Product Description

Burlesque includes 13 songs and tunes inspired by a dazzling array of material - from the Napoleonic Wars ("Rigs Of The Time"), the American minstrel movement ("Jordan"), sea-shanties from Brazil ("Across The Line"), and the spirit of the East Anglian step-dance tradition ("Sloe Gin"). The band have long since transcended the idea of simply being a folk band with some brass players, and have honed their own unique style which sets them apart. Despite being deeply rooted in the English folk dance tradition, they also merge a joyous, uplifting cacophony of sound with a slightly sinister, distorted collision of music hall, Lotte Lenya, Robert Wyatt and pure theatre.

"Having taken the festival scene by the scruff of its neck over the past couple of years, Bellowhead, now a modest 11 piece, at last deliver a startling debut album amid a blaze of brass, outlandish showmanship and cracking songs and tunes. They take outrageous but enthralling liberties with some of folk’s hardy veterans, turning Rigs of the Time into a knockabout show tune, Flash Company into an unruly homage to Tom Waits, and Death and the Lady into a Victorian melodrama. But from the rampaging vocals of Jon Boden to Gideon Juckes’ growling, slightly scary sousaphone, they sweep all before them into a heady mix of great tunes, innovative arrangements, rampant imagination and brazen front. Several leaps on the form the min-album EP Onymous, it gobbles up fresh territory without a backwards glance. Extraordinary" - Mojo ****

Track Listing

1. Rigs Of The Time
2. Jordan
3. Across The Line
4. London Town
5. Sloe Gin
6. Courting Too Slow
7. Flash Company
8. Hopkinson's Favourite
9. One May Morning Early
10. Outlandish Knight
11. Frog's Legs And Dragon's Teeth
12. Fire Marengo

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16171 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .29 pounds

Customer Reviews

Well worth the wait!
Those who own 'Eponymous' or have been to a live Bellowhead gig will know in part what to expect - a big brassy folk sound with the attack Spiers and Boden bring to all they do, but here there is a new ingredient to the fore, sublety. Almost every song has musical surprises. The big brassy sound usually works best on upbeat tracks, but as always the exception proves the rule; the hauntingly beautiful 'Courting Too Slow', from an earlier Spiers and Boden CD, enters a new dimension thanks to Boden's sensitive arrangement and some glorious playing. Is there a quibble? It is very minor and probably just me, but the odd arrangement seems almost over elaborate, as on the stark little song 'Death and the Lady', but this is a splendid CD. Buy it now and revel in its delights.

fascinating blend of traditional and contemporary, local and global
Foot tapping and brain tickling. The tunes are traditional but rearranged and adapted by members of Bellowhead drawing on various styles, even Brazilian. This is not old guys in woolies droning on about authenticity. The result is certainly resplendent, almost baroqe, burlesque perhaps, in its glorious excess. It comes with extensive liner notes detailing the known origins, discovery and development of the tunes. Its fun to listen to the thumping brass backing while recalling that the song you are hearing was sung in fields in 18th century Sussex or on 19th century cotton transport ships. But this is not an academic record. It's a hoot. And you can dance to it. It ought to be much more widely known.

exhilarating experience
I have to say that I'm not normally a folk fan but this album is not folk as you know it. It's almost as exhilarating as the eleven-strong band LIVE -- I was lucky enough to catch them in Blackheath earlier this year and I still feel charged up by the experience. The melodies are memorable, complex and evocative. The lead singer has a very seductive voice, but he's not the only one -- there are other good voices here, and fine close harmonies. You can listen to any part of the music and find rich texture there to reward your focus. You will hear shades of Les Negresses Vertes at times, meshed with English ballads, Celtic jigs, Arabic strains, anarchy, jazz... And one more thing: wit. There's intelligence and humour in both the lyrics and the music, down to the last percussive frying pan or drunken violin.