*** Reeltime

LIVE IT UP

(Green Linnet)

All things green are in bloom these days, and the sessions for this high-flying sextet's second disc had to be slated around the Riverdance schedules of fiddler Máirín Fahy and accordionist Éilís Egan. Sounds like the hectic agenda generated some high energy. Celtic music relies on groove almost as much as funk, and liftoff and syncopation are everywhere on Live It Up's barn burners. Reeltime are also known for their lawlessness -- like many attentive modernists they broaden their scope by yielding to fancies. Cutesy eclecticism seldom tickles me, but the gypsy Western swing of "Nashville Brats" is a certifiable hoot and sturdy enough to be reminiscent of the indelible melodies on Russ Barenberg's classic newgrass outing, Cowboy Calypso. Elsewhere an Italian wedding tune is sandwiched between a couple of Irish themes; with just the slightest wink, it sits soundly. All this esprit makes the mawkishness of Reeltime's balladry a bit easier to digest. Thomas Moore's "Believe Me" could be used for wedding vows, and Máirín's sigh is the main ingredient of the melodrama that's "The Mountains of Pomery." I'll trade both for the schmaltzy waltz they dedicate to a couple from Concord -- it walks the right side of poignancy.

-- Jim Macnie