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The Most Unique American "Folk" Band
Orb
Boiled in Lead
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.
[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}]