Spiers & Boden

Vagabond


They may be best known for their entertainingly experimental work in the folk big band Bellowhead, but John Spiers and Jon Boden continue to do what they are best at: playing together. There are no special guests and no gimmicks here, and none are needed, for this is another classy reminder that they are the most intriguing traditional duo in the UK, thanks to the delicacy, variety and attack in their instrumental work and the theatrical enthusiasm of Boden's vocals. This is almost a concept album, as the songs mostly deal with outsiders, from beggars and pirates to Shakespeare's itinerant jester Feste - the album ends with a thoughtful and robust treatment of The Rain It Rains, from Twelfth Night. What makes it special is the almost intuitive interplay between Boden's fiddle and guitar work and Spiers' melodeon and concertina playing, best heard on an instrumental piece such as Beggar Boy, during which they constantly switch mood and tempo, gradually moving from a drifting, gentle start to a rousing dance workout
Robin Denselow


TrackList:

01 Tom Padget
02 The birth of Robin Hood
03 Three tunes
04 Captain Ward
05 Beggar boy
06 Mary Anne
07 Speed the plough/The princess royal
08 Rambling Robin
09 Gentlewoman
10 The rain it rains
11 Vignette

2008 Navigator NAV12CD
192 kbps VBR ,complete scans

Jon Boden: fiddle, guitar, vocals
John Spiers: melodeon





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Songs from the floodplain



An ambitious mind and an appetite for risk are dangerous bedfellows and, on the face of it, this latest creation by Jon Boden - one of the most venerated of the younger Brit folk generation both for his work with Spiers & Boden and co-founder of the Bellowhead big band - has turkey written all over it. I mean, who makes concept albums these days? And a concept album about the end of the world as we know it? Getouttahere.
And yet, though a slow burner, Songs From the Floodplain's dark, meandering themes and compelling minimalism deliver rich and provocative rewards as Boden introduces us to a series of shadowy figures trying to make sense of an undefined apocalypse. His understated use of mystery and intrigue is brilliant and the album slowly knits into a disquieting magical mystery tour, albeit one with an optimistic undercurrent as society is forced to start again from scratch via small communities.
Anyone familiar with Boden's usual extrovert singing will be amazed by his restraint and, despite outbursts of percussive grunge, the arrangements are primarily gentle and acoustic. Dancing in the Factory, for instance, is set to a lovely traditional tune, but whether he's doing reflection (We Do What We Can), sinister (Going Down to the Wasteland) or joyful rebirth (Under Their Breath), an inherent beauty prevails.
Colin Irwin


TrackList:

01 We do what we can
02 Going down to the wasteland
03 Days gone by
04 Penny for the preacher
05 Dancing by the factory
06 Beating the bounds
07 The pilgrim’s way
08 April queen
09 When the walls come tumbling down
10 Don’t wake me up ’til tomorrow
11 Under the breath
12 Has been cavalry

Jon Boden: guitars, fiddle, duet concertina, double bass, drums, percussion, melodeon, bagpipes, banjo, mandolin, harmonium)

2009 • Navigator NAV21CD
192 kbps VBR • complete scans



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Through & Through - 2006


Spiers' & Boden's first recording.

Tracklisting:

01. Rambling Sailor
02. The Rochdale Coconut Dance
03. Earl Richard
04. The Quaker / Brighton Camp
05. Oswestry Wake / Morgan Rattler
06. Golden Glove
07. Red Kites
08. Boston Harbour
09. The Three-Two Set: Shropshire Rounds/Rusty Gully/The 3 Footed Chestnut
10. Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
11. Three Around Three
12. Down The Moor
13. The Gooseberry Bush / Laudanum Bunches
14. Banks of Green Willow

VBR – Average 224 Kbps




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Tunes




TrackList:

01 The sportsman’s hornpipe 5:02
02 Monkey-cokey 4:34
03 The old Lancashire hornpipe/The 3rd beekeeper 3:35
04 Dee-light 4:18
05 Flapjack & firesticks/The minor rigged ship 3:46
06 Stoney steps hornpipe 2:34
07 Cuckoo’s nest 3:48
08 Cheshire waltz 4:27
09 Fireside polka/Rampant 2:59
10 Union 3:09
11 Dearest Dickie 2:51
12 Blow the winds 4:43
13 The Shropshire miner 1:55
14 Trunkles 3:01
15 Sportsman’s hornpipe (Slight return) 1:30

320 kbps CBR • thanks to the original uploader (e-mule?)

John Spiers: melodeon
Jon Boden: fiddle




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