Edinburgh band and one of the hardest working in the business (or so they say anyway), Big Hand have released an album called "How About It?" There are 14 songs on it so let's make with the words…
There are some pretty good songs on show here. A fair number of them like "Let It Out" and "Graveyard" are strongly seasoned with ska. However, there is more to this band's song writing skills than that. "Interlude in C Minor" is a stroll down a Parisian boulevard on a warm summer evening. "Sweet Silence" is mellow and laidback with a light, even wistful, reggae feel to it while "Light a Flame" is infernally catchy in an early Beatles kind of way. Altogether, it has to be said that a very pleasing sense of warmth and style pervades all of the songs on this album.
On the downside, the boisterousness of their live performances is not apparent here due to the rather lifeless production. Even that, however, cannot stop the sheer exuberance of Phil Ramsay's trumpet playing from shining through. In fact, there is probably nothing on the planet that could. He's the pied piper, he's super cool, he's the man!