From: Pete Fyfe
[petefyfe_at_aol_dot_com]
Sent: 29 February 2012 19:02
Subject: Pete Fyfe - review &
sleeve
Attachments: Pwnco.jpg
ALLAN YN Y FAN - Pwnco (Steam
Pie Records SPCD10165)
Medieval?that's how I'd describe
the music of the Welsh band Allan Yn Y Fan on hearing the first track "Death In
Ennis/The Audient" of their latest CD. Not in an arcane way but, if you get my
drift it's the kind of music that you'd expect at a banquet with serving
wenches and portly bearded gentry stuffing their faces with chicken drum sticks
and the like?not unlike an evening at Fyfe Mansions then? It's perhaps not the
kind of music I'd generally listen to even with the Bellowhead-ish (with
additional brass) "Miniwet Dinbych" but the musicians do make a good fist of
it. A brief resume of the utilised instrumentation including guitar, fiddle, accordion,
mandolin, flute and recorder offers a guide to what to expect performed in a
laid-back, ?session' kind of way. With the addition of everyone's vocals (Geoff
Cripps, Meriel Field, Chris Jones, Linda Simmonds and Kate Strudwick) this is
the kind of recording that throws up occasional gems and one of these is
"Twinkle Twinkle (Little Star)" with its unusual setting to a melody by G C
Westcott. This is a nicely judged and delivered lullaby that I can imagine
would not only go down well with under five's but also a lot of ?folk'
audiences. Perhaps "Pwnco" won't move mountains but it is none the less a nice
recording. www.ayyf.co.uk
PETE FYFE