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BRASS MONKEY
Flame Of Fire
Topic Records TSCD550
There's something about the sound of Brass Monkey that forces a reviewer to use the word 'glorious'. No other adjective quite does the trick. It's the sheer cheeriness of all that parping and pumping, squeezing and blowing, that sets the heart dancing until the body just has to get up and join in.
This time out, it's the original five-piece line-up of Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Howard Evans, Roger Williams and Martin Brinsford and their armoury of vocals, guitar, assorted squeezeboxes, trumpet, trombone, mouth organ and percussion, for the band's fifth album of English tunes and songs. Key word: English. Stamped through them like seaside rock and bursting forth like a village green on May Day. English dance music is enjoying something of a revival at the moment and thus it's a timely moment for this release.
As ever, both songs and tunes spring from well-researched original sources (Playford's English Dancing Master; Maud Karpeles' collections of Sharp's material; Thomas Hardy's family papers; 19th century fiddlers et al). Carthy and Kirkpatrick's tonsils do the honours on a fine selection of songs with great stories, from The Swinton May Song (three cheers for a unusual bit of Northern pastoralness) through a Peter Bellamy-influenced Maid Of Australia to the spooky title track. Tunes range from the beautiful, stately arrangements of 17th century dance music (Maiden Lane, The Queen's Birthday, New Whitehall, Dick's Maggot) to the jaunty gob-iron romp of Happy Hours from the playing of 1930s mouth organ maestro Jimmy Hiddlestone.
The lads have squeezed time from their scads of other duties to gather for a tour in May. Get to see them while you can ... and buy this album to keep up the dosage in between times.
Mel McClellan - April 2004
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Folk & Acoustic
