Atrax Records: TheSwarbStore: Other Back-Catalogue: The Cold Grey Light of Dawn

Dave Swarbrick and Alistair Hulett

'The Cold Grey Light of Dawn'

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While living in Australia in the mid-nineties, Swarb teamed up with Aussie/Glaswegian singer-songwriter Alistair Hulett. They proved to be an inspired pairing and have continued to work with each other ever since.

"the performances are always absorbing and rarely other than exciting" Folk Roots

"a quietly brilliant act" Dirty Linen

"A platter of great excellence" Folk On Tap

"an album to make you think... Protest is still very much in business" Living Tradition

"a staggeringly good CD; the finest possible calling card for this fine duo" Tykes News

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Published in 'The Ledge' Magazine

ALISTAIR HULETT & DAVE SWARBRICK - THE COLD GREY LIGHT OF DAWN - MUSIKFOLK MFCD513

A folk album! Few and far between are the albums that can be given such a specific label. Acoustic guitar, fiddle and voice are the main- stays throughout the album which is mainly written by Alistair, with a few traditional songs included.

Each song is explained in the accompanying booklet, with songs covering many of Alistair’s experiences in Australia, both in his own time there and as historical items, such as “The Siege Of Union Street” about the formation of the Unemployed Workers Union. This song like most is a narrative / story on the event Swarb’s fiddle floating and swirling around Alistair’s vocal and steady guitar. “Among Proddy Dogs And Papes” was written in Australia, Alistair remembering the Glasgow he left nearly twenty five years before, and while still telling the story is faster than most of the others, less of a storytelling setting.

The words to all the songs are included as well, which at points is rather useful, as even though the production on the album is crisp and clear throughout Alistair does at times use shall we say words and phrases not frequently found in the Queens English. But that’s part of the charm of the album. “Harold’s Best Men” looks from the eyes of a former Grimethorpe miner at their changing circumstances, from the times of war, which prompted Harold MacMillan to call them “Best Men”, to times after the closure of the mine, and drug problems in the town, just one of the powerful lyrics. For another try “The Day That The Boys Came To Town” about the shooting of an innocent Koori by the Australian police. This will surely build on the success of their debut album “Saturday Johnny and Jimmy The Rat”.

Ian Burgess of Friends of Fairport

ALISTAIR HULETT & DAVE SWARBRICK - THE COLD GREY LIGHT OF DAWN - MUSIKFOLK MFCD513 

Alistair Hulett is Scots-born but has spent most of his performing life in Australia, where he's established a reputation as a singer and songwriter with a fierce social conscience. Indeed, net-surfers can find Alistair on the website of Marxism Today where he gives us a verse from The Internationale.

Dave Swarbrick has never seen the need to put away that wondrous fiddle just because of the convention of growing old gracefully and on this album easily reaches the parts that Alistair's guitar can't reach, bringing back echoes of Swarb & Carthy.

The success of their 1996 album Saturday Johnny and Jimmy the Rat sent this duo into the recording studio again and the result is a faithful representation of what they sound like at a live gig.

I mentioned echoes of Carthy earlier, but there are other echoes present. The songs are mostly Hulett originals but there's traditional Scots such as The Merchant's Son and one which they call Chylde Owlett, and my Vocal Influence Seismometer picked up definite trace readings of Bogle, Gaughan and, especially, Ewan MacColl.

This matters little, of course, for the test of a songwriter's ability is his work. As well as angry songs from his stay in this country, Hulett's sound and fury lead us through the barricades of Sydney, Australian penal colony descendants, chemically-induced trips downtown and police raids on the homes of innocent Aboriginals. Skippy meets Rolf Harris it ain't.

It's an album to make you think; well-produced and passionately delivered. And it's reassuring to see that, that much-maligned branch of the folk music industry labelled Protest is still very much in business. 

Alan McIntosh Brown

ALISTAIR HULETT & DAVE SWARBRICK - THE COLD GREY LIGHT OF DAWN - MUSIKFOLK MFCD513 

Two well-respected musicians coming together to record songs of social and political significance. That's the short summary of this, their second recording together. The reader may already be aware of Dave Swarbrick's significance in the scheme of things -- the man who for many people was the main focus of Fairport Convention from 1969-85; his work with Martin Carthy before and since, the Ian Campbell Folk Group in the early Sixties, "supergroup" Band Of Hope with Roy Bailey etc., and the list goes, on. Alistair Hulett may not be familiar to so many, though. Scottish-born, he emigrated to Australia where his first real breakthrough came with the self-proclaimed "folk band from hell" Roaring Jack, in the mid-Eighties. The band was a powerful, thrashy folk-rock outfit with a reputation for dynamic live shows. They put out a handful of recordings -- the mini-LP Street Celtabillity and two full-length albums The Cat Among The Pigeons and Through The Smoke Of Innocence, all on the Mighty Boy label and now deleted. The majority of the songs were written and sung by Hulett. When Roaring Jack split in the early Nineties, Hulett reverted to the acoustic solo format and released a couple of recordings in that style.

Then, as it often does, fate lent a hand. Dave Swarbrick moved to Australia for a few years in the mid-Nineties, where he married and embarked on the occasional tour. At the home of a friend, he heard a Roaring Jack album, and particularly the song "The Swaggies Have All Waltzed Matilda Away" -- one of the few acoustic numbers the band performed. "I'd like to work with that man," said Swarbrick of Alistair Hulett. A few phone calls later and the meeting took place, much to Hulett's delight. They hit it off musically and personally, and released the album Saturday Johnny & Jimmy The Rat in 1996 on the Red Rattler label.

Before long, they both returned to the UK to live and have toured regularly at festivals and folk clubs around Europe. The material again is largely written by Hulett, who sings and plays acoustic guitar, while Swarbrick plays violin and mandolin, as only he can. Similar to his duo work with Martin Carthy, Swarb does not sing but provides tasteful, appropriate accompaniment to the songs.

Hulett has described himself as a "Bolshevik" (and I confess I'm not sure of the significance of such a term in the late 20th / early 21st Century) and his lyrics are peppered with references to "raising the Red flag" and the like. There is no doubting his sincerity or his committed stance in pointing out social injustices, but perhaps his bordering on gung-ho approach might put off some of the people he is trying to reach. At the same time, those already converted to "the cause" will very much appreciate his ability to not only verbalise whatever concerns he may have, but to write some damn fine tunes to go with it! In fact, The Cold Grey Light Of Dawn is a classic folk-protest album, without the clichés that can entail.

The timelessness of the album, both musically and thematically, is certainly a point in its favour. The lyrical themes are sourced from both past and present, and the arrangements are simple and effective. The melody is always paramount, and is never overwhelmed by the duo's interpretation of the music. Hulett's voice is in fine form; I especially like the way he uses the lower register in songs like "Suicide Town." The songs themselves are a mix of originals, along with a couple of traditional pieces, my favourite being "The Merchant's Son." A few of the tracks have been previously recorded by Hulett, either with Roaring Jack ("The Day That The Boys Came Down," a fictional story of a police revenge-killing of an innocent Aboriginal man, which actually came to pass after the original release of the song) or on earlier solo albums ("Among Proddy Dogs And Papes"). However, the passage of time and the inclusion of Swarbrick into the equation changes their feel quite considerably.

The newer songs become familiar quickly as well. Examples include "When The Wee Birds Start Leaving," which is a lovely, folky melody concerning the plight of the modern Gypsy, and "Harold's Best Men," about the UK government's ignorance of the plight of British miners, who were once referred to as "the best men in the world" by a previous administration. The album closes with a new version of "The Swaggies Have All Waltzed Matilda Away," which Swarb was very keen to record, and is always the final song of the duo's live set.

The production is clear and up front, and gives the impression at least of being largely one-take. The Cold Grey Light Of Dawn is by no means a folk-rock album, as some may expect from the artists' previous work, but it is a thoughtful and entertaining collection by two performers who complement each other well. Apparently, recording has commenced for a third album by this duo, which is good news indeed, given both Swarbrick's recent health scare and the need for music in the marketplace that subscribes to the old-fashioned ideas of tunefulness and lyrical intelligence.

Michael Hunter (also of 'Fiddlestix')

Last updated on 30 January 2003