ust play "Donald McGillavry/O'Neill's Cavalry March" as loud as you can on your home or car stereo. Then you'll know why Silly Wizard was one of the best bands to emerge from Scotland's traditionalist revival years during the 1970s and 1980s. Hearing Phil Cunningham on piano accordion (don't panic; he's great on the Stomach Steinway) with his late brother, Johnny Cunningham, on fiddle is never less than thrilling, and Andy Stewart's lead vocals, which can tack toward saccharine on other albums, are thoroughly convincing here. (His banjo playing, however, has always been pedestrian, no matter what Frets magazine might have said about it.) Martin Hadden and Gordon Jones capably anchor the rhythm in a quintet who, in concert, delivered excellent music and large dollops of humor.

The top five bands in Scottish traditional music from this era remain Ossian (only with Tony Cuffe), Silly Wizard (only with Johnny Cunningham), Kentigern (largely forgotten today, but well worth the effort to track down; Sylvia Barnes's voice is stunning), Tannahill Weavers (only with Alan MacLeod), and the Battlefield Band (only with Brian McNeill)--in that order of preference. I know others may quibble with the order and perhaps the picks, but in my mind you can't go wrong with these five.(Amazon review)