Search - Robin Williamson, Clive Palmer :: At the Pure Fountain

Delightful.

S. GODFREY | Risca, South Wales | 08/20/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I confess my expectations were not so high as when Robin and Mike Heron got together in 1997..I had always thought of Clive's contributions to early I.S.B. as somehow less interesting than those of the two "main men". This collection, however, shows the always brilliant Robin Williamson benefitting tremendously from re-kindling the partnership with the man who was in many ways his musical mentor in pre-I.S.B. days. Clive's singing and playing has a timeless, simplistic quality and Robin clearly relishes digging into the depths of his vast reprtoire of songs and giving them a fresh airing. There is a natural exuberance to almost every song here which is impossible to resist: two of them, "Paris" and "Wae's Me For Prince Charlie" are melancholy classics performed with consumate skill. A real delight from start to finish."

Back to the egg album

S. GODFREY | 08/15/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For anyone familiar with Robin Williamson's extensive output over the years it is hard to imagine how the man can continue to delight and surprise us. At the pure Fountain finds him reunited with ISB founder Clive Palmer for an album that re-lives the music that the two of them were making before the ISB got off the ground.You might expect a set of folk standards, and this is partly what we get. However, nothing that Robin touches sounds quite the way anyone can perform it and there is plenty of invention to bring the tunes to life again. Clive contributes some lovely wanting blues numbers and there is a version of Bless you for being an angel. The whole set is played and recorded with an overwheming sense of intimacy and good humour. Rather than point to where Robin, Clive and Mike Heron were going to head off, this albums points the way back to where they came from, and helps us to see where the breadth of the musical invention that was to follow had it`s roots. A real priviledge."

Pure and Simple

S. GODFREY | Risca, South Wales | 06/26/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Original String Band members Robin and Clive got together following the Robin and Mike reuinion to produce this lovely collection of mostly traditional songs. Robin, as usual, plays a wide variety of instruments while Clive sticks mainly to banjo and pipes. Robin's wife Bina contributes simple but effective backing vocals and keyboard genius Lawson Dando provides understated support throughout. Highlights include Clive's sombre but uplifting "Paris" and Robin's Jacobite lament "Waes Me For Prince Charlie", but there's plenty of fun stuff here as well, much of it recalling the good-natured feel of the first ISB album. Not an incredible album then, but an honest and truly enjoyable one."