Society's Last,

Compilations or records by “Various Artists” can be wonderful things and the only place where some quality tunes by known artists can be found; for example, Nature Anthem by Grandaddy can only be heard on the Below the Radio collection or Outside it’s Christmas by My Latest Novel can currently only be heard on a silly Bella Union Christmas minidisc. Aside from the rarities by familiar artists, these collections can also serve as great introductions to other bands; without Rough Trade Indiepop Vol.1, I wouldn’t know that Primal Scream were once good, apparently they entered a sticky patch sometime before 1990 and they’ve just never been able to re-emerge from it and when I feel particularly bored and affluent enough to buy The Wurrrdd magazine, there are often some good things on their “free” CD.

Released on Chemikal Underground Records, Ballads of the Book is one such record that features songs by familiar Scottish artists that won’t be heard anywhere else but it has also prompted me to look out for some of the other lesser known artists featured. The idea behind this collection of songs is that some of Scotland’s best literary writers pen the songs and some of Scotland’s best musical artists create tunes and sing the words. Ashamedly, I’m not familiar with any of the writers except Ian Rankin but on the musical side, there is King Creosote, Idlewild, Karine Polwart, Emma Pollock Malcolm Middleton, Aidan Moffat and James Yorkston amongst others.

The whole thing has low-key, folky feel. It does feel quite sombre at times, but that’s pragmatic Scottish way. One of my favourites on the collection was by De Rosa and Michael Faber, Steam Comes Off Our House. I’m now going to become a De Rosa fan, although they’re not as delicate as My Latest Novel, they seem to have that punch and ability to create auras from which they will punch out of. Another band that is new to me are Foxface; Jenny has the voice of a classic folk singer or choir singer but the capability to speed it up to keep pace with the fast-paced stomp of the drums, banjo and accordion, it’s also complemented by the gruff chanting of the Michael of the band. Their song written with Rody Gorman, Dreamcatcher, can’t fail to have anyone with any aural sense moving.

The Sixth Stone by Aidan Moffat and Ian Rankin remembers the role of Ian Stewart, a man from the Kingdom of Fife who we can blame for being involved in founding the Rolling Stones. I like this song very much. The chorus goes:

All the way from Pittenweem
to the rock 'n' roll dream,
all the way from East Neuk, Fife
to the R&B life

The only thing that ever happened to me in Pittenweem was the infamous car-rolling-down-the-hill incident. I was stood waiting outside the chip shop whilst the others bought chips. They could see me through the window when all of a sudden the woman also waiting outside collapsed. Everyone inside the shop saw me panic; this apparently consisted of me looking up and down the road frantically (I was thinking of where I could run for help). Anyway, inside the shop, they could only see me and not the woman who had feinted and somewhat randomly, they jumped to the conclusion that a parked car had begun rolling down the road unmanned and they all run outside to see. In the end, the woman was revived by her husband, it turned out that they had not eaten or drank all day and she was the first to wilt.

I reviewed Aereogramme’s latest album a while back, I thought it was good musically but the words were a bit lame. On here, Hal Duncan writes the words and those coupled with Aereogramme’s talent for creating a sincerity of ambience with their synthesisers and pianos makes If You Love Me You’d Destroy Me one of the highlights of this collection.

The title, The Rebel On His Own Tonight, already solicits my sympathy. The composition is by Malcolm Middleton, one of the stars of 2007, and the words are by Alan Bissett. It seems like a perfect match; Alan performs a spoken word part over Malcolm’s beats towards the end and it could easily be mistaken for something from the Arab Strap back catalogue.

There are other excellent songs on this rather excellent project. It’s a concept that should be repeated in the future. Scotland should be celebrating this talent on its radio airwaves but currently, Ballads of the Book is all we have.