 the Kvester Melkk Quintet
- you are a duo?
- yes?
- duo means two
- ??
- quintet means five
- well, you know, we were never good at maths...
To cut a long story (which you can read here) short, in 2003 Scotsman
Davy Mc Gowan, the editor of Donovan fan magazine Get Thy Bearings and a
bit of a picker on the guitar, was invited to Finland to play and record
some music and to meet his new friends, bus driver Jore Heikkilä and
teacher Tuomas Laitila, both amateur musicians as well.
Davy's first visit with the boys was a success, so when he visited
again the following year he joined the tj band (which in 2004 became The
TJD Band before its subsequent and final change to The Mescaline Smugglers
). But since the very first sessions it was obvious that Davy and Jore felt
a deep musical connection, so much so that they formed a duo called The
Kvester Melkk Quintet which played and recorded music when Tuomas was not
available and The Mescaline Smugglers was "resting". The "rule" so far has
been that folky type music belongs to the Kvester Melkk Quintet and jugband,
blues or rock belongs to the Mescaline Smugglers. Everyone has been happy
with this arrangement and so far KMQ has made 10 albums.
At this point you may want to read a review by Colleen.
2004 was a very good year and a real start for the KMQ: three
different albums were recorded that year, all during the same two week
period in July. Of course much of the background work had been done the
previous winter. And to be honest, much of the material in the first album
called The Kaleidoscope of Donovan was recorded in Davy's earlier visit in
2003. But those 10 songs weren't enough for a complete album, so the boys
did four more in 2004 and got the total playing time over the 30 minute
mark. The whole album consisted of Donovan covers.
1. Summer Day Reflection Song (# 1)
2. The Little White Road
3. Sand and Foam
4. Hampstead Incident
5. Riki Tiki Tavi
6. Jersey Thursday
7. Belated Forgiveness Plea
8. The Tinker And The Crab
9. Voyage Into The Golden Screen
10. The Enchanted Gypsy
11. The Magpie
12. Ballad of a Crystal Man
13. Three Kingfishers
14. Summer Day Reflection Song (# 2)
To download the whole album, click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/229936394/KMQ_-_A_Kaleidoscope_of_Donovan.rar
Donovan was still haunting them on the second album called HMS Taavi.
Donovan had made an album called HMS Donovan and the guys arrogantly stole
the name for their own purposes. But not in vain; the music and lyrics had
the same kind of atmosphere that can be found on HMS Donovan. Taavi is a
finnish form of David. This album showed the meaning of the word
collaboration: Jore made melodies for 30 of the 32 Davy poems that made up
the album. (Davy's tunes are tracks #8 and #18) At first Davy made lyrics for Jore's tunes but as these dried up
due to the limited numbers of ready melodies, the guys decided to try it out
the other way round. And it really worked out! This album also features Jore
as a lead singer for the first time. It was Davy who made Jore sing. Jore
had sang his demos to Davy, so that he would learn the melodies (neither
of them can read music). Davy simply refused to sing some of the songs and
told Jore he would have to sing them. And poor Jore couldn't let good songs go to
waste, so he sacrified himself.
Because Jore had to sing in English - and especially because of the song "The Darquals" which was full
of English-like words made up by Davy, he insist the lyrics must be somewhere to be available for anyone to read.
Of course it was impossible to put all 32 poems to a CD inlay, so they put up the lyrics available on the net,
and they can be found here.
32 songs in one CD sounds a lot but in truth many songs are very short, usually hardly one minute long. That is
simply because most of Davy's lovely poems were just 4 or 8 lines long. Sometimes Jore had to ask Davy to write
some more lines and sometimes he simply put two different poems together.
If You wish to download the whole album at once, click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/251358539/KMQ_-_HMS_Taavi.rar
Their third album, Weight of Memory presents folky material by other
artists, from Ewan McColl's Dirty Old Town to Marc Bolan's Nijinsky Hind
but also some of traditional material and again three of their own
compositions.
1. Dirty Old Town (Ewan McColl)
2. John Henry (trad)
3. Richland Women Blues (trad)
4. Bottle of Wine (Tom Paxton)
5. Rick Rack (Gerry Rafferty)
6. Mary Skeffington (Gerry Rafferty)
7. Nijinsky Hind (Marc Bolan)
8. Twa Corbies (trad)
9. Courtin' In The Kitchen (trad)
10. The Calton Weaver (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)
11. The Girl I Had To Leave Behind (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)
12. The Open Road (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)
If You wish to download the whole album at once, click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/251375505/KMQ_-_Weight_of_Memory.rar
In 2005 all of the Kvester Melkk Quintet material went straight to the The
Mescaline Smugglers: Cinnamon Salami 4CD Box. (You can check the Cinnamon
Salami pages here).
In 2006 "Melkkers" gathered again, first they gave birth to the
album Sauce for the Goose which turned out to be Davy's personal praise to celtic (or
irish/scottish) music. If Jore had previously shown his ability to make
tunes for child poems, his muse had now escaped and Davy was forced to show
his composer skills by making 11 out of 13 of the tracks. And not only the
music but the lyrics as well. And what tracks he did! Who can tell the
difference between them and those two traditional songs that are also on the
CD? All great sad and funny songs as celtic music should be.
1. The Moonshiner (trad)
2. Therms (McGowan)
3. Tiree Love Song (trad))
4. Drinkin´ Away (McGowan)
5. Haul Away (McGowan)
6. Over the Hills (McGowan)
7. The Sinner Is a Saint (McGowan)
8. Time for Goodbye (McGowan)
9. Marie´s Divorce (McGowan)
10. Nothing To Do (McGowan)
11. Viialantie (McGowan)
12. Dying Day (McGowan)
13. Dublin Town (McGowan)
If You wish to download the whole album at once, click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/251886847/KMQ_-_Sauce_for_the_Goose.rar
Later that same year another album saw the light of day: Faroway. Again
Davy had his fingerprints all over the album, by making most of tracks by
himself. Jore's muse showed some signs of returning and he sang his own
three melodies. Not a bad album at all, and a fan called Kristi even made a
review of it, which you can read here.
1. All God's Creatures (trad)
2. Tinker's Fires (McGowan - T.Stowell)
3. Cuttin' Out (Donovan Leitch)
4. The Famous Elf and the Hatted Mouse (Heikkilä - McGowan)
5. Sunrise (McGowan)
6. Lost Love (Heikkilä - McGowan)
7. Faro Town (McGowan)
8. Twilight Town (McGowan)
9. Come to the Fair (McGowan)
10. While I'm Here (McGowan)
11. Falling (McGowan)
12. The Road (Donovan Leitch)
13. Lullaby (McGowan)
14. Good Advice (Heikkilä - McGowan)
15. The Child at the Piano (McGowan)
16. I'm Free (McGowan)
17. I Feel Fine (McGowan)
If You wish to download the whole album at once, click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/252227437/KMQ_-_Faroway.rar
In 2007 it happened again: The 6th album, Reizegger Blues was
released in April of that year. Maybe Jore's muse forgave him after all and
moved back: most of the albums 19 tracks are by Heikkilä-McGowan. And some
irish/scottish traditional can be found, too - and for the first time in
Melkker's recording history they use a guest star: Tarja Niittumäki sings
one song, The Child.
Please read Kristi's or Greg's reviews here.
Or Michelle's. Right here.
1. The Rhythm of Life (Heikkilä - McGowan)
2. Once A Lady (McGowan)
3. Breakwater Bay (McGowan)
4. A Wisdom Came Upon Me (Heikkilä - McGowan)
5. Paris 1938 (McGowan)
6. Johnny Mc Eldoo (trad)
7. If I Should Bring You Roses (Heikkilä - McGowan)
8. William J. Reizegger (Heikkilä - McGowan)
9. Disappointment (Heikkilä - McGowan)
10. The Child (Heikkilä - McGowan)
11. The Hill (Heikkilä - McGowan)
12. One Firefly Summer (Heikkilä - McGowan)
13. The Banks o' Clyde (McGowan)
14. Barnyards of Delgaty (trad)
15. If I Should Sleep (Heikkilä - McGowan)
16. The Farmyard Ball (Heikkilä - McGowan)
17. The Bold Tenant Farmer (trad)
18. The Snare (Heikkilä - McGowan)
19. Wishes (McGowan)
Maybe You wish to download the whole album at once? Then click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/251829384/KMQ_-_Reizegger_Blues.rar
As we could guess, the story kept going: 7th album, 'Lafferty's Place' crawled out from Jore's basement
at autumn of 2007. Looks like the boys founded their style at last: this album, too, has
a few celtic trad songs, a few instrumentals, some tracks by Davy and the rest by them both.
This time their guest singer is Tuomas Laitila who sings one song called Past, Present and Future, and plays flat bass on Parting Glass.
Tuomas didn't get credits for these on the art covers, so here it goes. Just like Tom Grierson,
who recorded and mixed the name track. Sorry, boys!
1. Bellshill Tune (McGowan)
2. Bob (Heikkilä - McGowan)
3. Mr. McGuire (trad)
4. Everything's Right (McGowan)
5. Past, Present and Future (Heikkilä - McGowan)
6. Wee Auld Man (McGowan)
7. Shilling And Sixpence (Heikkilä - McGowan)
8. Lafferty's Place (Mc Gowan)
9. Isn't It Grant Boys (trad)
10. Pigs In A Stream (Heikkilä - McGowan)
11. The Irish Rover (trad)
12. Billy (McGowan)
13. Spanish Moon (Heikkilä)
14. A Tuppenny Stamp (Heikkilä - McGowan)
15. Take A Change (McGowan)
16. Star of the County Town (trad)
17. Morning Walk (Heikkilä - McGowan)
18. Carrickfergus (trad)
19. Jersey Girl (Heikkilä)
20. Parting Glass (trad)
Good old Greg made a review of this album. Here!
Here are comments of Lafferty's Place by both Davy and Jore.
Maybe You wish to download the whole album at once? Then click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/252231843/Kvester_Melkk_Quintet_-_Lafferty_s_Place.rar
Year 2008 was almost over before anything happened in publishing sector.
As in their first album, Donovan appeared here again turning out to be a connecting element...
Melkkers next album called "Another Day with Donovan" from August 2008 collects the tracks that
Davy and Jore has released on some issues of "Cover Stories" (Donovan covering music
made by fans) under their own names or as a band. So, some of these tracks were recorded (long) before
any of the tracks on bands first Donovan album, 'Kaleidoscope of Donovan' from 2003-2004.
This is very different release
than usual, so it can be seen as "semi official" or just "a collection that
"another" record company has published".
To download the whole album click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/229958302/KMQ_-_Another_Day_with_Donovan.rar
1. Turquoise / Jore
2. Hey Gyp / Davy
3. Mandolin Man and His Secret / Jore
4. Sunny Goodge Street / Davy
5. Hurdy Gurdy Man / Jore
6. Get Thy Bearings / Davy
7. Walkin' / Davy
8. Beatnik Cafe / Davy
9. Season of the Witch / Jore
10. Catch The Wind / Jore
11. Rock Me / Davy
12. Jersey Thursday / Davy
13. Mellow Yellow / both
14. Cuttin' Out / both
15. The Road / Jore
16. House of Jansch / both
17. Get Thy Bearings / Jore *
* never released anywhere
But not for long after that, things suddenly normalized. During Davy's second (at 2008) visit in October,
they could finish their 9th album called 'The Secret Door'. And the boys were back on trail where they
have been used to find: some celtic, some cover versions, many by Davy and some by Jore. Now there is
also a kind of suprise: after over 120 songs with Jore's music and Davy's lyrics we have now first (and probably the last) time a track
with music by Davy and (English) lyrics by Jore, called "Understood"!
Another big change is that our boys
managed to have a pro musician, Ilona Ala-Leppilampi with her violin to guesting this album.
1. Candlelight (Mc Gowan)
2. Bantry Fair (Mc Gowan)
3. Five Men on the Floor (Heikkilä)
4. Now Westlin Winds (Burns)
5. The Smile on Your Face (Mc Gowan)
6. May You Never (Martyn)
7. Understood (Mc Gowan - Heikkilä)
8. Solace (Mc Gowan)
9. A Flash of Colleen (Mc Gowan)
10. Now I See (Mc Gowan)
11. Rattlin' Roarin Willie (trad)
12. If I Could Have Dreamed (Mc Gowan)
13. Feast of Stephen (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)
14. In My Sleep (Mc Gowan)
15. Sweethearts (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)
16. A Man's a Man (Burns)
17. What I'm Not (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)
18. Sailing Homeward (Mc Gowan)
19. The Secret Door (Mc Gowan)
20. Song For You (Mc Gowan)
Lyrics for The Secret Door here.
Please read Greg's review of The Secret Door here.
Here are Davy's comments for The Secret Door.
To download the whole album at once, click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/251872553/KMQ_-_The_Secret_Door.rar
Next album called 'Rigmarole' was made ready during Davy's next visit in April 2009.
This time the word is CELTIC. The band was lucky to have Ilona Ala-Leppilampi on violin
- again, and AP Sarjanto pickin' his tenor banjo and mandolin. Band's american friend and fan
Greg Hodgkins made the amazing cover art painting. Thanks, Greg!
Here you can see some of the scethches
he made for the front cover.
Here are the art covers: the front and
the back.
One track by Donal Lunny, three trads
and all other tracks by the pen of Davy McGowan.
Davy's lyrics are available here.
Or maybe you would like to read Davy's comments.
Greg made also a review.
To download the whole album at once click here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/251338679/Kvester_Melkk_Quintet_-_Rigmarole.rar
1. Jenny Martin (McGowan)
2. I Know My Love (McGowan)
3. Coffee With Taina (McGowan)
4. On Market Street (McGowan)
5. The Roving Journeyman (Trad. arr. Melkk)
6. The Kid On The Mountain (Trad. arr. Melkk)
7. The Bellmoss Road (McGowan)
8. The Stone Book (McGowan)
9. Gypsy Jack (McGowan)
10. Drunk Again (McGowan)
11. Rigmarole (McGowan)
12. Will Ye Gang A-Rovin' O (McGowan)
13. Tolka Polka (Donal Lunny, arr. McGowan)
14. Whisky In The Jar (Trad. arr. Melkk)
On these albums both plays
- acoustic guitars
- mandolin
- bozouki
- tin whistles
- tablas
- drum
- shaker
- vocals
- harmony vocals
- keyboards
Jore plays also
- banjo
- tenor banjo
- mandolin-banjo
- flat bass
- fretless acoustic bass
- pc
- accordion
Davy plays also
- jewish harp
- bongos
- bodhran
- blues harp
- drum machine
YOU ARE WELCOME TO DOWNLOAD AS MUCH AS YOU WISH - FREE!
ANY COMMENTS? PLEASE SEND THEM TO davymcgowan@gmail.com OR jorma.heikkila@gmail.com
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