Album review: BELLOWHEAD – Pandemonium: The Essential Bellowhead

Navigator Records [Release date 16.10.15]

Sadly Bellowhard have announced they are calling it a day after 11 years, however they are going out in style with an extensive farewell tour that carries on into 2016 and this, their first best of.

They have achieved amazing success for a folk band, winning numerous awards, selling over 250,000 albums and in their album ‘Broadside’, the highest charting independently released folk album to date.

The band really come into their own live as all eleven musicians (think of the number of solo albums we could now see appear!) work so well together on stage.

It is hard to pick thirteen songs to represent the band’s output and on here they strike a good balance, perhaps slightly more in favour of the upbeat songs like ‘Roll Alabama’ and ‘Gosport Nancy’. Surprisingly only one song makes it from the ‘Burlesque’ album, ‘London Town’ but then where do you stop and this is only a single CD.

Nothing unreleased or in live format for the fans who will have all these songs already. Still you can enjoy the raucous delights ‘Yarmouth Town’ and the one song where the band almost go prog on ‘Cold Wind Blows’.

Sad to see them bid farewell, still they leave us with wonderful music, memories of great live shows and the hope they will reunite sometime soon as every band and their fans likes a good comeback tour ;-)

This best of will hopefully win them a few more fans and remind those already a fan what a great set of tunes they have made in such a short space of time. As the title says, essential. *****
Review by Jason Ritchie

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