The Way I See It
The shipyard painter, political activist and razor-sharp cartoonist Bob Starrett has just written a new book The Way I See It on his eventful life and times. Below we reprint one of his stories and review an essential read
La Boheme
ENO's production of La Boheme is a triumph,
Bellowhead
Broadside (Navigator)
Monday 15 October 2012
Printable
EmailJohn Spiers and Jon Boden's standing as a folk duo is so high that their big band Bellowhead get filed in the genre too.
But even though modern folk is far more diverse than cliche would have it, the F-word barely goes a fraction of the way to describing the rollicking output of this 11-headed, 22-armed, many-instrumented monster.
Sea shanties, bawdy drinking songs and tall tales from the folk canon jostle for elbow room.
They're set to wildly inventive arrangements as likely to hinge on funk bouzouki or polka violin as any of the staple folk instruments.
Highlights here are a riotous stomp through Lillibulero, a swaggering take on the old miners' song Byker Hill and full-steam-ahead shanty Go My Way which proves Bellowhead can do unabashedly epic just as well as they do raw'n'rowdy.
Another triumph for Britain's most giddying collection of folk talent.
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