Happy Hours

By Andy May

  1. Swearybox
    The Hawk
  2. Unknown
    The Regular Climber
  3. All The Night I Lay With Jockey
    Juniper Hill
  4. Bréhattitude
  5. Kiss’d Her Under The Coverlet
    Shew’s The Way To Wallington
  6. Ellington
  7. Earl Grey
    Xyz
    The Quayside
  8. Arethusa
    Trip To Scarborough
  9. Catcherside
    Owen Hackett’s
    The Glasgow City Police Pipe Band
  10. Happy Hours
    Reepakan
  11. One Miner’s Life
  12. The Countess Of Galloway
    The Topiarist
    I’m Going To Speke
  13. Muiñeira De Pontesampaio
    Muiñeira A Camposa

Three comments

“Andy May: Happy Hours” ~ Northumbrian pipes

Fellside Recordings - FECD224 - April 2009

Musicians:

Andy May - Northumbrian pipes, piano (piano on his composition "Ellington", track 6)
Andrew Davison - Northumbrian pipes (pipe duet: track 9)
Sophy Ball - fiddle
Julien Batten - accordion
Ian Stephenson - guitar, double bass
Benny Graham - vocals (song: track 11)

Make up your own mind, he has generously provided us full listens ~ if merely MP3s ;-) ~ here:

http://www.myspace.com/andythepipesmay/music/albums/happy-hours-13121739

I had my doubts when reading "self-penned", expecting it might be top heavy with the usual ‘my’ compositions, but there’s only two of Andy’s. I enjoyed the listening so much I immediately ordered a copy so I can continue the pleasures with repeat listens. But don’t let me sway your decision, decide for yourself.

“Fred Picknell’s March” C: Andy May ~ and further comment on this CD 8-)

http://thesession.org/tunes/12490

Quoting myself 10/02/2013: "Yeah! There’s some fun stuff here, and it makes me smile. There were initial fears it might be yet another of those ~ an unbalanced focus on ‘my’ compositions. But no!, the pleasant surprises mount, there’s only two that are Andy’s, a fair percentage really, and they ain’t half bad. The Northumbrian pipes always seem to twang the giggle bone and the mixed meters raised some memories ~ the Adriatic and Eastern Europe, eating through a mountain of chip-sized whole fried fish (chips = French fries) , retsina, sheep’s cheeses, sheep, goats, badly polluted rivers, swearing in Serbo-Croat and Macedonian, and nursing a friend violently ill on home brewed Macedonian slivovic… And, finishing up this curious mix, track 13, with some lovely and spirited Galician muiñeiras, sigh! I immediately ordered a coyy for us… ;-) I love it!"

“Andy May: Happy Hours” ~ Northumbrian pipes - The Living Tradition review ~ Alex Monaghan

http://www.livingtradition.co.uk/webrevs/fecd224.htm

"The second CD from this champion young Northumbrian piper combines music from many traditions with two of Andy May’s own compositions and several of his friends’ tunes." ~ Shetland ~ Tyneside ~ Baltic ~ Northumbrian - 9/8 jigs - James Hill classics ~ highland pipe march ~ Galician jigs to finish. ~ a very enjoyable sequel to Andy May’s debut, full of fun and fine tunes, highly recommended." - Alex Monaghan