Nigel Eaton, Pandemonium

Music of the hurdy-gurdy

 

(2002) Beautiful Jo records  BEJOCD-39

 

A beautiful but treacherous work, full of "hurdy pop" experiments that caused as such amazement as perplexity. Many people love it, others do not. The rest is a CD of great list for the skill of the musicians and the beauty of the arrangements. We like to point out "Like the Snow" for the intensity of the voice of Julie Murphy. Fair processing of  the cover art, original photos inside the booklet (whose author remains unknown).

 

Un bellissimo lavoro disseminato di mine, vale a dire di esperimenti "hurdy pop" che suscitano tanto stupore quanto perplessità: a molti piaceranno, ad altri neppure un po'. Il resto è un cd di notevole fattura per la bravura dei musicisti e la bellezza degli arrangiamenti, tra i quali ci piace segnalare "Like the Snow" per l'intensità della voce di Julie Murphy. Discreta l'elaborazione della grafica di copertina, originali le foto del booklet interno (il cui autore però rimane sconosciuto).

 

Tracks:

 

1 St Suliac/Sur la Rance (Eaton/Jon Swayne Eaton)
Our launch site on the river near St Malo, a mazurka/waltz followed by a tune by Jon and me, also played regularly in Blowzabella.

 

2 Hurdy-Gurdy Concerto II (Michel Corrette arr Price Eaton)
Les Recréations du Berger Fortuné 1. Allegro 2. Adagio 3. Presto My favourite classical piece for hurdy-gurdy; would love to play it with an orchestra one day.

 

3 Sound of the Bell (Mark Stephen Davies Eaton)
Made years ago at Mark's house in Staines just before he left to climb mountains in Snowdonia. An experiment in hurdy pop. Mark loves mediaeval things so we wrote the tune in that style.

 

4 On the River (Eaton arr Price Eaton)
Inspired by regular trips to Brittany where we sail on a stretch of river called La Rance, between St Malo and Dinan. I think it's a waltz?

 

5 Like the Snow/The Chimney (Sydney Carter arr Murphy Eaton/Eaton)
Originally appeared on a tribute album to Sydney Carter and re-recorded here as we liked it so much. The Chimney is my favourite schottische tune so far.

 

6 The Metric Jig/The Imperial Jig (Eaton arr Price Eaton)
We play The Imperial Jig in Blowzabella; in my other life I'm a carpenter so units of measurement are a constant inspiration!

 

7 Three Sharks (Eaton arr Cutting James Eaton)
A three part bourrée played by three fellas.

 

8 Great Escape (Mark Stephen Davies Eaton)
More experiments in hurdy pop; you can dance a 3/8 bourrée to some of it. Inspired by some music Julie and I kept hearing in Eritrea. We called it the camel dance.

 

9 Upton Jail (Eaton)
Another jig accidentally written during the search for the perfect 3/8 bourrée.

 

10 Curlew (Eaton)
A 3/8 bourrée type thing. Good riff though. Tried many times to write something to go with it but I kept getting jigs. Named by daughter Annie, why I don't know.

 

11 Break of the Day/Doctor Fegg (English Traditional arr Murphy Price Eaton/Eaton arr Price Eaton)
Julie found this very English song; my old tune Doctor Fegg seemed to follow automatically.

 

12 Ancient Order (Mark Stephen Davies Eaton)
An experiment in hurdy pop again.

 

13 La Gloire de mon Père (Eaton arr Cutting Eaton)
My Dad makes these fancy double keyboard hurdy-gurdies and jolly useful they are too; every home should have one! Oh, and the name of one of my favourite films.

 

14 Hum 'n' Bass (Eaton)
The only thing I could play on an old Rickenbacker bass, plus a riff I had kicking about for ages.

 

Musicians:

Nigel Eaton hurdy-gurdy, bass and keys - Andy Cutting diatonic button accordion - Mark Davies keys, percussion, bass, voice and programming - Paul James saxophone - Julie Murphy voice - Becky Price piano, harpsichord and piano accordion