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First, a few snapshots…..

A jig from Sarah written for our 'follically challenged' Irish flute player. Baldy Hollow is in fact a very beautiful viewpoint on top of Mt.Hotham, in the Australian Alps. During our tour in Oz at the beginning of 2001 we managed to break down on top of Mt. Hotham in a van belonging to Mary, our Australian agent. We'd stopped to get a photo of Brian standing beside a road sign that read 'Little Baldy' and when we returned to continue our journey the van decided it was happy where it was. Three hours we waited to be rescued ... collective karma from all you baldies!

Written by Brian during another epic journey, this time involving a Halfords roof-box. We were embarking on quite a long U.K tour and decided to ease our travelling space by buying a plastic box to hold all our gear on the roof of Ed's car. On its maiden voyage, from Birmingham to Aberdeen, 438km of maiden voyage, our soundman Captain Stevie arrived from Bath without the key! 438km is a long way when there are five people crammed into a Ford Escort and harder still to stomach when you've an empty roof-box above your head. Stevie also arrived without the key to the diesel tank, and the stereo ... thus the time and silence to write a tune.

This jig of Brian's was named after a great old pub in Southampton where our friend Jock Tydelsley and his friend Jamie lived until very recently. Jock is a very chilled out sort of guy and staying at the North Star has a great warm place in our hearts.

There is a spooky tale to this one that comes from the town land of Ballybrolly, 3 miles outside of Armagh. The story goes that when Brian's dad Jim was in his teens he and a few friends would amuse themselves on a Saturday night by getting Jim dressed up in a long white nightdress. They'd then wait behind a hedge along the main road out of town for the sleepy eyed late night revellers coming home. Just as a car would brow the hill, Jim would float out into the glare of the headlights and disappear into the opposite hedge to the sound of screeching breaks. No amount of dousing the stretch of road with holy water did any good and it was only when Jim was old enough to get into the local dancehall that the ghost was never seen again.

We finish this set with a traditional Mulineira (a jig) that we learned from the fantastic Asturian group, Felpeyu. This mulineira comes from Santalla D'Ozcos, a small town in county Ozcos, in the west of Asturias near the Galician border.

A reel from Sarah, named after a folk club near Sheffield where she played a memorable concert with Chris Thompson, her long time friend and musical partner from her Barely Works days.

Brian wrote the second reel in this set for a great couple called Mazz and Spooner who live their lives in Bunbury, western Australia. He met them while trekking in the Annapurna region of the Nepal Himalaya's: Poon Hill lies 1000m above the town of Ghorapani and is a very dramatic place to watch the sun rise from the east above Buhtan and light up the Annapurna massif ... apparently the view is worth getting up at 4am in the freezing cold and climbing for an hour in the pitch black, still fast asleep, short on oxygen and erratic on bowel movement ... sounds like great craic!

An old time fiddle tune from the mighty American fiddler, Jay Ungar. We learnt this tune from Ed who in turn learnt it from Tola Custy and Mirella Murray, two brilliant Irish musicians from Ennis and Galway. Jay Ungar says: "I wrote the tune while in the band Fiddle Fever. My band mate Matt Glaser
lent me a fiddle that he was thinking about buying just to see what I thought of it. The maker's first name was Ladislav. That fiddle had a unique sound and feel and within the first hour of playing it I wrote the tune, but no name came to mind. Eventually we decided to record the still nameless tune. The arrangement began with Molly playing low bowed bass note, a sound that reminded me of a steamboat whistle. In an effort to include the fiddle maker's name and Molly's bass note in the title, I called it "Vladimir's Steamboat", grossly misremembering the maker's name. Matt eventually reminded me that his name was really Ladislav, but by then the record was out and the name had stuck."

This lovely composition comes from the imagination of Ale Moller from Sweden. He composed it for a Swedish play called
'The Horse and the Crane' which tells the story of a hard life in cold,northern Sweden in the old days and the arrival of new times and ideas with the building of the railroad. The Glass Polska is the 'love theme' between the man and the woman, represented by the two animals. Thanks to Jim Good, a fellow flute player from Canada for passing us on this tune.

This little intro is self explanatory ...

This powerful three part piping reel is a great tune to play live and some nights requires an extra set of lungs and two tongues; it is a tune for playing with everything you've got. Written by the Scottish piper Gordon Duncan and recorded on his album The Circular Breath, it features the e-bow guitar playing of Mark Tucker, the man who tied the whole process of recording Rubai together with a magic thread. What a great experience we had recently when Gordon and his friend Ross Ainslie played the tune on stage with us at the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen. Mighty.

Written by Sarah during a time of upheaval when the flat beneath her own was being renovated and the new owners were taking liberties in decision making that should have involved her. Funny how when you're feeling aggrieved the happiest tunes come out.

She dedicates this reel to her beloved Granny Allen (1904-2003).

It was great to be joined by Rory MacLeod on this set; his trombone playing made us grin!

Blue Ball is the name of the beautiful old house Sarah's other grand-parents lived in for a large part of her childhood. It is in the Devon countryside near Payhembury and holds great memories of very happy childhood summer holidays.

The False Proof is a jig from a fellow fluter, Jowan Merckx from Belgium, who we met in Holland earlier this year. Jowan was playing with a band called Ilama and taught us this piece ten days before we recorded it for Rubai. Sometimes you come across a tune that is a wee bit too exciting to ignore.

This tune was written by Brian for Sarah. It's translation from Irish into English is 'The Quiet Mind' and it's message is between the notes.

Rosbeg is a little rural village on the sea in west Donegal, frozen in time and still connected to the land by the old ways. This tune was written in honour of all the great people that live there and those that have visited Taggert's House down through the years.

A traditional Greek tune learned from The American Cafe Orchestra's Egyptian Domino's CD. This was the moment that John Joe stepped into the fold of tune playing on a Flook recording and joins Ed on his new Oakwood mandolin.

A joint composition from Sarah and Brian for an ex-Irish champion greyhound called Larry who now lives with the Bardwell family near Newmarket. He spends large parts of his retirement with his head in a bin and now only answers to his full title.

Another tune from the fiddlers of the American Cafe Orchestra.

This groovy reel was discovered through the playing of the band Croft No5 and is written by the master composer and player of Highland Pipes, Gordon Duncan ... he of GD'S fame! We were delighted to discover recently that it was written for the wedding of our good friends Euan (Red Ferret) and Susan Martin, which took place at the Ramnee Hotel in Forres.

We've wanted to do some playing with the brilliant young Manchester fiddle player Colin Farrell for ages now, so recording a set of reels with one composed by Colin was the perfect opportunity. He named this tune after a well-known session pub in Killarney, Ireland. It's a tribute to Colin that he had never played the first and last reel in this set with us until the morning he arrived at the studio. No better man!

And so to the final tune....a reel written by Brian for his nephew Conlagh, a great little character who recently celebrated his Christening in Armagh.