Back to delight us from the hallowed turf of South Wales are one of my favourite modern folk roots acts, TangleJack, who have released an EP of four brand new songs, The Ballad of Harold Camping.
Last year, I reviewed, and strongly recommended, their The Ragged Edge, which you can see by clicking on the button below
This is a departure in feel from that, a more Americana infused cocktail.
Said Mr Camping was an interesting American chappy. He died 12 years ago, and was an evangelist, the founder of Family Radio, which broadcast to untold millions across 150 franchised markets over the pond. You do know him – back in the day, he regularly foretold the precise time and date of the apocalypse, via Judgement Day, in a bit of a real-life parody of that famous Peter Cook & Rowan Atkinson sketch in the first Secret Policeman’s Ball.
This is, of course, a website which mainly reviews progressive rock, but I love intelligent folk music, and TangleJack ooze this. Do go along to https://tanglejack.bandcamp.com/album/the-ballad-of-harold-camping-ep to listen to and support this EP.
The opening track is Needs Must When the Devil Drives, a modern take on words of a medieval saying, used by Shakespeare in Alls Well That Ends Well. You are compelled to go where he takes you. You might not like it, but needs must. Duncan Leigh especially has some fun on this, the guitar work showing some excellent complexity, the harmonies between the two as good as ever, with John-Paul Davies unleashing his inner Dylan here. The duo plainly had a lot of fun with this one. A superb start and embedded below for you to enjoy.
Next up is Cat Man Do. A feline male, who, when he isn’t horny, simply eats and sleeps, or is causing trouble on the streets. However, as with all the bad boys, his other half simply adores him. Catch a hold of the slide guitar on these few minutes of laid-back joy, the owners exhorting the main man to “cat man don’t”, but, of course, he do!
The title track follows, the video for which is embedded below. I played this on my radio show last month, and what I like about this track is the ironical take on Camping’s very words and attitude, and lyrically, Phil Collins did something similar on Jesus, He Knows Me on the final Genesis outing with him as lead singer. Characters such as Camping are ripe for joyous assassination, and the duo execute this well. They are genuinely having fun with it, and that lies at the heart of my love of roots music, that lust for life, the antithesis, of course, of dear old Harold. Praise the Lord!
The EP closes with Bad Weather Baby, with the chap on his sofa watching the likes of Ruth or Sabrina on Wales telly providing the forecast with gusto, wishing for his own Bad Weather Baby to keep him in check. Duncan, again, provides for some wonderfully dextrous fretwork, dripping in parts with jazz sensibilities, Duncan expressing the inner desire for a bad girl recognisable to every hot-blooded male, no matter what their age.
I am hoping to catch the duo live again this year – their live set is as much fun as their recorded work, and their reputation is growing. I did see they recently played a gig in Bristol. Top stuff and highly recommended.