Bellow - John Spiers

----The Band------
John Spiers and Jon Boden are two of England's finest folk musicians - wait! before you stop reading - I know folk isn't the most popular musical genre but these two have injected a young (they are both in their late 20s), fresh and fun element into traditional songs and written quite a few of their own to boot.

John Spiers plays the melodian and Jon Boden sings and plays the fiddle and the pair met in 2000 in Oxford and instantly decided to work together. Since that fateful meeting the pair have toured the country with their unique brand of folk and have released, to date, four albums. Their website can be found at: http://www.squeezy.fsnet.co.uk/spiers_bo​den

Spiers and Boden won the Best Duo award at the 2004 Radio2 Folk Awards

---The Album----
This is the second album by Spiers & Boden which won the Horizon Award in the Radio2 Folk Awards 2003 and was nominated for the Radio 3 World Music Awards 2003 Critic's Poll for album of the year. The album is, as always, a mixture of traditional folk songs and new material.

The album was released in 2003 by Fellside Recordings (www.fellside.com) an independant record label specialising in folk and jazz. It costs £11.99 from Amazon or £13.00 directly from their website.

---Track listing------

1. Prickle Eye Bush (Trad)
2. The Sloe Gin Set: Frozen gin/Vinegar Reel/The Sloe (Trad and Spiers / Boden)
3. Courting Too Slow (Trad)
4. Dawn Chorus (Spiers)
5. The Outlandish Knight (Trad)
6. Jiggery Pokerwork/Haul Away/Seven Stars (Spiers / Boden / Trad)
7. Go And Leave Me (Trad)
8. Jack Robinson/Argiers/Old Tom of Oxford (Trad)
9. Copshawholme Fair (Trad)
10. Princess Royal/Cuckoo's Nest (trad)
11. Brown Adam (Trad)
12. Ginger up Lustily/Old Woman Tossed Up In A Blanket (Boden / Trad)

---My opinion of the Songs----
Not being a "folky" I find it difficult to compare this to other folk music, this is my first foray into folk, nevertheless I will try and describe the songs as best i can (and apologies to those of you who know your folk)

Prickle Eye Bush is a traditional vocal ballad given a unique treatment by Jon's unusual vocals and is although it starts in a slow haunting way it soon picks up pace and you find yourself tapping your feet along ...

According to Spiers and Boden: "Frozen Gin is for anyone out there who has had to share a house with people they don't know". and apparently Jon Boden wrote "The Vinegar Reel in adoration of this miraculous liquid after succumbing to the advertising of the vinegar marketing board". How true this is we can only guess but needless to say this is a great set of up-beat instrumental folk that makes you want to grab a bodhran and join in.

Courting too slow is a slow vocal number with minimal accompaniment from the melodeon. Rather melancholic but rather beautiful

Dawn Chorus is by far my favourite track on the album. It really does evoke the beauty of the dawn chorus and I can picture myself somewhere in the countryside watching the sun rise and listening to the bird song. This is another instrumental track that is quite simply, magnificent.

The Outlandish Knight - the melody for this track was provided by Martin Carthy and the lyrics are traditional. It sounds very medieval to me although this could just be due to the title! Still, a good slow track sung beautifully by Jon Boden.

Jiggery Pokerwork/Haul Away/Seven Stars - Jiggery Powkerwork was written by John Spiers and is an up-beat melodeon instrumental that then merges into a traditional sea shanty sung by Jon that is well performed and finally merges into Seven Stars - a fiddle / melodeon instrumental that finishes the set in a brilliant high tempo.

Go And Leave Me- a sad song sung by Jon which is a mix of irish balladry and victorian music hall. Hankies at the ready...

Jack Robinson/Argiers/Old Tom of Oxford - this set is a mixture of what I would call country dancing music and morris dancing music (I grew up in the west country so this was something we did at school). It is an instrumental set and does leave you with the image of men in bells waving flags around..

Copshawholme Fair is another vocal offering from Jon Boden. Rather a sad song about life in a travelling fair that makes you wonder how life must have been.

Princess Royal/Cuckoo's Nest - more morris men tunes that are instrumental and hard to comment on, if you like morris dancers then this is a set for you!

Brown Adam is another typically melancholy song sung well by Jon Boden but with a rather sad tale of the life of a smith (most of these tales seem to be sad it seems).

The final set is Ginger up Lustily/Old Woman Tossed Up In A Blanket and again this is an instrumental set in the traditional morris style. Nice and upbeat with plenty of melodeon.

In conclusion, there is a good mixture of melancholy and merryment and listening to this album feels like taking a journey through the last few centuries of english folk. I found it hugely enjoyable and it has broadened my appreciation of all types of music, especially folk!

I would recommend this to anyone who already loves folk or anyone who is folk-curious and wants a good introduction to this wonderful music.