Let's see... A hurdy gurdy? Yes. Bagpipes? Of course, both English and Flemish... Hmmm... Yes, that means not just one, but two bagpipers. What else? Oh, how 'bout violins, a bassoon, a viola d'amore, a melodeon, a button accordion, saxes (both alto and soprano), an alto recorder, a button accordion, whistles, flutes, and lots of percussion.
And did you know that Blowzabella was named after a rather lively whore?
Blowzabella, me bouncing Doxie Come let's trudge it to Kirkham Fair, There's stout Liquor enough to Fox me, And young Cullies to buy thy Ware.
Makes perfectly sense to me that it is so, since Blowzabella was one lively group! (Blowzabella is now in semi-retirement after nearly twenty year of existence as the core members have moved on to other projects. The members are now only doing concerts as X-Blowzabella and even as -- I kid you not -- Babybella, a way of saying Blowzabella really doesn't exist as a working unit except for an ever so rare festival gig or two.)
As I noted in my review of their album Wall of Sound, Blowzabella was unique among the English folk dance revivalist bands for their drone-based sound. They truly did create a "wall of sound" using bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy to establish their core sound, the group explored the creation of a driving and rather complex sound to its fullest through the interplay of dance melodies with the bagpipes and hurdy gurdies based drone. Their unique sound has proved hard to duplicate though a few groups such as Prego, Shave the Monkey, and the Moving Hearts have come close -- the difference being that Blowzabella is the only one that uses bagpipes and hurdy gurdies to create their drone. Bobbityshooty was recorded in 1984 for Plant Life Records whose assets were acquired by Osmosys who have slowly re-releasing Blowzabella's Plant Life catalog. (To the best of my knowledge only their In Colour CD from 1983 has not yet been re-issued.) Bobbityshooty was the product of the long-lived middle lineup of this group -- bloody great music that will get you up and dancing! It has a different feel to it that the other Blowzabella albums in that Bobbityshooty has more of a straight medieval feel. Cuts that I particularly liked were "Shave the Monkey," "Blowzabella," and the title track "Bobbityshooty." If one wants to hear what a quieter (not quiet!) Blowzabella sounds like, this is the album to purchase. It's closer to the sound of the Cock & Bull Band than to the band who recorded Wall of Sound. (See our review of the group Shave the Monkey -- an act very similar in sound to Blowzabella.)
If you want a good, all-purpose introduction to Blowzabella, purchase Compilation, the 1995 Osmosys release that covered six of their albums: Blowzabella, In Colour, Bobbityshooty, Wall of Sound, A Richer Dust, and Vanilla. Only Vanilla, a compilation CD issue by U.S. label Green Linnet is out of print at this time. If you get hooked on Blowzabella -- and I truly believe that you will! -- go find their rather rare live CD Pringa Frenzy CD which was recorded on a tour in Brazil (yes, Brazil) in 1987. But yes, do buy Bobbityshooty as this is a version of Blowzabella well-worth hearing!
