ran tan band

Ran Tan Band are:

Simon Booth, Martin Ellison, Fiona Fahlin, Martin Hazell and Trevor Lines

Swindon 2009

Towersey 2009

Articles

The Big Cheese
Folk Michel - Germany

Feelings of kinship were stirred merely be looking at this cassette. The title 'le grand fromage' and its English equivalent points unmistakably to a spiritual affinity with 'Monty Python' (unfortunately disbanded).

The Big Cheese - Nick Beale
Folk Roots August 1988 No. 62
And in the Object Lessons To Aspiring Tape-makers Department. . . Ran Tan Band.

They draw tones from various countries, write some pretty neat ones of their own and put a consistently inventive slant on them. Acoustic except for occasional bass guitar, they have a drive lacking in many groups that place a far greater strain on the National Grid.

There are jazz and Caribbean touches all through, but no sense of any given tune being forced to submit to the unwelcome attentions of some pre-selected exotic influences in the name of dogmatic eclecticism. This is sharp, fresh music that makes you feel like dancing.

The inlay has lots of source notes and a Glen Baxter-ish illustration. The recording itself is loud, clear and apparently free of trickery.

Rainy Day - Andy Cheyne
Folk Roots November 1991 No.101
With Rainy Day, the Ran Tan Band establish themselves in the premier division of English dance outfits.

Creating a synthesis between straight-up-and-down English tunes and wiggly continental ones, the RTB certainly have a style of their own. Exceptional musicians all, Martin Ellison's melodeon combines with Fiona and Simon Booth on soprano sax and mouth organ respectively to form a frontline that plays with both an impressive strength and an enviable delicacy. Completed by Martin Hazell's subtle percussion and Peter Reeve's mandola and a bass guitar, the RTB sound is essentially airy and precise, but it hides a subtle energy and drive.

I've been in a position to perform extensive testing on the danceworthiness of this music - I got horribly sweaty grooving along to them in the Ham Marquee at Sidmouth this summer - and, yes, this is tremendous to dance to. You don't have to worry about your recalcitrant legs: the music carries you through the figures.

What is particularly impressive though, is that the music not only provides the necessary propulsion for Cheyne to lurch around the dance floor, but is equally good just to listen to - all too rare an achievement for a dance band. I can't single out any particular tracks - the standard is so consistently high. Rainy Day sets the standards to which other dance bands of the 1990s must aspire.

[ website dedicated to the memory of peter reeve 1958 - 1995 ]

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