Dick Gaughan at the Flying Cloud

by Wil Macaulay
Oct 30 1998
Dick Gaughan and his battered Martin D28 had no trouble mesmerizing a capacity crowd at the Tranzac club on Saturday night.

Gaughan chose to sing mostly contemporary songs from his vast repertoire, starting with a Si Kahn song What You Do with What You've Got, and moving through songs from Brian McNeil, Richard Thompson and others.

Gaughan is a Scottish Nationalist who believes that the only constructive thing we did with Charles Edward Stuart is put his face on a tin of shortbread and export it to Europe. His anecdotes and opinions are given while his fingers are constantly moving on his guitar, strumming chords in DADGAD tuning.

The man is a monster guitar player - his 1977 recording Coppers and Brass still amazes me every time I hear it. The ballad Bonnie Jeannie of Bethelnie showed he still has the chops - even while singing at the same time.

Sound at the Flying Cloud was good as usual - and nobody was getting up for beer in the middle of the set!

Archie Fisher, another legendary Scottish singer-songwriter, comes to the Cloud on Sunday, Nov 1.


Copyright © 1997 Wil Macaulay

Back to Reviews page
1