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| Track list: 1. Bottle of Anger/Lies 2. A Hurricane, a Thunderstorm Running time: 10 minutes Released: Unclear |
So I am advancing this up the order to break up the Folk Awards albums a little. I am not certain where I came across The Second Hand Marching Band but I know that I fell in love with A Dance to Half Death from the release of the same name. They are made up from members of other Scottish groups, including Eagleowl, who I love a lot, so that comes as no surprise. These two tracks, freely available here, form part of a session recording, along with one more track that is not so free, but my search-fu is weak and I cannot find a date.
Bottle of Anger/Lies is a mass-sung number and to be honest it is quite unpleasant. The only instrumentation for the first 90 seconds is a quite harsh, unmodulated organ and the harmonies in the chorus are not great. However when the tune picks up and the other parts come in the tone changes completely to the sort of charming, under-produced, raucous play-along that easily tugs at my heart. A song of two halves - brittle then brilliant. Annoying then heart warming. I think the opening is enough to damn it though as I have more of the latter feeling. The main piece here is the second track, a longer effort which keeps the tumbledown charm and slightly off-kilter performance. The tone of the delivery means that the harmonies are much more pleasant and there is a lilt to the singing that works well with both the arrangement and the disparate voices represented. It is better whilst it maintains a sense of purpose, and when it dwindles down to almost nothing it becomes dull and some of the worse aspects of the harmonies reappear - I keep waiting for it to build again for a better finish but it does not.
Frustratingly there are 2 halves of really nice pieces here, but alas it is the second half of one and the first half of the other. I do not think either are worth keeping, which saddens me some.
Bottle of Anger/Lies is a mass-sung number and to be honest it is quite unpleasant. The only instrumentation for the first 90 seconds is a quite harsh, unmodulated organ and the harmonies in the chorus are not great. However when the tune picks up and the other parts come in the tone changes completely to the sort of charming, under-produced, raucous play-along that easily tugs at my heart. A song of two halves - brittle then brilliant. Annoying then heart warming. I think the opening is enough to damn it though as I have more of the latter feeling. The main piece here is the second track, a longer effort which keeps the tumbledown charm and slightly off-kilter performance. The tone of the delivery means that the harmonies are much more pleasant and there is a lilt to the singing that works well with both the arrangement and the disparate voices represented. It is better whilst it maintains a sense of purpose, and when it dwindles down to almost nothing it becomes dull and some of the worse aspects of the harmonies reappear - I keep waiting for it to build again for a better finish but it does not.
Frustratingly there are 2 halves of really nice pieces here, but alas it is the second half of one and the first half of the other. I do not think either are worth keeping, which saddens me some.
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