Now here's something we haven't see in far too long a time -- a new recording by Blowzabella. Their 1990 recording, Vanilla, was their last one. A true English dance band, the band was also a prolific producer of albums and CDs, as they also released Blowzabella (1982), Blowzabella in Colour (1983), Bobbityshooty (1984) (reissued on CD in 1998), The Blowzabella Wall of Sound (1986) (reissued on CD in 1996), The B to A of Blowzabella (1986), A Richer Dust (1988) (reissued on CD in 1996), and Pingha Frenzy, a live on tour recording in Brazil (1988). Though it was not strictly a Blowzabella recording, they were involved in Frankie Armstrong's 1984 Tam Lin album. None-the-less, bitty's now been 17 years since their last recordings of any sort!
The new band sounds a lot like the band of old, but it has seen some turnover. This recording is the result of Paul James in 2002 getting hold of all the band members with the idea of a reunion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Blowzabella in 2003, which went off quite well. The lineup of Andy Cutting (diatonic button accordion), Nigel Eaton (hurdy gurdy), Jo Freya (tenor and soprano saxes, bass clarinet, low D whistle), Paul James (border pipes, and alto and soprano saxes), Ian Luff (bass guitar), Dave Shepherd (violin), and Jon Swayne (border pipes) played together, and renewed enthusiasm combined with lots of new material encouraged the band to continue touring and to record a new album. At the end of 2004, Nigel Eaton left the band and was replaced with Gregory Jolivet, a French alto hurdy gurdy player. At the end of 2005, Ian Luff was replaced with Barnaby Stradling on bass guitar.
Oh, but what do they sound like? Well, Michael Jones of our staff once called Rook's Celtic EP to be FHL (faster harder louder) and certainly Blowzabella is the loudest of the English dance bands! Only the contemporary band Prego and the bands Calic and Calicanto from Italy come close to Blowzabella in creating a drone-based 'wall of sound' music that reverberates through both the consciousness and the bones of the listener
One sec while I look for a reference to them that I remember seeing... Ahhh, there's what Jo Morrison, harper, said about them in the 2000 edition of Musichound World:
...[a] far cry from the typical folk music produced in England, Blowzabella's distinctive sound is carried on the base of a drone. Using bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy to establish this core, the group explores the driving and almost primitive sound to its fullest through the interweaving of dance melodies over the drones. The result is hypnotic, and extremely unusual. Sounding almost as much middle-eastern as English, the group pulls on a variety of traditional roots for the basis of their music, including Eastern European, English, and Irish influences.
Blowzabella's unique in their sound and certainly the oldest English dance band that used two drone based instruments -- pipes of various sorts and a hurdy gurdy. They certainly did create a 'wall of sound' using bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy to establish their core sound, and explored the creation of a driving and complex sound to its fullest through the interplay of dance melodies with bagpipe and hurdy gurdy drones. 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, and I'll stress this once again, the first one that used bagpipes and hurdy gurdies to create their unique drone sound.
So how good is Blowzabella now? As good as they ever were. I honestly can't say they sound any different on Octomento than they did on Bobbityshooty or Vanilla, to give two earlier recordings. It's not quite as FHL as Pingha Frenzy, which is one of the best live recordings I've ever heard, but it is still one of the finest albums I've ever heard. Don't believe me? Just go listen to the album at the Blowzabella MySpace site. After hearing the selections there, go to the Blowzabella Web site to order this fine recording!
Oh, and are you in for treat as you discover the older recordings of this fine group!
