Spiers and Boden: Songs
Listen to this. You’ll not regret it.
Whee! John Spiers and Jon Boden have finally made an album (Songs) that sounds as good as they do live. Not that Through and Through and Bellow are bad albums, it’s just that their playing has improved somewhat since they were recorded. On stage, Jon and John play with an almost telepathic level of communication. Songs captures that magic.
Songs is the companion piece to Tunes[1] and it fairly fizzes with excitement. The material is almost all Big Ballads, and these are handled with a freshness and authority that is great to hear. The only ballad here that’s familiar to me from other singers is Lucy Wan, which Martin Carthy does so well. Jon and John give the nod to that version as their inspiration, but the result is entirely their own.
There’s one modern piece, Innocent When You Dream by Tom Waits, and it’s fabulous—the sort of song that wouldn’t sound out of place in Peter Bellamy’s repertoire next to the obscure Dylan covers, big ballads and the Kipling. You can hear Bellamy’s influence everywhere. He’s the source for one song (Derry Gaol), but Jon’s singing style has Bellamy written all over it. Like Bellamy, Jon will start a song with a testing range at least three notes higher than seems sensible and then thrill you as he hits all the high note with ease3. And, just like Bellamy, Jon sounds like nobody else4.
Buy this CD. And if you get a chance, go and see them live. Good as this album is, these guys are still improving and in a year or so this is going to sound a little bit disappointing compared to what they’re doing on stage. If they can keep doing that trick, who knows what’s going to happen.
1 Although Tunes was released earlier this year, I’ve not actually listened to it; I’m more of a songs person I guess.
2 A year or so ago I found myself singing a high harmony while Jon sang Bellamy’s setting of The Old Songs at the Cumberland singing session - I was up next and that was the song I was planning to sing so when Jon started in on it I thought “What the hell?” and came in with a harmony line - I didn’t know I could go so high. Those notes are often there if you’ve got the nerve to really go for them; they only disappear if you don’t think you can get them.
3 There’s nothing here like Bellamy’s astonishing Santa Fe Trail where, having sung the whole thing at very high altitude he repeats the last chorus singing a high harmony line that leaves you gasping. But some of the stuff he was singing with Bellowhead a few weeks ago was definitely getting that way.
4 It’s the old problem isn’t it? Bellamy sounded entirely like himself; the best way to follow his lead is to sound entirely like yourself.
