Dick Gaughan
Live At The BBC, 1972-79
(Gaughan Recordings)
★★★★☆

WITH Dick Gaughan retiring in 2016, a successful Kirkstarter campaign is set to release a mammoth boxset of the of the Scottish folksinger’s influential career in the new year.

In the meantime, Live At The BBC acts as an entrancing amuse bouche, with highlights picked from sessions at the Beeb and live performances in the 1970s.

What immediately strikes me is the beauty and power of Gaughan’s voice (his guitar playing is pretty impressive too). There’s a heart-stopping performance of the love song Rigs O’ Rye and a wonderful take of Fair Flower O’ Northumberland, which dates back to 1597, the encyclopaedic Mainly Norfolk folk website tells me.

While Gaughan’s 1981 Handful Of Earth is rightly considered a classic, he feels a bit of a forgotten figure today. Hopefully this album and the forthcoming boxset will change this.

De La Soul
Cabin In The Sky
(Mass Appeal)
★★★★☆

THE Long Island rap group’s ninth studio album, Cabin In The Sky is a fitting tribute to founding member David “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, who died in 2023.

A loose concept album about loss and life, there’s lots of poignant, reflective lyrics and moments stretched over the sprawling 70-minute, sample-heavy set. But ultimately the elder hip hop statesmen can’t suppress their positivity and irreverent humour – remember their 1989 debut was the playful, flower-powered 3 Feet High And Rising.

Assisted by a mass of guest stars, including Nas, Killer Mike, Slick Rick and Common, it’s pretty impressive that De La Soul are still making such fresh and poppy music in their-mid-50s – check out Different World ft. Gina Loring, and the magnificent closer Don’t Push Me, which includes vocals from Jolicoeur quoting The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

John Scofield and Dave Holland
Memories Of Home
(ECM)
★★★★☆

TWO masters of their craft, guitarist John Scofield and bassist Dave Holland have themselves crafted a great instrumental jazz duet album with Memories Of Home.

While they’ve worked together before, this is the first time they have recorded together alone. Opener Icons At The Fair, which has a surprising bite to it, is a tribute to Miles Davis, who both American septuagenarians have played with over the years (Scofield in the 1980s and Holland on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew).

Elsewhere Mr B, as the track’s full title notes, is dedicated to double bass player Ray Brown, while the playful Not For Nothin’ sounds like an outtake from Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer’s equally wonderful 2024 double bass duet album But Who’s Gonna Play the Melody?

Recorded in upstate New York, it’s an inspired pairing.