The McCalmans   •     The Smuggler & Burn the Witch

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  • The Smuggler & Burn the Witch
    • 1997 - Castle ESM CD 521 CD (UK)
  • Track Lisk
    1. Smuggler
    2. If Mother Should Die
    3. Gardens
    4. Hornpipe & Reels
    5. Mount and Go
    6. The Boatie Rows & The Carls O'Dysart
    7. The Flowers O'The Forest
    8. The Barnyards O'Delgaty
    9. Bar-Room
    10. No Churchman Am I
    11. The Silkie Of Sule Skerry
    12. A Man's A Man For A' That
    13. Johnnie Cope
    14. Skye Boat Song
    15. Tammy Traddlefeet & The Rising (Trad. Arr. McCalman, Moffat, Bayne, MacMillan)
    16. Fare Ye Well Ye Mormond Braes
    17. The Lion (Edinburgh Castle) (Trad., J. Lumsden, I. McCalman)
    18. Jennie Lasswade (I. McCalman)
    19. Farewell to Nova Scotia
    20. Aye Waukin O
    21. Gin I Were Where the Gaudie Rins
    22. Burn the Witch (I. McCalman)
    23. Bonnie Lass O'Gala Water
    24. Jock Stuart
    25. The March of The Cameron Men
    26. The Phantom Whistler & Random Jig
    27. Doon In the Wee Room
  • The McCalmans
    • Ian McCalman: Vocals, Guitar, English Guitar
    • Hamish Bayne: Vocals, Mandolin, Concertina, Whistles
    • Derek Moffat: Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Bodhran
  • Musicians
    • Dave Moses: String Bass, Bass Recorder (Tracks: 1-15)
    • Ronnie Rae: Double Bass, Bass Guitar (Tracks: 16-27)
    • Douggie Alexander: Snare Drum (Tracks: 16-27)
  • Credits
    • Produced by Ritchie Gold (Tracks: 1-15)
    • Produced by Pete Kerr (Tracks: 16-27)
    • Recorded at the Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire, April, 1975 (Tracks: 1-15)
    • Recorded at Castle Sound, Edinburgh, May-June 1978 (Tracks: 16-27)
    • Recording Engineer: Barry Hammond (Tracks: 1-15)
    • Recording Engineer: Calum Malcolm (Tracks: 16-27)
    • All Trad. Arr. The McCalmans, unless otherwise noted

Sleeve Notes

Formed in Edinburgh in 1964, The McCalmans have been performing and recording traditional and contemporary material throughout the last three decades. This re-issue contains most of the tracks from two of their Transatlantic LPs: Smuggler (1975) and Burn The Witch (1978). Both albums were recorded by the group's original line-up of Ian McCalman, Hamish Bayne and Derek Moffat, whose trademark was the way they used three-part vocal harmonies to bring new life to many traditional Scottish songs.

Laurence Aston

Smuggler and Burn the Witch were the biggest sellers of our early albums and I suppose they stand up pretty well to current folk tastes … not too embarrassing. "Full-frontal singing" with instruments was our style in those days but 1 think the albums still have a certain amount of integrity and, lest we forget, most of the material has been covered by other singers since then — always a good sign. They were exciting days of new gigs, new countries, new songs and old beer. We work just as hard in 1997 as we did then, the only difference is now we remember some of it.

Great days … still are! Keep music live!

Ian McCalman