Farewell to Nova Scotia (album)

Farewell to Nova Scotia is Battlefield Band's debut studio album, released on LP in 1976 on the Escalibur label as Volume I - Farewell to Nova Scotia and re-issued on CD in 1996. (It was first released on LP in 1976 on the Arfolk Breton label as Scottish Folk)

A Volume II - Wae's me for Prince Charlie would later be released in 1978 as Battlefield Band's 2nd debut studio album on the Escalibur label.

Battlefield Band is a trio made up of the founder members Alan Reid, Brian McNeill and string player Ricky Starrs. Alan Reid on vocals does the singing in many of the songs.

The three studio albums that follow on the Topic label - Battlefield Band (1977), At The Front (1978) and Stand Easy (1979) - would be pretty much in the same vein.

Most of the music (7 songs, 5 instrumentals) is Scottish, but there are still Irish, Canadian, English and Australian influences here.

Ricky Starrs would later be replaced by singer/bouzouki player Jamie McMenemy and whistle player John Gahagan, making Battlefield Band a quartet...

Track listing

1. "Richemond / Le Réel du Pendu" (instr. medley #1) – 2:38 - American & Canadian fiddlers have their own style, depending on the amount of energy they use in playing. The first tune has an American origin, while the second one is borrowed from Jean Carignan, the great fiddler from Quebec. The tune is about a fiddler who plays one last tune before being hung up. It's a very common tale in Europe.
2. "Farewell to Nova Scotia" – 4:23 - A song about the feelings of a man enlisted in the army and leaving his country, with no illusion about the sort of glory the war may bring... he knows he won't be coming home after the war so this is his way of saying goodbye to his homeland
3. "Denis Murphy's Slide (instr.)" – 2:39 - Denis Murphy was a famous fiddler from County Kerry and this jig is one of the many tunes he wrote.
4. "The Bonny Whaling Laddie" – 5:20 - The song theme is lads and lassies talking to each other : it is a very common theme in traditional music. Here, the boy bids farewell before going hunting the whale. The tune is taken from a march usually played with the bagpipe.
5. "The Bonny Wee Lassie Who Never Said No" – 3:19 - A great song with the great Alan Reid on vocals
6. "The Highland Brigade at Waterloo / The 74th Highlanders / The 93rds Farewell to Gibraltar" (instr. medley #2) – 6:12
7. "The Rybuck Shearer / Drops of Brandy (instr.)" – 4:49 - The Rybuck Shearer is an Australian work song full of pride but can also be regarded as a drunk song. This version is a little bit crude but it's a very interesting one. The instrumental Drops of Brandy follows.
8. "The Fourposter Bed / Staten Island / Colonel Rodney" (instr. medley #3) – 3:14 - A bunch of very popular tunes when played live before an audience. The first one originates from Shetland Islands. The second one is well known in Scotland and Ireland (Staten Island is an isle in New York Estate where all the immigrants from Europe were quarantined). The third tune is Irish.
9. "The Back O'Benachie" – 5:14 - A love story from the region of Aberdeen. When all the arrangements are made, the young boy realises that he finally prefers to stay with his mother ! The Gaddie is a brook running down the Benachie hill.
10. "Revie's Reel / Mary Mahon" (instr. medley #4) – 2:55 - Two reels from Ireland : the first one is from Raymond Roland & Liam Farrell's repertoire, and the second is very popular and very much played in Scotland.
11. "The Forfar Sodger" – 2:46 - A song written by Daniel Shaw, a weaver who lived North-West of Scotland in the early 19th century. It was rediscovered by Gavin Greig. According to him, "it was sung to many different tunes, such as Johnny Lad, Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife or Robin Tamson's Smiddy"
12. "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" – 5:45 - One of the many songs about the great Irish immigration caused by the 19th century Great Starvation. Many Irish people hoped fortune should favour them in America and that they could go back to their country : very few of them made it happen.

All the tracks' comments are translations of the French CD cover notes

All the tracks are Traditional - Arrangements by Battlefield Band