Jimi McRae - Jimi the Piper - Earthdance

(June 2001) 8 tracks: Electric Lassieland * Highland Trance * Belly Dancer Fae Fife * Dornie Bends [fuel injection version] * Buffalo Highlander * Earthdance * Squinting Peter * Mystical Mountains.

Jimi McRae (Highland, Lowland, Border, Arabic and electronic pipes) with Iain McKinna (bass, keyboards, guitar, djembe, drum programming), Neil Warden (electric guitar), Dave Haswell (multi-ethnic percussion), Wendy Weatherby (electric cello), Kirsty Anderson (vocals, electric violin), Nigel Richard (lauto) and Sally Phillips (belly dancer sounds, Zim bells, coin scarves).

"Jimi McRae [aka Jimi The Piper] has shifted up a gear from the traditional bagpipe themes and sounds of his debut album Pipedreams, taking an evolutionary leap with Earthdance. Although the stories inspiring the tunes remain local, Earthdance has a world music feel mixed with full on funk rock attitude. Tartan stereotypes are tossed aside as McRae's skill proves the pipes as powerful, moving and diverse as any instrument. He fools us with a mournful melody on Arabic pipes on the title song but counters with the closer to home soundings on Dornie Bends. Jimi the Piper is making his mark." (Dylan Matthew, The List)

"Latest contender into the multi-ethnic roots/dancefloor fusion arena is this former Edinburgh street busker, weaving sundry varieties of bagpipe - Highland, Lowland, Border, Arabic and electronic - through a succession of layered electro-acoustic soundscapes. Apart from one funked-up version of a 400-year-old Donald MacCrimmon tune, all the work is original, ranging from the opening Electric Lassieland, pitting squally electric guitars against a hectic pipe reel over a dub beat, through the sinuously susultry, Oriental sounding Belly Dancer Fae Fife to the moody, disco-tinged Highland Trance. Electric fiddle, electric cello, bouzouki, bass and percussion all feature in the mix, along with multi-textured synth effects and drum loops." (Sue Wilson, The Herald)