David Pendragon and Tribe World Ensemble - Solid Rock

Hear The Track Here

Absolutely beyond all shadow of a doubt one of the best finds for me over the past year or so has been David Pendragon and Tribe World Ensemble. A huge internet project that takes in over 25 musicians from all over the world and one you might think is so unwieldy it couldn't possibly EVER work. Work it does though, and in that work is some of the most magical musical moments this reviewer has experienced in a long, long while. They gave me two Tracks Of The Year 2008 with Downloading Life (November 2008) and Lay Down Your Guns (March 2008) and the last track I reviewed of theirs - Sacred River (January 2009) is a gobsmacking eleven minute slice of world music that is the aural equivalent of Dreamtime

Also, as if you hadn't known it, a Must Have.

Originally, this track made the top 10 in Australia in 1984 by Shane Howard, David Pendragon was there when the original was recorded and obviously he never forgot it because here is his version of it. This is also David's way of showing that when you do a cover version, you'd better do it right. Can't get much more right than putting it out as a paid download with royalties going to the original artist either so kudos to David on all counts. Course it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing but remember who we are talking about here. David Pendragon is a world class producer and musician, regardless of what you might think of the genres he works in, the quality of this artist always but always shines through.

I have to admit that the overtly Australian feel of the track was a bit off-putting which I guess is a bit rich coming from me, but the more I played it the more I recognised that David had gone out of his way to retain the feel of the original - which btw I have never heard. Regardless, a good song is a good song wherever it happened to be born, and Solid Rock is a wonderfully Eighties recreation that obviously David poured love and devotion into. Listen, for example, at how packed-to-the-rafters the instrumentation and arrangement are - a hallmark of the period among rock musicians. Not sure of the actual line up on this track but everyone involved should feel a warm, warm glow in their souls.

Authentic Aussie Rock. Highly Recommended.