Want to give your young 'un the best possible start in life? Hope to raise a well-balanced kid who will have absorbed enough fine sounds through the formative years to guarantee good taste in youth and adulthood? Well, have a listen to what these ever so clever people are up to. This is about as perfectly balanced as anything could ever be that you'd wish to expose a delicate little bundle to, as an introduction to what can have a settling effect when things seem a little fraught.

James, in particular has a mesmerising quality about her delivery that is truly soothing and satisfying. She doubles up on harmonies for “Golden Slumbers” and the end result isn't too far away from a Kate and Anna McGarrigle experience- Listen too, to “Fais Dodo”, where Mayor supports the delicate vocals with runs on mandolin and fiddle that are beautifully sympathetic.

They make no apologies for tailoring the whole package towards that time when children's heads should be hitting the pillow. In the process, they handle these traditional bedtime songs and classic little tunes so delicately that grown ups can fall right under their spell too. The pair have previously recorded a handful of entertaining MUSICAL MYSTERY TOUR albums for children. This takes the theme on to new highs.

Mayor, one of Europe's virtuoso mandolin players, brings a real touch of panache to proceedings. His intro to “All the Pretty Little Horses” sets a standard so high you'd imagine James could never maintain the thread, but she does, to produce a sublimely beautiful rendition that's helped along by the odd subtle tweak of studio wizardry. And, again, much of the credit must go to Mayor whose contribution, especially on violin, is perfect. His touches on Greig's “Cradle Song” and “Andante” from “Concerto for Two Mandolins” are so light; you feel he must have been floating on air.

They manage to rejuvenate the best known lullaby of them all, “Hush-a-bye Baby” with a reworking that gives it a new lease of life. The old American song, “Raisins & Almonds” gets the kind of invigorating dunk in the mountain stream that the likes of Laura Boosinger might have done. The addition of the lush, “German Cradle Song” is something of a master stroke. Taken from Mayor's own Winter with Mandolins album, it is the baited hook that will have you seeking out that CD and his other two, The English Mandolin and The Second Mandolin.

Here's another tip: They occasionally go out as a 'bluegrass-to-lrving Berlin' trio called Slim Panatella and the Mellow Virginians. Is that name smoking or what?

LT

Hilary James & Simon Mayor
c/o Acoustics Records
PO Box 350, Reading RG6 7DQ, England
+44 (0)118 926 8615
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