Calenníg ::: Snowy days of January

(Dyddiau gwyníon fonawr) 1985

What In Greenwood Shades is to Oxfordshire so Calennig's Dyddiau Gwynion
 Ionawr (Snowy Days Of January) is to South Wales - sort of. It contains
songs of a locality - in this case mostly traditional songs of miners and
strikes instead of jolly fellows and ploughs. Side one opens with a Harri
Webb poem that prophesies South Wales' industrial fate with uncanny
accuracy and closes with a fundraising song from the 1898 'Sliding Scale'
strike. But it's not all pits and protest. There are also songs for lovers
and Cape Horners and nearly half of the album is given over to
instrumental numbers. Mick Tems and Pat Smith's squeezeboxes are as
exhilarating as ever - in fact l've never heard them play better, just cop
their fingerwork on The Carpenter's Hornpipe or The Egg Basket. The duo is
joined bere and there by drummer Mike Kennedy and the combination suggests
that Band Mawr, or which they are all members, must be an extremely
danceable ceilidh band. Elsewhere what could have been an overlush setting
of the title track or a predictable folkrock treatment of Song Of The
Strike is prevented by Pat's sparkling concertina passages. Musically this
is easily Calennig's most ambitious recording to date and the inventive
arrangements work to great effect throughout to give a full, rich, rounded
sound (which the pressing of my review copy was not quite up to, I'm sorry
to celate). Only on The Miner's Life does the production fall fiat - such
stirring stufi deserves a few more voices in the chorus, after all there
is some fine, lusty singing on Rolling Home To Dear Old Swansea which
leaves the listener in no doubt that they've just heard a very enjoyable
record.
Lawrence Heath • folk roots #26, August 1985
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01. History and prophecy (Harri Webb/Mick Tems)
02. Y fasged wyau/Ton y ceiliog du
03. Dyddiau gwynion ionawr
04. Polca aberdar rhif 2/Ymdaith gwyr penllyn
05. Old soldiers (Jon Heslop)/The miner's life
06. Song of the strike
07. Pibddawns y Saer
08. Calennig
09. Ymdaith milwr mwnc
10. Rolling home to dear old Swansea
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Mick Tems: voice, diatonic accordeons, Anglo-concertina, harmonium, synthesiser, piano
Pat Smith: voice, Anglo-concertina, spoons
Mike Kennedy: bass, marching drum
Produced by Gareth Hughes Jones
Recorded by Eryl Davies at Stiwdio Sain, Llandwrog, Gwynedd in 1985
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1985 • Sain 1325
It seems there is an elusive Japanese CD version (Seven Seas 280E 52058)
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> 192 kbps VBR • ripped from the original LP
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Snowy days of January
Snowy days of January - scans
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