This recording was originally made for Free Reed but due to the label’s folding the album was released on a French LP and later on Greentrax.

Recorded by Calum Malcom at Castlesound & Graighall Studios, Edinburgh, 1977;
Produced by Brian McNeill;
Executive producer: Neil Wayne;
Cover painting by Dorothea Patterson

Musicians

Brian McNeill: cittern, mandolin, concertina, fiddle, viola;
Angus McGregor: Northumbrian pipes;
Neil Evans: guitar;
Nan Trench: flute;
John Gahagan: whistle;
Alan Reid: pedal organ;
Pat Knowles: electric piano;
Jamie Knowles: pedal organ;
Jamie McMenemy: guitarra portuguesa;
Sandy Stanage: guitar;
Dave Munro: uilleann pipes

Tracks

1. Queen of Sluts / Willie Is a Bonny Lad (3.37)
2. The Flowers of the Thorn (3.48)
3. The Oyster Girl / The Centenary / Shane’s Fancy (3.24)
4. Master Crowley’s Reel / Bobby Casey’s Reel (3.18)
5. The Duke of Fife’s Welcome to Deeside / Belladrum House / The Witch of the Wave (3.27)
6. Rowley Burn / Roxburgh Castle (3.30)
7. The Bag of Potatoes / The Little Pig Lamenting the Empty Trough / Brian O’Laimhin (3.06)
8. Monksgate (3.32)
9. The Hag at the Spinning Wheel (2.22)
10. The Eclipse / The Mathematician (2.47)
11. Modest Miss France / The Marchioness of Huntly / Miss Shepherd / Pretty Peg (3.40)

All tracks trad. except
Track 4b Robert Casey;
Tracks 5a, 11b, 12c James Scott Skinner;
Track 6a J. Forster Charlton;
Track 7 Turleigh O’Carolan;
Track 12a Brian McNeill;
Track 12b William Marshall

Produced and recorded by Robin Morton at Temple Records Studio, Scotland;
Front photograph by Colin Bell;
Back photograph by Robin Gillanders;
Sleeve design and graphics by Jim Hutcheson

Musicians

Brian McNeill: fiddle [1-4, 6, 8, 10-13], bouzouki [1, 6, 9, 13], mandolin [1, 3, 6], acoustic bass [1, 4], electric bass [1, 3, 7], drums [1, 13], guitar [2-8, 11-13], viola [2, 13], mandocello [3], vocals [4, 8, 11], concertina [6, 9, 13], tenor banjo [6], xylophone [7], hurdy-gurdy [8], synthesiser [10], cittern [11]

Tracks

Side 1

1. Lift Your Glass to the Landlady / Peter Calver’s Favourite / The Steeple Reel (3.18)
2. The Butterfly Chain (2.03)
3. Angela Morrison’s Pavane / The White Dress / The Foggy Banks of Haines (4.25)
4. The Boys That Broke the Ground / Ortiguera (3.43)
5. The Tall Ships in Their Prime (2.10)
6. The Ivory Reel / Miss Susan Fedderson / The Quill (3.57)

Side 2

7. Belle-Ile / Crookhill (3.50)
8. The Laverock Sang (3.00)
9. The Heron (2.28)
10. Molly’s Roses / Hamish Henderson’s Refusal (3.28)
11. Blue Jay and a Cardinal (3.15)
12. Bothkennar (2.00)
13. Down the Road to Galloway / Catherine Jane’s Polka (3.10)

All tracks written by Brian McNeill

Produced by Brian McNeill;
Recorded and mixed by Brian McNeill and Peter Haigh at High Hold Productions and Pier House Studio, Edinburgh, in April / October 1998;
Artwork by High Hold Productions

Musicians

Brian McNeill: fiddle, viola, guitar, mandolin, mandocello, bouzouki, keyboards;
Jed Grimes: guitar [2, 6, 9, 13]

Tracks

1. To Answer the Peacock (4.01)
2. The Fallen Angel Set: The Wee Drippin’ Roast / Susan Martin’s Welcome to the Island of Barbados / The Mecklenburg Reel / The Fallen Angel (4.40)
3. Quodlibet (3.51)
4. Peace and Plenty (4.29)
5. Czarlie Is My Darling / These Boots Were Made for Walkinshaw (3.22)
6. Bill Malley’s Schottische / The Ballnain Ball (3.52)
7. The Wooden Sisters (2.21)
8. St. Christopher and the Magpie (3.19)
9. The Colrhanna Set: In Praise of Red Hair / The Belles of Rennes / Con the Keys / The Colrhanna Reel (5.07)
10. Gordy’s Wedding / Wrapped Up Tidy (3.37)
11. The Stolen Strad Set: Fermoy to Falkirk / The Stag’s Glade / The Stolen Strad (4.16)
12. Lady Livingstone (3.31)
13. The Condolences Set: Brian McNeill’s Condolences to Mr Major, Mr Portillo and Mr Rifkind on the Sad Events of the First of May, 1997 / Whisky Before Breakfast / The Devil’s Dream (4.21)
14. Chapter 1, To Answer the Peacock (17.31)
    reading from Brian McNeill’s book

All tracks written by Brian McNeill except
Track 3 Dick Gaughan;
Tracks 5, 13bc trad. arr. Brian McNeill;
Track 12 Niel Gow arr. Brian McNeill

Produced by Brian McNeill;
Recorded by Kim Planert and Brian McNeill at High Hold Productions and on location in Glasgow, Fife, Denmark and Germany in 2003-9;
Mixed at Pier House Studios, Edinburgh, by Peter Haigh and Brian McNeill in April-June 2009;
Front cover illustration: John McNeill, Brian’s paternal grandfather, as a young soldier;
Design by Brian McNeill

Musicians

Brian McNeill: vocals, fiddle, octave fiddle, mandocello, bouzouki, mandola, mandolin, guitars, concertina, hurdy-gurdy, hand percussion;
Sylvia Barnes: vocals;
Dominique Dodge: harp;
Celini Donoghue: tenor banjo;
Dick Gaughan: guitar, vocals;
George Haig: autoharp;
Lorne MacDougall: Highland pipes, whistles;
Lynsey Payne: soprano saxophone;
Patsy Seddon: vocals;
Fraser Speirs: harmonica;
Mike Travis: drums, percussion

Tracks

1. The Baltic tae Byzantium (5.50)
2. Scotus (2.40)
3. A Far North Land (5.31)
4. Bothwell (4.29)
5. The Holland Trade (5.38)
6. Auld Man By the Fire (3.31)
7. The Gothenburg Reel / John’s Awa tae France / Danzig Willie’s Reel (4.04)
8. How the Foreign Winds Do Blaw / Madam Dae Ye Ken the Dance? (4.42)
9. Back tae Berwick Johnnie (3.44)
10. Bring the Lassie Hame (8.13)
11. True to the Forest (3.23)

All tracks written by Brian McNeill except
Track 8a words Brian McNeill, chorus tune Brian McNeill, verse tune trad. Scottish (Bonny Lassie Lie Near Ye) arr. Brian McNeill;
Track 8b Dominique Dodge

Produced by Brian McNeill;
Recorded by Brian McNeill at High Hold Studio and by Ian Stephensen at Simpson Street Studios, Thropton;
Mixed by Nick Turner and Brian McNeill at Watercolour Studio, Ardgour;
Mastered by Nick Turner at Watercolour;
Front cover design by Brian McNeill;
Booklet layout by John Slavin at DesignFolk

Musicians

Brian McNeill: vocals [1, 3-4, 6-7, 9], mandocello [1, 3, 6, 9], fiddle [2, 10], octave fiddle [2, 10], concertina [2, 6, 10], bouzouki [2, 10], guitar [2, 7-8, 10], baritone guitar [5];
Ted Sargent: bodhrán [1, 4, 9-10]

Tracks

1. Two Minutes’ Silence (7.35)
2. The Coilsfield House Set: Coilsfield House / The Boy Gardener / Jenny Nettles / Paddy Bort’s (6.34)
3. The Yew Tree (6.46)
4. Sell Your Labour, Not Your Soul (3.08)
5. The Headlands / Canaan Lane (4.51)
6. John Harrison’s Hands (4.48)
7. When The Laverock Sang (3.22)
8. The Burning of Auchendoon (Roud 4010; Child 183) (2.13)
9. Prince of Darkness (6.17)
10. The Modest Miss France Set: Modest Miss France / The Tuscaloosa Cardinal / Dancing Boney (4.33)

All tracks written by Brian McNeill except
Track 2a Nathaniel Gow;
Tracks 2c, 8 trad.;
Track 5a Ronald Cooper;
Track 6 Brian McNeill, Dick Gaughan