The latest release reviewed

DERVISH Travelling Show Whirling Discs ***

The debacle of the Eurovision behind them, Dervish lost no time re-establishing their foothold on the tradition, with a swathe of powerhouse Sligo tunes and a handful of songs.

Some of them distil the band's essence while others dilute it inexplicably. The Masters Return captures the incendiary quality of the band's live performances, the driving percussive forces of bouzouki and guitar propelling fiddle and flute towards delirious infinity.

Cathy Jordan ventures towards original composition with considerable effect on Lord Levett, rejuvenating an aged lyric with a panoramic melody line. Suzanne Vega's The Queen and the Soldier is another canny inclusion, but Cher's Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves sounds disappointedly contrived and twee. Still, Dervish's attention to tunes render them with an undeniable effervescence. www.dervish.ie SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: The Jolly Tinker, The Bealtaine Set