LIVE REVIEWS (LATEST FIRST)

Monday 23rd Jan 06, FIVE STARS! BACK OF THE MOON, @ STRATHCLYDE SUITE, GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL 0N FRIDAY 20TH JAN 06.

"THE average age of Scottish folk musicians just keeps on dropping, as demonstrated by this Celtic Connections triple bill. It almost made headliners Back of the Moon - none of whom are past their mid-twenties - look like elder statesmen....In under five years, Back of the Moon have gone from a fledgling quartet to Best Folk Band in the 2005 Scots Trad Music Awards. All aspects of their trad-based songs 'n' tunes blend continue to mature apace, but none more so than Findlay Napier's singing and songwriting. As highlighted by two of the show's standout vocal numbers, Glenlogie and Ship in a Bottle, he is emerging as a truly awesome talent."
www.celticconnections.com

Fergus Muirhead Back of the Moon at Glasgow's Piping Live! Festival @ The Arches, Aug 2005.

"Back Of The Moon Shine With Hutton In Full Flow: Last night's final Piping Live concert at The Arches was opened by Back of the Moon, who had just launched their new CD Luminosity, before the concert began. Giving free drink to a section of your audience can be a good way to win them over but it was unnecessary as the band played a tight set that soon had the whole audience right behind them. Ally Hutton is a welcome addition to the band and his pipes, whistlew and bodhran fit well with the playing of the Napier brothers and Gillian Frame. Luminosity is Hutton's first recording with the band and on this showing it won't be the last. A brilliantly inventive musician, the band's set was at its best when his pipes were in full flow."
www.pipingfestival.co.uk

Rob Adams
B.O.T.M @ The Arches, Celtic Connections, Jan 2005.
"...thoughtfully passed repertoire, with tune sets both power-packed and reflective...recent recruit Ali Hutton's whistle, pipes and bodhran have brought a real fillip and the quartet have the look and confidence of a band on the way up."
www.celticconnections.com


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Sue Wilson, B.O.T.M @The Pleasance, Edinburgh, May 2003. FOUR STARS.

"IT'S RATHER what you might call the short straw, having your gig clash with Celtic contesting the UEFA Cup final for the first time. For those few of us who chose music over The Match, however, the night proved anything but disappointing.
Formerly billed as Gillian Frame and Back of the Moon - founded and fronted as they were by 2001's inaugural Young Scottish Musician of the Year - this young Glasgow quartet have achieved a lot more in the past year or so than shortening their name. Specifically, they have matured as a unit at an exponential rate, outgrowing the "young, gifted and promising" bracket and becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Besides Frame, on fiddle and vocals, the line-up consists of Findlay Napier (vocals/guitar), his younger brother Hamish (piano/vocals/flute/whistle) and Simon McKerrell (pipes/whistle/backing vocals). That's four singers, no less, with three of them taking equally assured and distinctive turns at the lead. My personal standout song was Napier Jnr's beautifully modulated, achingly poignant rendition of Gin I Was A Baron's Heir, blending an apt boyish lightness with an intensity of yearning that raised a major lump in the throat - even before the others chimed in on harmonies towards the end.
It stood out, though, from a strong field, also including a commanding gallop through Here's to the Black Watch, and a soulful Hielan' Laddie, both propelled by stirring four-part choruses. As for the tunes - well, they fair knocked you back in your seat, for the most part: that aforementioned ensemble development incorporates several extra layers of instrumental muscle. Frame's wonderfully vigorous, full-bodied fiddle tone and athletic bowing arm were the perfect counterweight for McKerrell's fiery, fast and furious piping, while piano and guitar kept the foot to the floor with frolicsome chords and scissoring cross-rhythms."

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Kenny Mathieson, Back of the Moon, @ Strathspey in May Festival, Grantown-on-Spey, May 2002.

"Strathspey in May 2002 [Sean] Potts opened for the young Scottish band Back of the Moon in the YMCA Community Centre on Saturday. Brothers Hamish and Findlay Napier are Grantown locals, while fiddler Gillian Frame and piper Simon McKerrell complete a very promising combination which is already delivering sparkling instrumental sets and songs in an impressive fashion."

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Kit Bailey
Back of the Moon @ The Arches, Glasgow Celtic Connections January 2002.
"….Back of the Moon were highly impressive with great tunes and harmony vocals and should definitely be looked out for in the future…."