Highland E.P. review
Wiebke Raue -
I listened to this EP quite often during the last days with the cover and the annotations before me – and though it's only 5 songs long it forms a coherent whole with a beautiful (Scottish) ambience to delve into. The great painting by highland artist Claire Innes is very atmospheric.
Here one can see once again what an overall concept (like with “Earthrise”) and equally good artwork can add to the music …
“Big Brown Sky” is a great opener – a real earworm with an infectious rhythm … into which you discreetly mixed some nice Scottish tunes …
“Gibraltar Farm” - I love the whole song with its atmosphere and especially that most melancholy sounding “And Every Night ...”-part – that's Dave at his best. I can clearly hear the added tambourine covered with the skin of Scottish highland cattle … and if it has no skin at all, then it was Scottish air in its place … ;-) Needless to say that serious and engaged topics (Hiroshima, Berlin, Tanya ...) belong to Dave’s very special skills. He always find words to express the emotionality of it, and a voice that can sound quite soulful and touched (“This Is The Day” is a good example) corresponds with it perfectly. At the same time, in the point of view and in the voice there is a respectful distance which never lets it become kitschy ... I have read about Violette Szabo and it made me realise how knowing the fates of individuals make you feel the human suffering behind the abstract numbers of this monstrous crime.
Amazingly you do songs to make you smile equally well, e. g. “Girl In A Jaguar”, “Go-Getter Lady”, “Golden Oldies” which belong to my favourites, too ...
“Still” is a wonderfully charming love song – reminds me almost of a classical Scottish folk song. The two-part vocals with Alyssa Smillie are very effective and make a lot of this atmosphere. The chorus (“Still I Love You”) is so catchy … but I don't want to dissect the song – everything fits perfectly …
“The Eyes Of Lochaber” sounds very much like a traditional (especially the verses), not just because of the atmospheric bagpipes. The rockier chorus is catchy, again … Actually, it's not the musical style that completely dominates my CD shelves – but with Dave, it's somehow special and worth listening to ...
“Not In Narnia” - thrilling harmonies in the verses and again real ear worm qualities in the chorus musically and lyrically!
Keith J. Sinclair - Inspired by his recent stay in Scotland, "Highland" is a timely release that perfectly bridges the gap betwixt the now and not yet with two songs pulled from "Bubbles" (a remixed "Gibraltar Farm" and "Big Brown Sky") and two brand new tracks in "Still" and "The Eyes Of Lochaber". Whereas "The Eyes Of Lochaber" has a lovely Celtic feel to it with its unique storytelling of secret goings on in remote places some seven decades ago, it's new ballad "Still" - a wonderful acoustic love song which reminds this particular writer a little of Jeff Lynne's 1990 solo jewel "Save Me Now" - that crowns this disc. Former ELO member Dave Scott-Morgan and his current musical outlet Morganisation have added a fifth track to their forthcoming "Highland" EP and "Not In Narnia" - released Tuesday 12th June - also just happens to be their new single! It's a catchy, jolly ditty about Dave and Mandy's sojourn in the Western Highlands and their subsequent return "somewhere down the M6" to Birmingham!