Windward Away is the long-awaited new release from acclaimed Scottish Folk patriarch Archie Fisher, his first new studio recording in 20 years that not only presents his up-to-date material, but also includes 8 bonus tracks intended for a 1980 release that never was issued.A haunting collection of introspective ballads invoking the wild and rough beauty of the Scottish Border country, with songs of sea and land, love and loneliness, Windward Away is Fisher's masterwork from a career stretching back to the early 1960s.
The story of the album starts in the mid-1990s, when Archie toured the U.S. The late founder of Red House Records, Bob Feldman, was an immense fan - their meeting resulted in the label's 1995 release of Sunsets I've Galloped Into, Fisher's 1988 recording never distributed in America. Feldman also signed Fisher to Red House for a new recording.
Archie went into the studio soon after, but writing and production was slow, seemingly unfinished to Fisher's liking.
The protracted birth of Windward Away took a piece of musical archeology to complete the picture. While moving his Edinburgh studio, engineer Neil Ross came across a safety copy of an album Archie recorded for Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy's Blackbird label in the 1970s. Blackbird folded before the 1980 release date and the album subsequently never left storage. Fast forward to 2008 when a package arrives in Fisher's mailbox: a recording and note from Ross asking, "is this the missing master?" Thus the fitting notation of the final 8 tunes as "The Missing Master." Many of these "bonus tracks" were later rerecorded and issued (some only as live performances), yet these original versions take on a wonderfully fresh air being backed by orchestra and string section. To many Archie Fisher fans, they will prove the definitive versions.
