a r t i s t : Michael Hurley
t i t l e : Bellemeade Sessions
d a t e : 1998
l a b e l : Blue Navigator
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Jun/2006
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 48,0 MB
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Not the new album promised in the interview in our last issue,
but a collection of odds and ends recorded in various locales
over the last 5 years and released to coincide with Doc
Snock's first -ever extensive tour of the British Isles this
summer. A kind of tour-only item, so to speak, released by the
Irish Blue Navigator magazine that dedicates its pages to the
life and music of Snock and friends, and that was also
responsible for setting up said, successful, tour.
Although subtitled "Return to the Land of Lo-Fi", Bellemeade
is certainly not a Daniel Johnston-style boombox affair,
rather it's a clarification for the casual way it was
recorded; a quality not alien to Hurley's albums in the first
place. Of the 11 pieces here only 4 are originals, making this
inbetweener almost a tribute to the century-old appalachian
traditional and illustrious blues and country players the
Snock holds dear.
The album opener "$10.00 Gig," pities one of Hurley's
reclusive buddies whose only joy in life seems to be "the
$10.00 gig at the end of the week", and has the Lemon Lillies
supplying vocal harmonies. "Girl on the Billboard" is a cover
of an authentic truck driving song with Will Rigby on drums,
proving that there are more tasteful things for an ex-dB's
member to do than back up Stipe & Co. In the liners Hurley
says "I feel like I'm paid mostly for the truck driving I do
between gigs. Doing the gig might only take a few hours while
I might be 13 hours or more driving to it." Next up's an
original instrumental beaut of guitar picking topped with mock
trumpet (just lips, no brass). "Ruben's Train" is a stunning
fretless banjo adaptation of an old mountain fiddle tune. I
could go on at length about every single tune, there;'s
literally no filler to be found here. Western swing icon Bob
Will's "Misery" is hair raising in Hurley's hands and during
the Jerry Roll-like barrel house piano version of Blind Willie
McTell's "Love Changing Blues," Hurley busts a string of the
upright but brings the song to an end without a blink,
quavering along with the off notes. Amazing. "English
Nobleman" is another self-penned one, inspired by the
ramblin'-with Remailly days during which the two would
converse in phony accents without falling out of character for
days at end. On the closing instrumental Doc Snock fuses
Apppalachian fiddle traditions with multi-string drones that
almost recall Tony Conrad and in the process goes straight for
the goose bumps, as the whole album basically does.
Yup, even a casual collection of Hurley ditties can fling a
heart-skipping wrench into the system of everyone who cares to
listen. Snap your copy up when you see it, the supply is not
"unlimited." Great cover art too... of course. - Frank Van den
Elzen, Popwatch No. 10, January 1999
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01-$10.00 Gig [04:52]
02-Girl On The Billboard [03:12]
03-Victoria [04:34]
04-Ruben's Train [02:56]
05-The Beggars Terms [03:16]
06-Misery [03:00]
07-Pay No Attention To Alice [03:04]
08-Love Changing Blues [03:31]
09-English Nobleman [02:26]
10-Ghost Woman Blues [03:45]
11-Sweet Thing [05:03]
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39:39 min