RETURN TO MINGULAY

Good day to you all. I'm Andy John Bradford and I've written some nice little folk ditties, or perhaps sea chanteys if you like, that you can enjoy singing along to at your local tavern while downing a pint or two with the local lads.

I was just down by the shore for a couple of minutes trying to get the right feel for the album. The wind was a-blowing and the waves were crashing in. The gulls were in the sky calling out. But a storm started blowing in and the thunder was a-rumbling so I thought it'd be best fer me to head indoors. Now I'm going ta play for you an old traditional number and I'm just going ta be a-strumming away like this here, and you can all sing along if ya know the words. "Hail you own, boys / An' let her go boys / Sailing home to Mingulay".

Now I've got me a few friends along ta help out with the music and on electric guitar and some acoustic as well I've got Mr. Colin Tench, whom some of you may know from Corvus Stone or perhaps Bunchakeze or Minstrel's Ghost. He's got a good feel for the music and plays some fine guitar, maybe going a little toward the Pink Floyd sound here at the end of the song.

Now here's another fine guitarist but I've asked him to come in on bass. Mr. Stef Flaming of the band Murky Red. And well, now we're going ta need a drummer you say, and for that we've got Mr. Victor Tassone from Unified Past. Oh, yes, the keyboards are being handled by Mr. Marco Chiappini whom you can hear on Minstrel's Ghost and Mr. Tench's band project CTP.

And now yer surely thinking that this is not looking like it's going ta sound like any folk band singing sea chanteys and true enough, it's starting to look like a prog band now. Speaking of prog, I'm liking the Pink Floyd sound a bit lately and so we should get a kind of Great Gig in the Sky singer in here for a song, maybe "6000 Friends". How about Ms. Lorelei McBroom from Australian Pink Floyd to do that bit there? Ah, now we've got some very fine music going on.

Just one more thing, some piano and orchestration would be a nice touch to make this album of folk ditties sound really more like a prog rock album. An' so here's Mr. Andres Guazzelli from Argentina. Maybe you've heard his piece "Wish You Could Hear" which features Mr. Tench on guitar as well.

So, I'm hopin' ya like the songs now. At the heart, it's me singing and strumming away. But my musical friends have gone and turned this into an album with a strong seventies rock vibe and really made the music come alive. I never knew it could sound so good.

So step inside and an take off yer coat. The storms a-coming in but it's cozy and warm in here. Grab a pint and sit back and hear the band play. And once ya know the words, feel free ta sing along with us!