There Are No Words (Private release BP006)
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Released June 2006. Bernie as you've never heard him before.
14 instrumental pieces performed on the Hurdy Gurdy, Guitar,
Mandolin and keyboards. 10 pieces composed by Bernie plus
one by O'Carolan, two Traditional and one Christmas carol.
Another 'indie' album by Bernie. No words though.
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Track Listing
- Afon Dulyn
 
Hurdy Gurdies and Guitar. Named after
the stream that ran through my Welsh village till a dam
was built in the hills. Pronounced 'Arvon Dylan'.
- Featherlegs
Two Guitars in unison. In Yorkshire
to be featherlegged is to be confused. My usual state of
mind.
- The Itinerant Mendicant. Hurdy
Gurdies and Guitar. The wandering beggar. I like the old
English names.
- My Lady's Lament. Keyboards, many
and various voices. I composed this tune in 1977. Only gave
it a title this year.
- Overture from 'The Fish And The Stars'. Guitar,
Mandolins, Hurdy Gurdy. The theme tune from a radio musical
story I wrote and composed in 1981.
- Planxty Irwin. (O'Carolan) Keyboards.
Harp voice and human voice effects. Hurdy Gurdy bass string.
A lovely O'Carolan tune I've known since Planxty's first
album.
- To Win Toulouse/Parry Mash. Massed
Hurdy Gurdies and percussion keyboards. The very first two
tunes I composed after acquiring my Hurdy Gurdy.
- The Dark Island. (trad) Guitars,
Mandolins and Hurdy Gurdy. A famous beautiful traditional
Scottish tune which I first heard in my teens.
- There Are No Words. Two Guitars
in unison, vocals at the end. A tune I composed in a fortified
hole on a windy beach in Fuerteventura, Canary Isles, many
years ago.
- Place Of Eagles. Massed Hurdy Gurdies.
I was born in Snowdonia. Its Welsh name is 'Eryri' which
means 'Place Of Eagles'. I hope this tune conveys such grandeur.
- The Moth
Keyboards...harp and human voice
effects. I didn't compose this with a moth in mind but it
put me in mind of a moth fluttering and flitting about.
- The Dancer. Guitar plus Bass and
Strings keyboards. I find it hard to believe that I wrote
this tune as an exercise piece when I was only 22 years
of age. I can still play it!
- Rob Roy
(trad) Hurdy Gurdies and Guitar.
A piece I remember from the playing of Hendon Banks, a 4
piece band that were residents (as I was) at the Trimdon
Folk club. The band featured a shy young lad with a high
tenor voice called Jez Lowe.
- Silent Night. (Franz X Gruber)
Guitars, Hurdy Gurdies, Harpsichord keyboard voice. Surely
the best of all carols. Only to be played at Christmas.
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Reviews:
In a recent conversation, two or three of us were discussing why,
when Bernie has written so many fine songs, few singers performed
them: it was suggested by one person that "they have too many
words." It seems Bernie has come up with the perfect album
for him!
Known as a singer and songwriter (or "story-teller in song"),
Bernie has chosen with his latest private release to demonstrate
the other aspect of his talent that was instrumental in building
his reputation.
The CD is what it says on the sleeve - the only lyrics, a kind
of Parryan Haiku are to be found ironically in the album's title
song. The rest is vocal free.
This set of 14 tunes displays two of Bernie's recent fascinations
- his multi-track home studio and his hurdy-gurdy - alongside his
guitar playing. (He is also featured on keyboards and mandolin.)
Self-played and produced, it is an impressive achievement.
Yet this is no mere collection of recent compositions. Instead
it is virtually a wordless career overview. He delves back for traditional
tunes learned in his earliest days on the folk-scene (Rob Roy acquired
from a band featuring a teenage Jez Lowe.) Overture from "The
Fish and The Stars" is the theme from a 1981 radio musical
which he wrote. The stately, almost church-like My lady's Lament
was written in 1977. He wrote The Dancer long before that,
when he was a mere 22 years old.
The set includes three traditional pieces - Rob Roy, Planxty
Irwin in an almost magical setting and the evocative Dark
Island. Aside from a closing carol (an offshoot from a forthcoming
Free Reed project to which Bernie has contributed), the remaining
tunes are all his own.
Several are impressionistic (wordless sound-sketches of favourite
places and people. Place of Eagles is a stunning evocation
of Snowdonia - a soundtrack for a movie in your mind. Elsewhere,
compositions reflect time spent in Yorkshire and Tyneside, The Canary
Islands and folk clubs up and down the country.
Naturally, the familiar Parry sense of humour is also evident:
two tunes influenced by French traditional dances revel in the titles
To Win Toulouse / Parry Mash.
You'll reach the title track half way through the set - a duet
for unison guitars, and pure Parry, typically fulfilling in its
complex simplicity.
Nigel Schofield
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