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The Most Unique American "Folk" Band
Orb
Boiled in Lead
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Record stores
often file BiL under "British Isles" in their
"International" sections -- they're actually
from Minneapolis, but they sound as if
they ought to be from Blighty.
I can't believe that there were no previous
reviews for this great album, which combines
folk, rock, classical and punk influences to
produce what has been called "Celtodelic
Rock'n'Reel".
Standout songs:
"Son Oh Son" -- Incest and murder in the
traditional manner. Lovely, ominous and
upsetting.
"Tape Decks All Over Hell" -- I have described
the music of certain other performers as
"rockabilly from Hell" -- well, this is
rockabilly from Hell. After a jam session with
some apparently rather unusual friends, the
narrator discovers that Dante Alighieri has
taken a bootleg copy with him to Hell... and
he's REALLY popular Down There. Not the venue
you'd like to play, though.
"Army (Dream Song)" and "Brave Bombardier" are
both anti-war; "Army" is a hilarious but still
scary dream narrative, and "Bombardier" is a
character sketch of the man who can rain down
death on people below so long as "never their
faces I'll see".
"Town of Ballybay" is a marvelously silly more
or less traditional Irish drinking song,
played straight with a nice lilt.
"Hard Times" is an account of the
assassination of President McKinley, wistfully
and winningly performed.
The rest are Really Good, too.
You'll either love it or hate it, but you will
*not* be neutral about it. |
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[Incidentally,
if you like Boiled in Lead and also
enjoy good, original fantasy fiction, you
should definitely check out the books
of Will
Shetterley, Steven
Brust and Emma
Bull {particularly
her War for the Oaks, set
largely in the Minneapolis music
community}]
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