Home Is Where the Van Is, an album by The Battlefield Band

Battlefield Band

Battlefield Band is a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, there are no founder members in the band....

, was released in 1980 on the Temple Records label. The album, the band's U.S. debut, "continued the Scottish group's affinity for blending modern instrumentation into the country's folk tradition." Several songs from the album notably featured band member Ged Foley on the Northumbrian smallpipes

Northumbrian smallpipes

The Northumbrian smallpipes are bellows-blown bagpipes from the North East of England.In a survey of the bagpipes in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, the organologist Anthony Baines wrote: It is perhaps the most civilized of the bagpipes, making no attempt to go farther than the...

.

Track listing

1. "Major Malley's March & Reel/Malcolm Currie" – 2:27
2. "Bonny Barbry-O" – 3:18
3. "Look Across the Water/Mrs Garden of Troup/The Keelman Ower Land" – 4:29
4. "Braw Lads O'Galla Water
   Gala Water
   The Gala Water is a river in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland and a tributary of the River Tweed. It is sometimes known as the "Gala", which nickname is also shared with Galashiels, which it flows through. The "Braw Lads O Gala Watter" is a song about people from Galashiels.-Gallery:...
   
   " – 3:35
5. "Up & Waur Them A', Willie" – 3:25
6. "Joseph McDonald's Jig/The Snuff Wife/Thief of Lochaber" – 3:56
7. "Cockle Geordie/Miss Graham/Miss Thompson" – 4:01
8. "The Boar and the Fox" – 4:10
9. "Blackhall Rocks
   Blackhall Rocks
   Blackhall Rocks is a village on the North Sea coast of County Durham, England. It is situated on the A1086 between Horden and Hartlepool, and just south of Blackhall Colliery which it adjoins...
   
   " – 2:53
10. "The Lads O' the Fair" – 4:05
11. "The Cowal Gathering/The Iron Man/Dancing Feet/Dick Gossip's Reel" – 4:34
12. "Mary Cassidy" – 2:30

Personnel

Battlefield Band:

• Alan Reid: vocals, organ
  Organ (music)
  The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
  
  , synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , electric piano
  Electric piano
  An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
  
  
• Brian McNeill
  Brian McNeill
  Brian McNeill is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of The Battlefield Band which combined traditional celtic melodies and new material....
  
  : vocals, bouzouki
  Bouzouki
  The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
  
  , fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  s, cittern
  Cittern
  The cittern or cither is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is descended from the Medieval Citole, or Cytole. It looks much like the modern-day flat-back mandolin and the modern Irish bouzouki and cittern...
  
  , concertina
  Concertina
  A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
  
  , hurdy-gurdy, viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  
• Duncan MacGillivray: vocals, Highland pipes, whistle
  Whistle
  A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...
  
  s, guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , mouthorgan
  Mouth organ
  A mouth organ is a generic term for free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, and blowing or sucking air to create a...
  
  , bagpipes
  Bagpipes
  Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
  
  , harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
  
• Ged Foley: vocals, mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , Northumbrian smallpipes
  Northumbrian smallpipes
  The Northumbrian smallpipes are bellows-blown bagpipes from the North East of England.In a survey of the bagpipes in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, the organologist Anthony Baines wrote: It is perhaps the most civilized of the bagpipes, making no attempt to go farther than the...
  
  

Also appearing on some songs are sound engineer Martin Colledge on tenor banjo/electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 (tracks 6, 7, 12) and producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Robin Morton on bodhran

Bodhrán

The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...

 (track 6).

Performances

The band played the album in its entirety at the 2009 Celtic Connections

Celtic Connections

The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of traditional Scottish music and also features international...

, as part of the festival's Classic Albums strand. The performance featured the band's 1980 line-up playing with the line-up of 2009: Alan Reid, Brian McNeill

Brian McNeill

Brian McNeill is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of The Battlefield Band which combined traditional celtic melodies and new material....

, Duncan MacGillivray, Ged Foley, Mike Katz, Alasdair White

Alasdair White

Alasdair White is a Scottish folk musician who played with the Battlefield Band as a fiddler since 2001, when he was 18 years old.White is a Scottish Gaelic speaker, and originates from Tong on the Island of Lewis one of Scotland's Outer Hebrides islands, a geographical area where the Gaelic...

 and Sean O’Donnell.

External links

• Interview about Home Is Where The Van Is with Archie Fisher
  Archie Fisher
  Archie Fisher MBE is a Scottish folk singer and song writer.-The early years:Archie Fisher was born in Glasgow on 23 October 1939 into a large singing family. His sister Cilla Fisher is also a professional singer, as was his late sister Ray. In 1960 he moved to Edinburgh and appeared regularly at...
  
  , from BBC Radio Scotland
  BBC Radio Scotland
  BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...