File this one under Celtic roots -- but don't be surprised if you have trouble finding those roots under the lush growth herein. Sure, Tilt has Scottish composer Maire Breathnach on viola and violin and stalwart Britfolk vocalists Eddi Reader and Boo Hewerdine, but you won't find the usual pileup of strathspeys and slip-jigs here. Instead, masterful English folk guitarist Colin Reid leads his band through a slightly classical, slightly jazzy series of landscapes.

Opener "Rocket," part of a suite called "Icarus," brings Reid's guitar, Breathnach's viola, John Fitzpatrick's and Oleg Ponomarev's violins, and Neil Martin's cello together in a vigorous 5/4 romp -- someone can even be heard chuckling in the background. Reid and Hewerdine provide dual-guitar backing for Reader on Lindsey Buckingham's "Never Going Back Again," with Gino Lupari's percussion adding all the rock edge this post-Fleetwood Mac track needs. "Crimes Against Music Part II" features Brian Connor (piano), Alan Shields (double bass) and Andrew Lavery (drums) in a ragtime trio -- with Reid present only as composer.

On Tilt, his third album, Reid offers hope that the musical bloodline of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch still flourishes. It's a happy little collection of instrumentalists and melodies, mixing and matching with all the panache of the hippest thrift-store shopper on your block.

- Rambles
written by Pamela Murray Winters
published 22 March 2003