Musicians include former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, Van Morrison sidekick Liam Bradley on drums, fiddlemeister Martin Hayes, and pianist Brian Connor .
Fans of the legendary Mellow Candle singer Alison O’Donnell will exult in her electrifying ‘Aztec Energy’; Caroline Orr and a string quartet bring a touch of class with ‘Against The World’; and Paul Casey’s ‘Liberation’ hits the spot. Judy Dyble’s ‘Looking Glass Hall’ juxtaposes her delicate voice with an urgent edginess, while Duke Special (appearing under his real name, Peter Wilson) delivers on ‘The Duke Out On The Ocean’ and Sarah McQuaid applies her sultry tones to ‘Three Syllable Time’.
But 21 tracks can be an over-indulgence, and Conor Shields’ ‘The Fields Of July’ is merely workmanlike and Tina McSharry’s ‘King Of The Sun’ is raggle-taggle by numbers. That said, this collection makes you wonder why Harper didn’t turn poacher much sooner.