Bellowhead discography

From the ecstatic bounce of Frogs’ Legs and Dragons’ Teeth to the surging melancholy beauty of Across The Line, this record contains every possible variant of a brilliant tune - all equally catchy and singable, admirable in their technique and life-affirming in their sheer joy.

While a recording studio can never capture the thrilling energy of a live Bellowhead performance, this disc does provide a good conversion tool for demonstrating to your uninitiated friends, family and people in the pub what they’re missing by not being aware of Bellowhead. It also kicks ass as a driving soundtrack.

As someone that probably wouldn’t previously have described themselves as a particular fan of folk music, I was slightly sceptical about this record when given it as a gift by a friend. However, upon giving it a listen, I found that I was very pleasantly surprised by what I heard.

From the fatalistic, melancholy searching of ’Across the Line’, to the rollicking, jolly ’London Town’, to the rousing and hearty strains of ’Fire Marengo’, the album has a broad emotional range and is rich in imagery - each song tells its own story.

Although the lyrics and style of music clearly hark back to bygone days, the themes of the songs often relate surprisingly well to contemporary concerns. One example is the introductory track, ’Rigs of the Time’, a sardonic lament of the dishonesty of traders, which could easily be taken as a metaphor for the atrophying of certain moral values in modern society.

The music is in a sense light, yet has depth; the lyrics are often humorous, yet at the same time salutary. The only criticism from my point of view is that perhaps I would have to be in a certain mood to hit the play button on this one, as it is slightly less immediate than the more mainstream stuff that I am used to. However, as such, it also provides a refreshing and welcome break from said mainstream stuff - so all in all, a great record.

I normally like my folk mixed with thrashing guitars or some decent punk riffs, but I was persuaded to give this one a listen and... well, I really liked it. My natural preference is for the faster songs (London Town, Frog’s Legs & Dragon’s Teeth, and Hopkinson’s Favourite), but for some reason Jordan and Fire Marengo get stuck in my head too.

Overall a very good album and very pleasant to listen to when I want a rest from my Metal collection.

I listen to a reasonably varied range of music but I don’t think I’ve heard anything quite like Bellowhead. They’re obviously based in folk music but they seem to consist of a rather formidable brass section (including a Tuba!), strings, banjos, accordions, things that look like accordions but aren’t them, and instruments that can only be described as percussion, among others. So with all those instruments you’d expect a bit of a mess but this band is anything but. The members are formed from a variety of other groups and bands and are obviously very accomplished musicians as the song ’Sloe Gin’ would attest.

I think it would be amazing to see them live as they’ve won plenty of awards for it and you’d be able to experience the full force of their powerful sound. You have to turn the volume up on this record to really get the feeling of a live band and I didn’t really ’get’ them until I did.

The only thing I’m unsure of is the singer’s voice, as it seems a bit too folkey when you compare it to the likes of the Levellers. This record is quite an exhilarating experience and well worth a listen if you like folk music, sea shanties, Irish jigs or you just want to hear what a Tuba sounds like in modern music.

I was given this CD by my music-obsessed son and for once I can see what he’s going on about. As someone who hasn’t been following the "folk revival" I was delighted by how fresh and lively it sounded.

Most of the album is toe-tapping and driving and as such is great company in the car. Rest-stops and variety are provided along the way by songs such as One May Morning Early with its beautiful choral singing.

It’s the livelier songs I keep returning to and I have have to admit I do skip occasionally when it veers off the rails on Flash Company. But really, it’s a superb CD and I’ve been playing it almost non-stop for a year and I’m not tired of it yet.

Review of ’Burlesque’ by Bellowhead dictated by M (aged 10 and learning about adjectives) and P (aged 6, who thinks Rachael is really a Princess), to Mummy, who kindly agreed to do the typing.

We like the unique sound and extraordinary songs of the wonderfully talented musicians in this fantastic band.

We really enjoy it when they play musical statues live and we like playing it ourselves when we listen to them at home.

We really like Rachael because she has beautiful hair and a lovely face.

Jon is an extremely good singer, he has a great voice - we bet he could sing in an opera on his own!

We like the drum kit that Pete plays because it is a made up drum kit that no-one else has - it has spoons and everything.

We like Gideon because he plays a Sousaphone - that everyone can hear even from miles away!

P - I like London Town the best because it goes ’up to the rigs / down to the jigs / up to the rigs of London town’ and I like singing along to it.

M - I like ’Flash Company’ because of how Jon sings it.

We really love dancing in our seats when mummy plays it in the car. Our favourite game in the car (when it’s on) is to chose an instrument and pretend to play it in all the right places and try to sing along as well. It’s a game we can play with the slow songs as well. Some of the slow songs are really lovely.

We can’t wait for the new album, and look forward to seeing you again at a folk festival.