Listening to Cascade, Capercaillie's debut album, today, there is no doubt you can sense the band's excitement and confidence some 22 years ago. The opening instrumental track, "The Little Cascade," is a characteristically strong beginning to a Capercaillie album with its rich, complex sound led by Donald Shaw on accordion. How appropriate it seems that Shaw, the mastermind behind Capercaillie, is the first musician to be heard on the band's first album!

Karen Matheson, the band's great vocalist, opens her inspired contribution with "An Eala Bhan," combining vocal purity and strength. It is interesting to hear Joan MacLachlan's backing vocals on this and other songs (she also plays fiddle on the album) as it is the only Capercaillie album with which she was involved. "Marc's Set" -- Marc being whistle and recorder player Marc Duff -- is full of jaunty confidence, especially in the second tune, which already achieves the band's typical instrumental sound. Likewise Matheson's unaccompanied "Milleadh Nam Braidhrean" sets the phenomenally high vocal standard for the Capercaillie project. "The Ale is Dear" (misspelled on the sleeve notes as "The Ale is Deer"!) features some intriguing playing by Duff on what I presume is the Rauschpfeife (listed as one of the instruments he plays on the album).

The next vocal, "An T-Iarla Diurach," has become a great Matheson trademark both with Capercaillie and her more recent solo work. On Capercaillie's 2003 U.K. tour it had a huge effect on audiences. Although on this album it is perhaps sung in the rather formal style of a mod performance, there is haunting accompaniment from keyboard and whistle. "Troy's Wedding" is a set of jigs that captures the joyous sense of an island wedding. You can imagine the cares of everyday life being put aside as the fiddle inspires dancing by young and old alike.

Matheson's vocals on "Eilean A'Cheo" are again startling and in the background the fiddle and guitar weave around the voice perfectly. MacLachlan's (and Shaw's) background vocals again play their part. This rousing song is about Skye and translates as "The Misty Isle." The moving lyrics speak of a woman in the past longing for the island she left voluntarily more than 40 years before and reflecting about the suffering caused to those cleared forcibly from their homeland. "Maighdeanan Na H-Airidh" combines another assured vocal with lyrical keyboard accompaniment. The album concludes with "Maggie's Megaset" (the last two tracks are rather confusingly identified as "Maighdeanan Megaset" on the inside sleeve notes although they are clearly two separate numbers). This final track is a rousing set of reels with exciting interplay between accordion and whistle. Shaun Craig provides very contemporary guitar accompaniment here and throughout the album (and also plays bouzouki) in a style not unlike Flook's Ed Boyd. Also of note on this album is Martin MacLeod's contribution on basses and fiddle.

The album was recorded at Palladium Studios, Edinburgh, engineered by John Turner and Keith Mitchell, and produced by the band itself. It is a great shame it has never been re-released as it is now very difficult to find. There is a real sense that both Shaw and Matheson had already forged a clear identity for the band's music with this first album. Capercaillie started out not playing vaguely Celtic music but creating a sound with a clear Gaelic identity. Indeed, all the songs on Cascade are in Gaelic, and through the language Matheson stamps her authority on the album. Although the cover photograph of the band by a waterfall is rather stylized, this formality does not characterize the music that, rather, can be defined as running freely -- a cascade indeed!

by Andy Jurgis
Rambles.NET
2 December 2006

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