Greentrax Recordings was launched in 1986 by retired Police Inspector Ian Green and in 2006 the Company, which also includes the Culburnie label, celebrates its 20th Anniversary. The tracks for this 3 x CD compilation have been carefully selected by Ian from over 300 albums, showcasing the remarkable Greentrax Recordings catalogue of Scottish traditional music. Only the very best tracks have been selected and they represent a musical journey spanning two decades. This is a unique collection and superb value.
Media Reviews
The mother of all folk albums
The mother of all folk albums, this three-CD set is a '20 year profile of Greentrax' - the label set up by Inspector Green when he left the Lothian and Borders Police in '86. Long an enthusiast of folk and trad music (he'd run Edinburgh's successful Police Folk Club, cutely titled Fuzzfolk) Green has become the market leader in Scottish folk. Here are 59 trax, from Martin Bennett to Sheena Wellington, Jeannie Robertson to Salsa Celtica, Shooglenifty to Jean Redpath, by way of accordion-based dance bands, pipe bands, contemporary song writers, harmony vocalists, power fiddlers, roots popsters, Gaelic soloists and child prodigies.
Customer Reviews
Well-executed album of beautifully arranged music -- A must for every lover of eclectic Scottish music Joe Ross
Playing Time CD#1 – 78:40; CD#2 – 77:25 ; CD#3 – 78:11 -- Retired police inspector Ian D. Green launched Greentrax Recordings in 1986, and the company has released 350 albums in twenty years. The award-winning label of Scottish traditional music has supported both established musicians and previously unrecorded ones. In 2001, Greentrax became the European distributor for Alasdair Fraser’s Culburnie label, and there’s a cut from his and Natalie Haas’ 2004 Scots Trad Awards winning “Fire & Grace” album included on this sampler. The 3-CD sampler from Greentrax includes Ian Green’s 59 personal favorites (with 4 hours of total music), a couple even from out-of-print albums by Ian Hardie and Ceolbeg (with Davy Steele). Although originally conceived as a one-CD anniversary compilation, the project was wisely expanded to provide a more thematic understanding of the label and presentation of its myriad artists. The first CD reviews the decade from 1986-1996, and the third CD covers 1996-2006. The second CD in the digipak features cutting edge contemporary Scottish music from the entire twenty-year period.
There is emphasis both on singing, as well as on consummate instrumental work. Perhaps the former receives slightly more focus from Greentrax, and in a few instances (e.g. Jeannie Robertson’s “Harlaw”) the Scottish brogue and dialect will require some further study for complete understanding of the lyrics. The Gaelic language is also praised in “Canan Nan Gaidheal” from the album “Gaelic Women,” and there is even some examples from Mairi MacInnes of Puirt-A-Beul (Gaelic nonsense songs sung for dancing when bagpipe and fiddle were banned after the Jacobite uprising). If instrumentals are your preference, then you’ll certainly appreciate the Neil Gow compositions played on bouzouki, mandolin and guitar by Kevin MacLeod and Alec Finn. And, of course, there is plenty of danceable ceilidh music too. The cutting edge material on disc two defies categorization but illustrates the label’s open mind to technofunk (Roddy MacDonald’s “Good Drying”), The Easy Club’s swinging jazzy rhythms, South American influences in MacUmba’s music, and the toe-tapping Latin/Celtic blend of Salsa Celtica.
Greentrax Recordings has consistently released very high-quality Scottish music full of heart, soul and emotion. This well-executed album of beautifully arranged music is a must for every lover of eclectic Scottish music. Every cut is special. Ian Green, and all the musicians on Greentrax, should be very proud of their achievements at this 20-year milestone in the company’s history. (Joe Ross)
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