes, insistent flute, sax and strings with rough-edged vocals doing justice to punchy songs.

On any level, The Rovin' Dies Hard is such a great song that I am surprised to be reminded 37+ years on that I did not say so then. Here is a sampler from McNeill's wonderful lyrics:

My name's Willie Campbell, I'm a ship's engineer
And I know every berth between Lisbon and Largo
I've sweated more diesel in thirty-five years
Than a big tanker takes for a cargo
Of the good times I've always had plenty
When the whisky and the women were wild
And there's many's the wean wi' the red locks o' the Campbells
Who's ne'er seen the coast of Argyll

The Battlefield Band was formed by five Strathclyde Uni friends - McNeill,  Jim Thomson, Alan Reid, Eddie Morgan and Sandra Lang (later known as Alex Gray, a prolific crime fiction novelist). McNeill's lyric for The Rovin' Dies Hard recognises the Isle of Mull birthplace of Sandra Lang's mother: I'm Calum McLean, I'm a trapper to trade/And it's forty long years since I saw Tobermory.

The band, which took its name from the area south of Glasgow where McNeill was living, continued with numerous changes of personnel until 2017. See the detailed Wikipedia entry  for a full band biography including acknowledgement of all past members.

I owe a shoutout, sadly towards heaven, to the late Robin Morton, the band’s manager, founding member of the Boys of the Lough and creator of Temple Records. Tireless in his promotion of the Battlefield Bsnd, he sent me enough CDs to warrant setting up as a market trader.

Brian McNeill in 2006, by Cindy Funk

Brian McNeill is now 74. This is a brief extract from his own website

Brian is a multi instrumentalist – chiefly fiddle, bouzouki, mandocello, guitars and concertina – and the importance of his songwriting has long been recognised with such songs as The Yew Tree, The Lads O' The Fair, The Snows of France and Holland, Strong Women Rule Us All With Their Tears, Any Mick'll  Do and No Gods and precious Few Heroes. Many of his songs have been performed and recorded by artists worldwide. He has been described as ‘Scotland’s most meaningful contemporary songwriter’ (The Scotsman).

 

Brian’s audio visual shows, The Back O' The North Wind, about Scottish emigration to America, and the sequel, The Baltic Tae Byzantium, exploring the influence of the Scots in Europe, have won wide critical acclaim. His long connection with America's Lone Star State led to him being created an honorary Texan by the then Governor George W Bush. For six years Brian was Head of Scottish Music at the RSAMD, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ...

 

... a voracious reader and writes short stories, crime and mystery fiction involving his hero, busker Alex Fraser and his heroine, private sleuth Sammy Knox.

 

And here is what you've been waiting for:

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