This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen magazine #103 (December 2002 / January 2003). The magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

The Reel World
Small-Label Celtic &English Music
by Tom Nelligan

More fiddles and squeezeboxes, bagpipes, bouzoukis, and that sort of thing, with this month's selection coming from the United States, England, France, and Australia.

The curiously named English sextet Random specializes in music for ceilidh dances, traditional social events where lines of people step and swing back and forth through sometimes intricate dance patterns, somehow avoiding collisions in spite of a certain amount of alcohol consumption on the premises. Squeezebox and/or fiddle music is the customary accompaniment, and, as with the closely related contradance tradition in New England, English ceilidh bands have fun with the music and enjoy a lot of creative improvisational opportunities. Random describes its sound on the album Deviation [Wild Goose Studios WGS308CD (2002)] as "electric ceilidh music with guts," a phrase that definitely fits. The band is organized around the twin melodeons of Saul Rose (who has toured with Waterson:Carthy) and Paul Nye, and a lot of the smiles they produce come from the distinctive oom-pah of Glynn Burch's huffing bass trombone. Electric and acoustic guitars, bass, and drums complete the basic lineup, and the material is a mix of English and American reels and other dance tunes. Definitely amusing stuff.

There are 8 more recordings discussed in this column from Dirty Linen #103 (Dec. '02/Jan. '03). Read the full text in the magazine, available via subscription or on newsstands and in bookstores.