Vic Belsher – The Fun Begins

Vic Belsher – The Fun Begins

CD review by Tony Smith TN173 Oct 25

 

This 2023 album of almost an hour’s fun features songs and tunes written and arranged by Vic Belsher, except that Belsher wrote the words for ‘Lullaby for Tully’ while Anne Sjostrom composed the music.

Belsher sings and plays guitar, harmonica and a bell.

Sjostrom provides vocals, piano, whistle and organ.

Ray Lakeman sings and plays bass and mandolin.

Maggie Duncan plays violin, John Corby whistle and Andrew Schrape bouzouki and mandolin.

Further vocals are supplied by Jess Dunn, Seamus Foley, Eydie and Prince.

These tunes were all written between 2015 and 2020, although Belsher acknowledges earlier influences on his music from playing in a school brass band to contributing percussion during ‘maths’ classes.

The sleeve notes include brief background for each track.

He notes for example, that when asked to record a lullaby for baby Tully, it had been so long since he sang any for his son that he decided it would be easier to write one.

Easy for some!

Belsher draws on experiences from childhood through to his working days as an adult.

Generally the lyrics are accessible and catchy, especially some of the choruses.

The opening and title track makes a good beginning in that it invites the listener to join the fun: ‘That’s when the fun begins (x2), When you join the singer here, That’s when the fun begins’.

‘Younger Days’, ‘The Ghost of Mad Lucy’ and ‘The Old Log Cabin’ describe Belsher’s reminiscences of childhood in Nayook, Swifts Creek and Briagalong.

For the ‘Tunes Set’ (Remember/ Walking Down the Road/ No Place Special), Belsher explains that these reels he wrote when attending traditional music sessions are named so that he remembers how they start.

Ann Sjostrom’s whistle carries these tunes very well.

‘The Ticonderoga’ is a sea faring ballad that tells of the tragedy which struck this vessel which left England in 1852 bound for Australia.

Of 800 people aboard, 180 died of typhus.

Belsher’s pace is good on this song where he creates the feel of the inexorable tide and the ocean swell.

‘Happy Now, Lucky Me’ takes the long view.

Although you might not enjoy some aspects of your working life, in retrospect you can take a balanced perspective: ‘Minutes go by and before you know it, Minutes turn to days and the days to years, I don’t feel my age but I know I show it, from the lines on my face and the colour of my hair’.

‘Highway to the North’ tells of explorer John McDouall Stuart.

There is wisdom in this song as it advises us all to use our lives well, for in the end it is ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’.

The aforementioned lullaby imagines a baby as a boat drifting away to the land of dreams.

‘Old Man Time’ reveals Belsher’s understanding that the pursuit of excessive wealth is crazy when we cannot take it with us.

 ‘Lucky You Live in Australia’ warns us against complacency.

When it comes to living ethically and showing compassion: ‘We’ve still got a lot to learn’.

‘These Days It Never Seems to Rain’ shows admiration for people who are determined to stay on the land despite numerous hardships, not least those posed by Australia’s climate.

‘It’s a hard life’ but if you are determined to stay, ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’.

Belsher describes ‘Once I Was a Traveller’ as an experiment designed to see whether he could write a workable song without rhymes.

I assume he learnt from the result.

The photographs of Vic Belsher on the sleeve notes show a man enjoying himself, and as he says in his opening song, he invites us to share his happiness.

Who could refuse when Belsher has produced this open and honest album especially for us?

 

Vic’s album of original folk music, The Fun Begins, includes songs based on historic events, self-reflection, and songs simply for the joy of singing and making music.

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