Sleeve Notes
Hamish Imlach and Iain Mackintosh actually go solo for at least nine months a year. But they always come together in spring to perform their lively songs in front of the audience.
Hamish, the fat man, has been circling the globe for over 20 years. Even in remote corners, such as the Sultanate of Oman, Bermuda, Hong Kong or Cyprus, he knows how to make the right toast. It is of course tempting to speculate how much Guinness fits into this man. But what comes out of it is even more exciting. And that was a lot: he recorded 18 LPs quite incidentally with his blasphemous ways of life as a seaman and drinking in general and in particular.
Iain Mackintosh, on the other hand, is a quiet man, almost a little serious. He prefers to be contemplative and sometimes melancholy. To the five-string banjo, which he handles so completely differently, and to the small squeeze table, Iain sings about friendship and hope with brittle charm. He, too, is a veteran: He recorded seven albums under his own name and has been on the boards for as long as his colleague Hamish.
Together, Hamish Imlach and Iain Mackintosh show their listeners that Scottish folk music — folklore at all — does not belong in the showcase or in the archive, but is also played in the chip age by extremely lively people who, sometimes happy, sometimes sad (mostly but happy), express their feelings, laugh about everyday life, and be able to put on it as much as possible — a dissolute pleasure!
Ralph Geisenhanslüke