Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The beat may well be redundant in many cases, squeezed to death between opinion and the lethargy to look beyond the obvious in terms of getting a particular voice across, but it lives on, perhaps in the shadows and forced to seek solace in an overcrowded music room but nevertheless when it finds an audience it breathes, grows strong and infects the listener to the point where most people cannot help but jive and swing as if life was going to last forever.
When the music is this good, the lyrical content might be found to be lacking, thankfully throughout the whole of the new self-titled Véloniños album everything is in place to be riveting, everything is encompassed to be entertaining and all is genuinely cool and groove ridden pomp.
Davie Duncan, Laurie Cuffe, Shug Jamieson and Kenny Mclellan perform with so much vigour that the foot is given no excuse but to stomp in time and the heart pound with pleasure; the soul already having made up its own mind, is way ahead of the rest of the body and shaking the foundations so hard that extra concrete is poured in just to keep everything upright and straight.
The beat may be redundant, even expired in some cases, but in the artistry and style of Véloniños , the rush of running cool is only overtaken in nature by the dramatic experience enjoyed by many who see the wonder of Niagara Falls for the first time and the thrill of the chase of walking over the hills and mountains of Scotland. The beat is infectious, it deserves a classification all of its own and with the added caveat that no cure or vaccine be found, for if it were then the world would be deprived of great and abounding tunes such as Alabamaman, Helenstown, Preacherman, the dynamic and stirring Mad Cat Dynamo and Hillbilly Girl; tracks that jive and jig as if the Devil were wearing the latest fashion in shoe design and that an angel with a spark of mischief had put tacks in Ol’ Nick’ socks.
A rip roaring and bountiful album, Véloniños have played their hearts out to make this a very splendid piece of music history.
Ian D. Hall