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ROBERT SCOTT: Song of Otago's Past

There's no disputing Robert Scott's pedigree as a prolific songwriter and champion bandsman - The Clean, The Bats, The Magick Heads and more. This appears to be an uncharacteristic deviation for Scott - he sits down, strums his acoustic guitar and sings with fiddle and accordion backing. It's hard to work out if he's dismissing, ignorant of or paying homage to the legacy of Garland, Hore and Colquhoun who kindled the repertoire 40 years ago. Indeed, he has taken these songs boldly into folk clubs where he is likely to field the strongest critical analysis. Although there are full lyric sheets, there's precious little information from which one might glean his reasons for collecting these songs and publishing them in such a way. However, the CD is not without its charm, a garagey tape-recording with no attempt at prissy editing and Scott's trademark driving guitar. These songs and poems-to-music are all ballads, stories about actual events and people and are well worth reviving or revisiting for that reason alone. And if it serves to remind us that we do have a different cultural heritage of our own, then Robert Scott has indeed done a good job.

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