"This CD comes as a worthy addition to the canon of North East English Folk, as well as introducing a fine selection of music and song from further afield. With an impressive pedigree in Theatre, Mick Sands brings together tunes and songs from England, Ireland, Romania and the Jewish Diaspora and manages to make a coherent whole. Many of the arrangements and compositions were comm issioned for specific theatre productions and provide a perfect platform for Mick's versatility. At the heart of it all there is a sense of belonging, and a sense that wherever Mick's musical journeys take him, the music of the North East will always be at the heart of things. Thus for me the stand out tracks are his beautifully unaffected renditions of Up the Raw and When the Boat Comes In. Mick's vocals are outstanding. There is an accuracy and warmth to his singing, which lingers in the mind and brings the songs to life." Nick Keir."The Living Tradition." "... an impressive, if long overdue debut, which reveals more with repeated listening." Nick Passmore. Taplas. Welsh Folk magazine. "It becomes clear why so many of Mick's peers were excited at the prospect of the release of such an album. It's a great CD......a refreshing CD for fans of Irish culture." Leanne Nelson. Irish Dancing and Culture. "Why it's taken this excellent singer/flute player so long to get round to recording a solo album is a real mystery... The disc is bookended by truly delightful performances  of two indigenous songs from the north-east: Up the Raw...and When the Boat Comes In - the latter backed percussively (and most creatively) by spoons and handclapping! - while a further reflection of Mick's north-eastern lineage comes with I Drew My Ship. The second track, the beautifully melancholy Autobiography, is a superb setting by Mick of a favourite Louis MacNeice poem, accompanied by Sianed Jones' keening violin and Clive Carroll's guitar. on which subject, Mick couldn't have chosen a finer guitarist to complement the unique character of his own singing voice - notwithstanding the fact that Clive's immensely highly regarded as a skilled soloist, nay virtuoso, in his own right (and here on Mick's record he's no mere subordinate support artist)...the solo and /or unaccompanied tracks are tremendous: potent yet utterly unaffected renditions of Donal Og (with only a pipe drone as backing) and Robert Burns' Slave's Lament, and a seductive rendition of Cunla which at times sounds almost casually tossed out of Mick's mouth but, by gum, its tongue-tripping lines are expertly handled! Instrumentally, Mick demonstrates his considerable skills (mostly on flute) on lovely Forest Fields ( a medley of Romanian air, jig and slip-jig) and a set of Midsummer Reels (where you can marvel at Clive's extraordinarily sympathetic guitar work), also an intriguing, freshly syncopated "Irish-flavoured" version of Maid On the Shore (though I hear as much of Eastern Europe in those dashing rhythms). Mick's treatment of Silver Dagger is set as a kind of Appalachian slow-drag-blues - and very effective it is too. As is Mick's original song Where The Deerness Flows, a poignant lament for the oss of the west Durham coalfield and the area's industrial heritage that has much of the feel of a traditional Irish ballad. And last but not least there's Tres Damas, Mick's mysterious, atmospheric yet simple setting of a traditional Sephardic text (originally done for an RSC production)....' David Kidman. www.netrhythms.com