Bellowhead - 3 Albums and a Xmas Special Video

01 - Rigs Of The Time
02 - Jordan
03 - Across The Line
04 - London Town
05 - Sloe Gin
06 - Courting Too Slow
07 - Flash Company
08 - Hopkinson's Favourite
09 - One May Morning Early
10 - Outlandish Knight
11 - Frog's Legs And Dragon's Teeth
12 - Fire Marengo
13 - Death And The Lady

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 ****





01 - Fakenham Fair
02 - Roll Her Down The Bay
03 - Roll Her Down The Bay (Vignette)
04 - I Drew My Ship Across The Harbour
05 - Kafoozalum / The Priest's Miss
06 - Cholera Camp
07 - Whiskey Is The Life Of Man (Vignette)
08 - Whiskey Is The Life Of Man
09 - Spectre Review
10 - Widow's Curse
11 - Bruton Town
12 - Trip To Bucharest / The Flight Of The Folk Mutants Parts 1 & 2
13 - Fakenham Fair (Vignette)

Fun, lively, sinister; pure Bellowhead. This is a wonderful album that really shows how the band has developed since Burlesque. Burlesque was good, but at times it felt like 'the Spiers and Boden band' rather than showing Bellowhead up in all its glory. Matachin rectifies this in style. The arrangements are well thought out and the ensemble is top notch, and full of the band's trademark quirkiness. I challenge you to keep still!





01 - Fakenham Fair
02 - Sloe Gin set
03 - London Town
04 - Roll Her Down The Bay To Juliana
05 - Frogs Legs & Dragons Teeth
06 - Prickle-Eye Bush

Broadcasted live by BBC from Royal Albert hall on July 20, 2008 as part of that year's Folk Day









BBC Four celebrates merry midwinter in unique style, with an exhilarating blend of folk tradition and burlesque fun. Energetic 11-piece Bellowhead and Mercury-nominated alternative folkies The Unthanks get together with the impressive young singers Thea Gilmore and Lisa Knapp, plus other special guests.

Steered by genial host Paul Sartin, the assembled artists perform seasonal songs of their own alongside yuletide favourites, ranging from folk ballads and carols to parlour songs and carousing dance numbers, with everyone coming together for a final knees-up.

Filmed at the atmospheric Shoreditch Town Hall, the setting evokes an old music hall combined with a festive Victorian family parlour, bedecked with garlands, period lamps and fireplace. Even the audience are dressed up in old-fashioned finery and prove themselves ready to kick up their heels.

Broadcast on:BBC Four,
December 2009
Duration: 60 minutes



Tracklist
Lizzie Jones (The Unthanks trumpet player) — Silent Night
Bellowhead — Ding Dong Merrily on High
Bellowhead — Whiskey is the Life of Man
The Unthanks — In the Bleak Midwinter
Thea Gilmore — That'll Be Christmas
Bellowhead — Mistletoe Bough
Sam Lee and Jon Boden — On Christmas Day
Lisa Knapp — Coventry Carol (with Jim Moray and Becky and Rachel Unthank)
Jim Moray — Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel
Belshazzar's Feast — Sans Day Carol Medley
The Unthanks — Tar Barrel in Dale
The Unthanks — Betsy Bell
Bellowhead — Sloe Gin Set
Ensemble — Jingle Bells