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BILLY CONNOLLY AND JOHN MCCUSKER 
Billy Connolly's Musical Tour Of New Zealand
Pure Records 
****

If there's one thing the Big Yin and fellow Scotsman John McCusker have in common, it's an uncanny talent for hitting high notes while the rest of us shuffle on potholed walkways paved with nothing more burnished than the odd steelcapped boot-top. Ostensibly a soundtrack to Connolly's fourth instalment in his World Tour series, this is a collection that thrives rather than falters when sundered from the visuals. The sheer richness and diversity of McCusker's multi-instrumentalism (fiddle, viola, whistle, cittern and ukulele, no less), married to an original song contribution from his partner, Kate Rusby, not to mention the hallowed presence of Michael McGoldrick, Andy Cutting, Ian Carr and Eddi Reader, is surely enough to quicken the pulse of the comatose.

www.purerecords.net Siobhán Long