This is Davey Graham's second solo album recorded in 1979 for Kicking Mule Records. Having pioneered a world view which made the music of the Orient as accessible to aficionados of folk as the seán-nós of Connemara, it has been an open secret for some years that Davey Graham has been pursuing that path to its logical conclusion, and has added the Arabic and Indian lutes, the oud and the sarod, to his repertoire of virtuosity, and, most recently, the Greek bouzouki. This CD presents the many musical talents of Davey on a tour around the globe.

Song Samples:

1. Dance For Two People

2. Bloody Fields of Flanders

3. Indian Piece

4. Lute Prelude

5. She Moved Through The Bizarre .

6. Minuets I and II

7. Reng

8. Breathe On Me, Breath Of God

9. El Café de Chinitas.

10. Happy Meeting In Glory

11. Farewell To The Creeks

12. Yemeni Taqsim

13. Mná Na hÉireann

14. Kim

15. Lady Hunsdon's Puffe

16. Wash Nha Homa

17. Two Hymns

18. Üsküdar

Review: Influenced by everybody from Big Bill Broonzy and Charles Mingus to Joe Pass and Segovia, the late wide-ranging guitarist Davey Graham (he also played oud, sarod and Greek bouzouki on this rerelease of an undeservedly obscure 1979 album) was the vastly under-recognized godfather of the 1960s British folk revival that spawned the likes of Richard Thompson, John Renbourn, and Bert Jansch, as well as John Fahey and Sandy Bull on this side of the pond. Graham's exceedingly daring, decidedly baroque mixture of jazz, folk, Indian and Arab musical strains proved years ahead of its time, as did his early albums with bluesman Alexis Korner and folk singer Shirley Collins.

Many of the 18 selections here have a lighthearted, at times sensual, feeling to them. Whether it's the loose-limbed, treble echo-filled "Dance for Two People," a Persian-based 6/8 classical tune called "Reng" (where Graham plays the lute-like oud) or the ringing, aptly titled "Happy Meeting in Warm Glory," from the repertoire of Joseph Spence, the Bahaman Gospel singer and guitar whiz, Graham plays with a virtuosity and as wide a palette of tonal colors, seamlessly blended tempos and rhythmic shadings as you'll likely ever hear.

Other gems appropriate inveterately resonant compositions by Robert de Visse (a Louis XIV court musician, his "Minuets I & 11" is the definition of tranquility), The Chieftains' exploratory air "Women of Ireland," which borrows modally from both Miles Davis and Pentangle, as well as the drone-infused Turkish folk song "Uskudar," where Graham picks up his fretless sarod. The enclosed booklet includes very informative, original liners by Karl Dallas, and Graham's own track-by-track, technical tune and instrument notes. Those of you who never heard of Mr. Graham are in for a treat. – Sing Out!