Usually the name of the Tannahill Weavers makes me think of fast sets and rowdy singing -- but each album always has a few tracks to remind me that this prolific band has mastered the art of slow Scottish ballads, too. Dancing Feet is no exception.

The band's gentle rendition of "Wild Mountain Thyme" on this album remains my favorite version ever recorded -- and this is certainly an oft-recorded song! It is soft, sweet and hard to beat. Singer Roy Gullane also leads the Tannies through one of Robert Burns' most famous love ballads, "Mary Morrison."

There are also plenty of lively songs, many of which are grandly suited for a few pints and a sing-along. If some of the words confuse you, the Tannies have included a helpful glossary to help listeners through the pidgin Scots-English -- and "Fisher Row," here coupled with the hornpipe "Newmarket House," certainly requires a glossary to understand the "sad" tale of two young lovers whose lust is discovered by the church! "Tranent Muir" is a raucous battle ballad, drawing on the Scots' historic penchant for solving problems (or at least trying to solve them) with a sword.

But the best of the hasty singin' here is "Maggie Lauder," which tells of the sweat-inducing meeting between famed piper Rab the Ranter and the beautiful dancing lass for which the tune is named.

Dancing Feet also boasts the usual portion of kick-up-your-feet instrumental sets. "The Campbleton Kiltie Ball/The Back of the Moon/Kelsae Brig/Put Me in the Great Chest/Sergeant MacDonald's Reel" is probably the least exciting of the bunch -- and that's saying something, since it easily meets the band's standard of fast and furious arrangements. The first set, "Turf Lodge/The Cape Breton Fiddler's Welcome to the Shetland Isles/Lady Margaret Stewart/The Flaggon," kicks the album off with a rousing flurry fiddles, pipes and whistles. But it's track 7 which really sets the CD on fire with "The Smokey Lum/Maggie's Pancakes/Dancing Feet/Mason's Apron." This band can smoke!

A slower instrumental, "Isabeaux s'y Promene/Banais Mairead," sounds melancholy enough, and the subject matter described in the liner notes certainly supports that theory -- but damn if the presentation of those notes didn't earn a giggle totally out of keeping with the mood!

The album ends with "The Final Trawl," a lament by Archie Fisher on the collapse of the once-thriving fishing industry. In keeping with the Tannies' tradition of great liner notes, the band takes this opportunity to reveal two great Celtic cures for seasickness: "In Scotland, you simply hang over the side of the ship with a coin between your teeth. In Ireland you sit under a tree."

Words of wisdom for us all. And here are a few more: "Give a listen to Dancing Feet and you won't be sorry."