Reviews

Artist:Rakoczy
Album: Frontrunner
Label: Talking Cat
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.rakoczymusic.co.uk

"Frontrunner" was 'Along The Tracks' album of the week a couple of weeks ago. I might go as far as to say it could be one of my albums of the year. We live in very strange times where stress abounds and societal divisions have rarely been so starkly obvious. So this album is a tonic amid all the gloom, a smile amid the misery, and a very welcome light in the dark. Its energy, its originality, its changes of mood all make this a terrific listen.

"Frontrunner" comes from inside the innovative mind of Manchester based Anglo-Hungarian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Fruzsina Zsofia Rakoczy. She's just up the road from here, so I feel a tad embarrassed that I've not heard her music before. The album is themed around horses - a homage to this most magnificent of animals - and is carried along by the artist's 'love of European Folklore music and dancing'.

If you are expecting a folk album that's what you will get, but you will also get folk rock, progressive undertones (well how else can you cover a Jethro Tull song?), barbershop, music hall, waltz, shanty, rock and roll and rockabilly styles all fused together in this masterful, original piece of work. From that melange of a description I bet you all think it won't work, but it absolutely does. Sit down, put this on whatever player you happen to be using, and turn up the volume

"Hooden Horse" took me right back to early 70s hippiedom when I saw Steve Hillage at Preston Guildhall. It positively bounces along in a progressive folk manner that evokes those wonderful, peaceful festivals of old. And to continue to '70s theme, "Heavy Horses" is the earlier referenced Tull cover, only the treatment of the song is so very different. Tull fans will not be expecting this but most will get that this acapella barbershop Tull fusion represents a really interesting treatment of this fine song. No dull covers here!

"Miss Portly" is an original song, with music hall quality that waltzes its way through four minutes that transport you back to The Good Old Days. Sad to say that the whistling accompaniment drove our two year old collie into another room, but what do collies know?

I didn't think anyone would top the recent False Lights version of "Skewbald", but this just might. At very least, it achieves level pegging. Again Rakoczy gives this wonderful traditional song given a new dimension - listen out especially for an excellent build with the pipes.

"Wanton Brown" is another traditional song (and another with various different titles) delivered here with a sense of fun. It has a Steeleye quality and if it doesn't have your feet tapping I suggest a visit to the doctor. It's a dancing song with dramatic embellishment in the later chorus and "bloody peasants!" to crown it all off. Just as Kate Rusby recorded a version of Wanton Brown, so too did she record "Poor Old Horse" as have many other stalwart folk artists like Shirley Collins and John Kirkpatrick. Rakoczy's interpretation of thus traditional song puts here in that league with this confident delivery. Like many traditional folk songs, the origin of "Poor Old Horse" is disputed, with the song thought to have originated in Sweden, but actually it matters not.

"Creeping Jane" is a hare and tortoise story, the success of the underdog evoking a spirit of optimism that is so badly needed in todays' sad, bad, mad world. It gently rolls along in an Imagined Village kind of way. A true folk delivery with superb backing vocals and pipes to help it along.

The "Mari Lwyd" (Y Fari Lwyd) is an old tradition in parts of Wales that involves a group of people dressed in colourful garb, including one wearing a horse's skull, calling from house to house and of course from pub to pub. At each location the revellers sing a number of verses that are answered by the occupants with jibes and insults. Hot on its heels comes a cover of Tucker Zimmerman's song "Taoist Tale" made popular on the UK folk circuit by the likes of Nic Jones and Chris Wood. The riff of The Stone Roses' "Waterfall" is cleverly crafted into the song - one of the few obviously electric breaks on the album.

The pace of the album slows again with "Little Dun Dee" and shows the true folk quality of Rakoczy's voice. This song is thought to be from the first half of the 19th Century recounts the stresses and strains of racehorse betting (especially for habitual losers I expect), with the unfancied Little Dun Dee winning out in the end. "Dead Horse" given the Kirsty MacColl treatment in the style of Fairport Convention (!) to end this fine album with a bouncy song complete with Chuck Berry style guitar break and Rockabilly backing vocals that leave you wanting to repeat the experience.

The folk record is not just sung and played. It is performed, and with an enthusiasm and enjoyment that much better known artists seem rarely able to convey. It is original, inviting, interesting, and provides the listener with an education in how you can interpret and adapt traditional songs without taking away their original meaning. It is thoroughly enjoyable and you won't hear another album like this for a very long time.

John Reed

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