"Hamish Imlach/Before And After/Hamish Imlach Live!/The Two Sides Of Hamish Imlach + Bonus Tracks" by HAMISH IMLACH – Four Albums from 1966, 1967 and 1968 and a 1966 Stand-Alone 45-Single – Guests Included Bobby Campbell of The Exiles, Oscar St. Cyr, Clive Palmer (of The Incredible String Band), Ray Warleigh of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and John Stevens' Away, Martin Fry of The Temperance Seven, John McKinnon of Madder Lake and Archie Fisher of The Fisher Family (May 2020 UK Beat Goes On Reissue – 4LPs onto 2CDs Plus Two Bonus Tracks – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Street Songs..."

Born in India to Scottish parents but raised as a something of a street brat in Glasgow from the age of 13 with passions for the local working class and their struggles – the huge-framed Folk and Comedy troubadour HAMISH IMLACH sees his first four albums for Transatlantic's XTRA Records reissued here in a generous twofer package. 

Lobbing on two Bonus Tracks on CD2 – you get rare Folk LPs from 1966, 1967 and 1968 (three studio and one live) Remastered and card slip-cased by England's Beat Goes On Records (BGO) alongside his stand-alone debut UK 45-single from early 1966 "I'm The Boy To Freeze 'Em" b/w "Scottish Breakaway" on Transatlantic Records TRA SP 11. 

Very much in a Scottish tradition of wit, trade unions and hometown misery – you get tales of 37 buses, clapped out bangers and hornary moggies from Dundee. Underappreciated nationally yet prolific nonetheless, by the time Scotland's Imlach passed from health issues in 1996, he had released some 20 albums and mentored a young Billy Connolly in the ways of a ribald raconteur. Here are the Cod Liver Oil Coppers, Plaidie Bonny Lasses and Drumboe Whiskey Devils (if you know what I’m saying)...

UK released Friday, 22 May 2020 - "Hamish Imlach/Before And After/Hamish Imlach Live!/The Two Sides Of Hamish Imlach + Bonus Tracks" by HAMISH IMLACH on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1414 (Barcode 5017261214140) offers Four Folk LPs Remastered onto 2CDs with Two 45-Single Stand-Alone Tracks as Bonuses. It plays out as follows: 

CD1 (69:50 minutes):
1. Johnny O'Breadislee [Side 1]
2. Man Of Knoydart 
3. The Zoological Gardens
4. Street Songs 
5. Cod Liver Oil And Orange Juice
6. The Gaudie 
7. If It Wasn't For The Unions [Side 2]
8. The Cumbie Boys 
9. Erin Go Bragh 
10. The Soldier's Prayer 
11. Black Is The Colour 
12. Foggy Due 
Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "Hamish Imlach" - released 1966 on XTRA Records XTRA 1039. Produced by NATHAN JOSEPH – Hamish Imlach on Guitar and Vocals (reissued in March 1977 on Transatlantic TRA SAM 43 with the same title). 

13. Tall Tale [Side 1]
14. Ramensky 
15. The Copper's Song
16. The Klan
17. MacPherson's Farewell
18. Candy Man 
19. The 37 Bus [Side 2]
20. I Am A Miller 
21. The Castle Of Drumboe 
22. The Dundee Cat
23. Sporting Life 
Tracks 13 to 23 are his second studio album "Before And After" – released 1967 in the UK on XTRA Records XTRA 1059. Produced by NATHAN JOSEPH – Hamish Imlach on Guitar and Vocals with Bobby Campbell of The Exiles on Fiddle and Oscar St. Cyr on Mandola and Concertina. 

CD2 (75:57 minutes):
1. I Was A Gay Spark In My Time [Side 1]
2. Whisky You're The Devil 
3. Early Morning Blues 
4. The Ballad Of Timothy Evans 
5. It's Better In The Dark 
6. Campbell [Side 2]
7. Castlereagh 
8. The Wind Blew The Bonnie Lassie's Plaidie Awa'
9. Paddy Lay Back 
Tracks 1 to 9 are his third album "Hamish Imlach Live!" - released 1967 in the UK on XTRA Records XTRA 1050. Produced by NATHAN JOSEPH – Hamish Imlach on Guitar and Vocals. 

10. Jean Harlow (Died The Other Day - Several Times) [Side 1]
11. Clapped Out Motorcar
12. I Got Fooled 
13. Bourgeois Blues
14. The Hurny Bull 
15. The Happiest Day
16. The McGregors [Side 2]
17. Anthony Riley 
18. Deep Elm Blues
19. D Day Dodgers 
20. History Of Football 
21. The Priest And The Minister  
Tracks 10 to 21 are his fourth album (third studio set) "The Two Sides Of Hamish Imlach" - released 1968 in the UK on XTRA Records XTRA 1069. Produced by NATHAN JOSEPH - Hamish Imlach on Guitar and Vocals, Clive Palmer (of The Incredible String Band) on Banjo and Kazoo, Ray Warleigh of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and John Stevens' Away on Flute, Martin Fry of The Temperance Seven on Tuba, John McKinnon of Madder Lake on Fiddle and Archie Fisher of The Fisher Family on Banjo and Concertina.

BONUS TRACKS:
22. I'm The Boy To Freeze 'Em 
23. Scottish Breakaway 
Tracks 22 and 23 are the A&B-sides of his stand-alone 45-single debut from 1966 on Transatlantic Records TRA SP 11. "Scottish Breakaway" was featured on "The Hamish Imlach Sampler" LP in 1969 on Transatlantic TRA SAM 9.

The card slipcase lends these BGO reissues that touch of visual specialness while JOHN O'REGAN does his usual classy and in-depth liner notes on the man's larger than life persona. The artwork photos for the four LPs along with their respective liner notes of the day (if any) are reproduced in the booklet (the song-by-song credits are on the rear of the card sleeve). Politics, the oppression of the poor and roots sometimes-un-PC comedy is never far from Imlach's lips - Scottish crofters and desperate but brave Robin Hood types stealing deer from the King's land to feed their children. In-between we get jabs at Prime Ministers, covers of Leadbelly's "Bourgeois Blues", tales of tours with Planxty and The Dubliners in Ireland, all the way up to the inevitable heartbreak of a lass who took some wee laddie's heart in tunes like "Black Is The Colour" (the cheeky moo). 

Long-time Audio Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON has done the 2020 Remasters from original tapes and these primarily Acoustic analogue recordings sound gorgeous - rattling six-strings and self-effacing humour echoing around your speakers. Let's get to the records...

When Imlach came to Scotland as a 13-year old teen in 1953, he had already lived in India's Darjeeling and Australia's Brisbane with his wandering parents. So in some respects it's no surprise that as a 26-year old man in 1966 Glasgow, his XTRA Records debut album is filled with myth and mirth and Folk songs that touch on unrequited love, zoological gardens and trade unions. There is a theme of noble struggle in "Street Songs", "The Cumbie Boys" and "Men Of Knoydart". The bleak acoustic guitar and lone vocal only add to the poignancy. 

The second studio album "Before And After" (and his second in 1967, the sequence of releases in wrong here) adds on two musicians in the shape of Bobby Campbell of The Exiles on Fiddle and Oscar St. Cyr on Mandola and Concertina. It's eleven tracks bring us more vignettes on the clans of Drumboe and dodgy cats in Dundee. There's more than a touch of The Dubliners in the drunken fiddle tune in "MacPherson's Farewell" and big Jimmy on the upper deck on the 37 bus where hairy Mary's boyfriend is kicking up a fuss - a bottle of wine in hand (lost a wad on the dogs). 

When you put his huge personality into a live setting (his first album in 1967), it all comes to life. Jokes like whenever a baby was born, a man left town, and this is why the village kept its population at the same number. "Early Morning Blues" sees our hero made sore by his baby - leaving and ain't coming back anymore. But there is also pathos in "The Wind Blew Bonnie Lassie's Plaidie Awa'" and it was a smart move for album number four to up the ante musician wise – Jug-band music in "Jean Harlow..." and the ceilidh round the fireside hoot to "History Of Football". 

This kind of barroom-brawling history-remembering Folk is an acquired taste, truth be told, and at times you just wish Imlach had chosen to dig deeper into Traditional ballads where his big voice would have moved instead of forever being dubbed 'the king of entertainment'. 

Still, if you're a fan, this is a must own and a lovely reminder of a great storytelling talent lost...