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An Independant review of Acoustic Moods â âPluggedâ by Alan Ratcliff

The Album.

To call Chris Dumiganâs latest offering âThe Shadows meets Genesis - Acousticallyâ would be to do it a gross injustice. But to call it simply classical guitar for 3 players
would alienate the huge, broad spectrum of music lovers who would find this CD both enchanting and worth buying. It is as appealing as it is refreshing and intriguing. And
it is certainly more then the âEasy Listeningâ whose peg it would be easy to hang this album upon!
There are catchy tunes (yes â they would pass the original old greysâ whistle test in their own right); there are complex time signatures; there are plenty of intriguing
chord sequences and there are underlying classical guitar currents all over the album. For those of you who can listen to a piece and immediately choreograph an accurate ballet to it, then you will follow the musical metaphors with interest, I guarantee!
The album clearly demonstrates Chris Dumiganâs well-known virtuosity on the guitar (though he doesnât take the lead on every single piece) but he is ably augmented by guitarist Tony Ward, who not only supplies ârhythm guitarâ support via some excellent chord work, but also provides interesting counterpoint on a number of tracks. Trained classically on the French horn, bassist Dan Coghill supplies a very firm foundation on the electric 6-string bass â whilst also taking the occasional opportunity to play the melody line!
Two acoustic guitars with an electric bass provide a surprisingly good mix and balance, and the melodies and bass lines produce matches that are truly fascinating.Asked why he didnât want to utilise any other instruments on this album, Chris said that they wanted to stay strictly with what they can produce live â so adding other instruments to the production was out of the question. Having said that, the album doesnât really suffer from any sameness, because of the variety in the music itself. Anyone who remembers the Sixties will remember living life with a feeling of
anticipation â what will The Beatles do on their next record, what will be the next fashion or the next outrageous headline. Well, when you are listening to this album,
there are many occasions where you simply find yourself subconsciously wondering where the next chord-change will take you, which emotion will be evoked in the next
major-to-minor-to-major move.
A good album will have numerous features that come to the fore and fade back again during the lifetime of the album listening â the early âhooksâ, the middle interest-
grabbers that replace the hooks, and then the features that werenât apparent or maybe you didnât even like in the early listenings. This album has them all (attributable to the
varied inputs from all the band members, one assumes). It can be demonstrated by the now-what-will-I-do-with-this-CD-if-I-donât-just-leave-it-in-the-rack-gathering-dust
syndrome :First listen â some interesting melody lines, some fascinating counterpoints. Not at all bad . . .certainly good enough for background music next time someone comes round for dinner..
Second listen â partly to do the album justice, but Iâm sure there were a couple of melody lines in there that have invaded my subconscious (like â I found myself humming them!), and I want to see if Iâm right.
Third listen â this time itâs by choice. This album really is very good, and deserves to be put onto my iPod for regular use. Definitely promoted from the dinner-party pile to the regular-listen pile.
Fourth Listen â OK, itâs on my iPod and there itâs staying. Itâs now preferred to the Beatles albums and all sorts of others â in terms of an interesting listen whilst on the train to work, itâs up there on the top menu. I just canât work out what genre to use !

Track-by-track review.

Happy Blues in 7/4 - the opener - starts with a haunting bass â in 7/4 time. Lovely and clear â immediately dispelling any fears of home-production. Having thought that
this album would be ideal as interesting background music for a dinner-party, this first track is one of a number that would be wasted if used purely as wallpaper music.
I know youâre going to think that describing an instrumental track comprising two acoustic guitars and an electric bass as â60âs soulâ is an extended use of the imagination, but try listening to Jump To It (the second track) â youâll see what I mean. Itâs a lively piece it also had me reminiscing of The Shadows . . . . . . .
Track 3 (For Heather) is a wonderful arpeggio that Chris turned up at a rehearsal with in his head. Fortuitously, Chris and Tony were occupied with the two accompanying parts, leaving Danâs electric bass to take the lead â with an excellent result â and a nice balance.
Now â track 4 is really in two parts (with track 5).The first (Kyleâs Dance) is a real, heart-stirring set of chord-changes, with Chrisâs guitar positively singing â far more than Eric Claptonâs ever did! One of my favourite tracks, with a really catchy melody.
Track 5 â itâs dance partner (Alexanderâs Dance), is a magical meandering through which your attention never slips. This is definitely NOT woolly jumper music! This is
one of those tracks I was thinking of in the overview when I said that some of Chrisâs music takes you on a mystery chord-tour â you really cannot anticipate the next chord
change. And just as you think you are acclimatised to the changing chords, in comes another of Chrisâs catchy melodies. And I was very impressed with the way the bass
synchronises with Chrisâs own lines.
Track 6 â Journeyâs End â was an original composition by Tony, with a challenge to Chris to write a melody line for it. You can actually feel the relief in the tempo and the chords and the bright cheer escaping through the speakers.
Now track 7 is really what I would call âCute and Fluffyâ music. This is an absolute demonstration of Chrisâs penchant for producing refreshing melody lines, particularly
on top of Tonyâs fascinating original set of chord sequences.
Beverleyâs Falling Snowflakes (Track 8) â the biggest impact on me in this track was the nice bass counterpoint. Apparently this was the last part of the piece to be
written, after Chris had performed plastic surgery on two of Tonyâs compositions.
Track 9, called Freetime II â sorry Dan (this is one of Danâs compositions), but Hank Marvin sprang to mind again here! However, despite another reference to that electric
guitar pioneer, this is an interesting arrangement and my favourite aspect was again the bass line.
Recollections had me gripping my drumsticks, waiting to accompany the anticipated Phil Collins entrance. Although he didnât, I still enjoyed the melody dancing with that
bass line.
Hurtling on into A Winterâs Tinkle â track 11. Now, Iâm really quite blind when it comes to seeing metaphors in music, and Iâm not a regular ballet-visitor, to say the
leastâ¦â¦. But I really COULD see the log fire and the snow outside. The duetting of the guitars and their playful counterpoint had me positively purring. My favourite
trackâ¦..at the moment.
Onto Track 12 â Celebration. The middle piece definitely had me thinking of that
instrumental in Pete Townshendâs Tommy, a piece called Sparksâ¦.on this one, Chris plays both lead parts.
Track 13 is taken from Chrisâs musical, Stag. The lads say that this is one of the highlights of their live set. For me, this simply has not grabbed me as much as the other tracks. Having said that, Iâll probably re-read these views in a yearâs time and totally disagree!
And the climax of the album - Tryptych â cleverly done, because the final 4 tracks all link together â not quite as joined-up as side 2 of The Beatlesâ Abbey Road â but
interesting, in their own way.
-Dancing is lively, a folksy sound (not Lancashire woolly jumper but Greece / Turkey black dress white aprons and lots of life !!) â the band call it âa perverted folk danceâ!
-Cadenza â for classical guitarists out thereâ¦the calm before the big finale
-Dreaming â now this DID remind me of Abbey Road â the âHere Comes The Sun Kingâ arpeggio. I called this âmood-draggingâ â completely involuntarily â sometimes bright and flirtatious, sometimes dragging me down, only to restore the smile again. Then, finallyâ¦.
-Driving. Iâd be really interested in hearing a good thumping drum beat
behind this, because thatâs what my right foot was doing.
A real heart-stirring track to end on.
BUT..
Donât just take my word for all of this. Go out, stretch your musical imagination, open your mind, and let yourself be driven along these exhilarating musical roads. You
wonât regret it.

©Alan Ratcliff January 2006

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