I've been waiting a long time for this. Derek Gifford has traveling the length and breadth ofthe folk scene for years, demonstrating the virtues of good songs sung with sincerity by a good singer. I've often been there to watch him do it, winning audiences with his combination of talent and integrity combined with one of the best voices around. Old fashioned attributes maybe, but I wish we had more of them. In this album, taken from a cassette release of a few years ago, Derek works his way around fifteen songs all of which were written by Keith 'Scowie' Scowcroft, another well-known face on the scene. Scowie has been writing poems for several years, often reciting them at clubs and festivals, but here they are set to music, and most fittingly too. I don't know if Derek was the originator of singing Scowie's work, but he is certainly their foremost champion as this album proves. The songs are often nostalgic, or critical of modern times. Others praise the pleasures of song and drink. Whatever the topic the words come across strongly. Derek's projection and clarity help songs like The Kingfisher, Ale of Old England, and The Singer's Hat, a song descriptive of Whittlebury Song & Ale, tell their own tale. The album ends with the song that so strongly identifies the Scowcroft/Gifford partnership, When All Men Sing. I've heard this song raised by hundreds of happy voices on both sides of the Atlantic. It's a true anthem. And this is a true album from a genuine singer.