The album starts with a beautiful slow air on the Irish whistle by Paul Hancock, played over the soft background sound of a keyboard. A lovely, straight, instrumental folk album with lots of whistle, guitar, bouzouki, some keyboard and no electronic or other studio effects. It is certainly more in the Celtic traditional than the Oriental.
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"Rock 'n Reel"
MARK T/PAUL HANCOCK/DAVE MAGGS
COS321CD Circle of Sound
Combine on 'A Parting Gift' to present an album of 'Celtic and Oriental music' and with the aid of their richly varied influences and considerable talents on whistle, mandocello, guitar, bouzouki, uilleann pipes, Indian flute, slide guitar and sampling keyboard, they produce a collection that delightfully demonstrates the melodic beauty of Far Eastern music and its similarity to the Irish material that makes up the bulk of the nine track, largely instrumental selection.
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"Folk Roots"
MARK T./PAUL HANCOCK/DAVE MAGGS
The Gift
Circle of Sound COS321CD
A selection of Irish, Chinese and Thai tunes (and one song) in spare and haunting arrangements that achieve a satisfying balance between the ethereal and the rhythmic. The bottlenecked National Steel and Indian flute on the Chinese Postman Of The Mountains work as if made for one another and Magg's own Stockwell's Rose is a slow air in the Phil Cunningham class. Full marks for keeping things simple and leaving lots of space for the music to breathe.
Nick Beale
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