CEILIDH CULTURE FESTIVAL
Caberet Bar 60 - The Pleasance
LIVE REVIEW. SCOTSMAN, April 2010
"The Pleasure Will Be Mine, one of (Reid's) loveliest
compositions its winsome melody,
vivid vernacular lyrics and tender sentiments, an ideal match with his warm,
gentle voice,
echoed in later highlights such as The Riccarton Tollman's Daughter, while his
storytelling
took on a darker hue in What Can A Lassie Dae?, and the slippery-slope momentum
of The Arran Convict."
"Van Sante contributes fine contemporary ballad covers......playing guitar in a
variety of open tunings".
THE HERALD SCOTLAND
by Rob Adams
It says
much about the bond Alan Reid and Rob van Sante have forged that when they
get time off from the prolific Battlefield Band, as founder member and sound
engineer respectively, they simply change roles and keep working together.
Many a band, given the chance, might want a holiday away from each other,
although
the Batties have long fostered something of a family atmosphere.
There were times here when the level of performance was more akin to two pals
having
a song together, rather than creating the spark of two musicians really on their
mettle.
Reid, however, does tend to sing out more in this situation and led several
rousing choruses, chiefly
in the extracts from the duo’s Jacobite song collection, The Rise and Fall o’
Charlie.
Away from the mixing desk, van Sante is a capable guitarist and vocal
harmoniser, and his singing of The Rout of the Blues, an army mobilising song
learned from the
classic album of the same name by Robin & Barry Dransfield, was a welcome return
for an often overlooked gem.
Most of the repertoire, however, came from Reid, who plays guitar as well as the
more familiar
accordion and keyboard in the duo, and showed his ready eye for song ideas.
There was much
evidence, of well-practiced ways with melodies, with The Last Lighthouse Keeper,
fulfilling the ‘give ‘em
something to hum on the way home’ dictum.
CRAMLINGTON FOLK CLUB
The Comrades Club
"Both had very good lines of
patter and the evening flowed along in their experienced hands.
’The Pleasure Will Be Mine’.... a great chorus, a real show stopping song,
‘Atlantic Bridge’...a beautiful waltz, there is something indisputably Scottish
about this lovely melody.
‘The Last Lighthouse Keeper’ showcases their lovely harmonies.... a great
evening".
DONCASTER -
LIVE AT THE SAL
By Allan Wilkinson - Northern Sky
"We had the pleasure of a bone fide Battie at the Sal tonight.
Alan Reid and
Dutch guitarist Rob Van Sante played a couple of delightful sets during the
course of
the evening, and made me ponder once again why I love acoustic music so much.
It's that intimacy that I crave, the communication between singer and listener.
Alan's distinctive delicate vocal, very much in his own Scottish vernacular,
is reminiscent - and I mean this most sincerely - of Ivor Cutler, but instead of
surreal poetry, it was
all pretty much Scottish balladry, even though it was just about all self-penned
contemporary material.
Alan included several Battlefield Band standards in the set, accompanying
himself on
guitar, piano and accordion, whilst Rob embellished it all with his Martin D28
guitar. A top night"
THURSO
Pentland Hotel
FOLK DUO INFLUENCED BY SCOTTISH POETS
AND STORYTELLERS
Caithness Courier
"This duo worked very well together on a rich collection of songs self-penned by Alan Reid,
who borrows from the influences of poets,storytellers and playwrights".
By John McLeod
BOWMORE
Isle of Islay
Ionad Chaluim ChiIIe lie
"Alan Reid and Rob
van Sante, presented a concert of folk
music that fitted in
very nicely with the brand new surroundings of the College".
