Martin Hairnet’s quest for brass bands in psychedelic music resulted in something of a brass band listening binge here in Kärrtorp. Where would popular music be without brass bands and horn sections?
It all started for me at Watford Town Hall: The Keef Hartley Big Band was a revelation. Their Sinning for you climaxes in a triumphant brass riff. I was hooked on horns.
Nuptials, wakes and er..birthdays: brass bands are perfect for any occasion. Bosnian and Serbian composer Goran Bregovic actually has a Wedding and Funeral Band.
I have so many favourite tracks where brass and horns provide that extra something that just makes the song.
A few other favourites… Some you will know, some not.
The bittersweet jazzy sound of EBTG’s Each and Every One. The simmering Rastafarian pride of Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey. The ethereal flute and pounding riff of Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. The Heimatdamisch’s hilarious Bavarian biergarden makeover of Highway to Hell. The self-confidence and swagger of Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle. The shimmering air of nostalgic melancholy that the Brighouse and Rastrick Band give the Unthanks’ King of Rome. The other-worldliness of Band Pres Llareggub Brass Band’s Cant a Mil. The frenetic, pumping energy of Balkan brass outfits like Fanfare Ciocarlia and the Kocani Orchestra. The light as a feather vibe that the members of Weather Report gave Pino Daniele’s Annaré. The street funk of the Hot 8 Brass band’s Sexual Healing. LaBrassBanda’s transformation of Captain Sensible’s Wot into a joyful Teutonic march.
I can go on and on and on. As you well know!
Indulge me! Share your favourite horny bits!
Rather than an obvious choice, I’ll kick off with a wonderfully joyous piece of Welsh pop by Candela and Alys Williams where the horns take it all to another level. There really is not enough community singing in Welsh on the Afterword!
nigelthebald says
“California tumbles into the sea…”
Rigid Digit says
A saxophone on a punk record?
X Ray Spex thought it a good idea
Germ Free Adolescents
Oh Bondage Up Yours
Kaisfatdad says
The tune that got me started …
hubert rawlinson says
Have some Home Service
and John Tams in pink troos.
oh and why not
Kaisfatdad says
I enjoyed those. Folk music and brass go rather well together, as Bellowhead have demonstrated so effectively. Let’s have some more, from the appropriately named Brass Monkey.
The Mustaphas got me thinking about Middle Eastern brass bands……. To be continued,
Kaisfatdad says
With St Vincent and a magnificent brass band, the Heads’ songbook sounded better than ever.
Bamber says
On the subject of the OIALH I’d have this tune up with their best. Solo DB doesn’t get enough attention… Great live version too.
nigelthebald says
“All I’m asking…”
retropath2 says
Same vintage as Keef Hartley, some Norwegian guitar jazz, brass underpinning it all, with added flute worthy of the yazz flute thread over yonder. Very Colosseumy thinks I.
Mike_H says
That’s really interesting. I’d not heard that album before. Terje’s first release, a few years before he became one of ECM’s stable of players.
If that’s typical of the rest of the album, his style of playing has completely and utterly changed from then. Nowadays it’s mostly long sustained notes with beautiful vibrato. As the title of that one suggests, he was channelling Wes Montgomery’s clean muted chord style back then.
This is good
retropath2 says
It isn’t, annoyingly: there are a handful of tracks like that, which are superb, a couple of substandard blues-rock tracks, inspired by/redolent of the 1st Cream album, marred mainly by the vocals, and a godawful skreeky skronk work-out. But yes, the guitar is certainly clipped and fractious in a not unpleasant way. Uncertain if it is legitimately available as a current release. Let’s say I found it.
Kaisfatdad says
The British brass band sub-culture is a world of its own as was so marvelously shown in the film Brassed Off. It occasionally makes an appearance in mainstream culture like when Sir Terry of Wigan had a hit with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band.
The musicians are all amateurs (the bands rely on donations and concert income), they take their music seriously and are competitive and until recently it was a very male dominated.
The B & R finally recruited a female player.
http://www.yorkshirelife.co.uk/out-about/brighouse-and-rastrick-brass-band-s-first-female-member-1-1643058
I don’t know if this men only culture existed in other countries.
Here by way of contrast is an all-female, professional brass ensemble from Norway: tenThing led by Tine Thing Helseth.
They may not be a marching band but they use the stage in a dramatic effective way.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CYIfLrqbLFQ
Kaisfatdad says
Oops! I got my facts wrong about the Floral Dance. The Brighouse and Rastrick had a hit with it Xmas 1977 and then Tel recorded it with the Hanwell Band.
The lyrics describe the annual Furry Dance in Helston,Cornwall and were written by in 1911 by Katie Moss.
A furry dance does somehow sound like something rude a moose would do in the woods. Or Maud coming in the garden with smooth-.tongued sophisticate George Baker.
Martin Hairnet says
Here’s some very horny John Barry, channelling his inner Richard Strauss.
Kaisfatdad says
Enjoyed that! Brass is perfect an epic cinematic soundtrack.
Not least this hit from the 1955 charts which peaked at # 18. The Central Band of the RAF were one hit wonders unfortunately.
This clip about the history of the Burbage-Buxton Band fills in a lot of the social background. Encouraged by local industrialists and the church, brass bands were formed to nurture a feeling of local pride and give the workers something meaningful to do, to keep them out of the pub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gpZHMluwqk
This development of community spirit and local pride is also true of the marching bands of New Orleans.
The Treme Brass band playing Big Chief and getting the procession in party mood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7tN3jDrw_w
the community bands of Rio (where this Phil Collins song is always in the repertoire!)
and the bands of the Balkans. Serbia, for example, has a brass band tradition dating back to 1831. Their bands were a tool for fostering national identity after centuries of Ottoman occupation.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/07/why-everyone-is-flocking-to-serbias-brass-band-festival/
Fanfare Ciocarlia from Rumania.
Mike_H says
I remember an old Word Podcast, where Fraser Lewry recounted going to a Serbian Brass Band Festival. The largest number of drunken people he’d seen in one place in his entire life.
These brass players do like their drink.
I recall Frank Zappa being furious that when he was recording his two London Symphony Orchestra albums, the entire brass section of the orchestra went off to the pub, came back pissed and made numerous mistakes.
mikethep says
When my bro-in-law flootled in the English National Opera orchestra, the brass players would retire to the pub next to the stage door until they were needed. They rigged up a bell behind the bar, and when it rang they would sneak back into the pit, do their parping and then back to the pub.
Mike_H says
A thirsty way to make a living, that parping.
Kaisfatdad says
All rather ironic when you consider that one of the reasons that brass bands were formed was to keep the working man out of the pub. Being a professional brass player seem to mean you can spend even more time in the pub.
Mike_H says
Only venturing blinking into daylight between bar and concert hall.
“Now in which pub did I leave my euphonium this time?”
Moose the Mooche says
Ooop! I left me piccolo in the snug!
nigelthebald says
“Fascinating” fact: Eno’s brother Roger – the really talented musician of the family – is a trained euphonium teacher. And he wouldn’t quibble if I revealed that he likes a drink or two…
Kid Dynamite says
pretty sure everyone here will hate this
Kid Dynamite says
while we’re on the subject
nigelthebald says
I saw the Redskins in Ipswich at a benefit during the miners’ strike. They were excellent – Motown with attitude.
Edit: they were fucking excellent.
Kid Dynamite says
oooh, I would love to have seen the Redskins
Kaisfatdad says
I enjoyed them both! That Redskins horn section was stupendous.
I was surprised to learn from this clip (where they can be seen playing Glasto)
that the Black Dyke Mills Band were signed to Apple and Macca produced their single. The A side was Thingumybob, the theme for a Yorkshire TV show
Every AW thread ends up with the HJHs!
The B side was Yellow Submarine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YQM7gVWNn4
For the Fabs to sign an amateur brass band must have raised a few eyebrows.
How quaint and old fashioned they look in their uniform and bow ties.
Kaisfatdad says
As mentioned, the brass band world is very competitive, and for the band members it is important how many prizes they have won. As a listener I am interested in how they have contributed to mainstream pop culture.
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band are heavy hitters in this department. They recorded the music for Brassed Off and the film is largely based on their own story.
In 1972 they played on Peter Skellern’s You’re a lady. He was a previous member of the band in the 60s and had toured Italy with them playing percussion. They also did an album of Fred Astaire covers together.
In 1975 they played exquisitely on Roy Harper’s When an old Cricketer…. from the album HQ. The arrangement was by David Bedford. I know you’ve all heard it but it is such a beautiful song, I’m posting it anyway.
More recently the GCB joined Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott for this marvellous cover of a Tom Jans song and have also recorded a few more Beautiful South songs.
Kaisfatdad says
An interesting brassy discovery: Isis, an all-female New York funk band from the 70s.
Their third album was produced by Allen Toussaint.
Fine stuff.
Moose the Mooche says
The AW’s accidental pervert strikes again!
Aren’t you glad Isis didn’t do an album called “Blow Up”? That would look really tasteless now.
Kaisfatdad says
True, Moose. Going into a record shop and asking for an album by Isis might not be such a good idea in 2017. Their album cover, showing the band members wearing nothing but a coat of silver paint raised eye brows back in the day.
The devil have all the best tunes but the Lord has some fine brass bands, not least those of the Salvation Army. Booth’s movement spread like wildfire in the late 19th century and made a big impression here in Scandinavia.
A few years ago, a charity fundraising record was recorded featuring cover versions of their hymns several of which have become classics.
Here from that record is the late, great Freddie Wadling (a sinner who was as far from the Sally Army as you could come) accompanied by one of their brass bands. Beautiful stuff.
In these days of chuggers on every street corner, I have a great respect for the Frälsningsarmé.
davebigpicture says
The first Tom Waits I ever heard
Moose the Mooche says
Ditto. This video, on The Tube. I thought it was something really old… maybe from the sixties or summat.
So…. in 1983 a bunch of Island executives are sitting around listening to Swordfishtrombones, and when we get to a particularly downbeat song about urban decay with a funereal tempo and wheezing brass, somebody jumps to his feet and says “That’s the single!”
Kaisfatdad says
Amigos, I can’t believe we’ve got this far….
Without mentioning Herb and his Tijuana Brass. A Taste of Honey including several decorous young ladies lounging around the set to emphasize how irresistible Mr Albert and his pals are.
Impossible not to feel irie listening to Burning Spear’s magnificent horn section.
Help needed here! What other reggae artists are renowned for their horn sections?
And while I’m picking brains: what about African brass? Any horns, for example, from the Horn of Africa that we ought to know about?
nigelthebald says
Reggae?
Back in the late 70s Culture gave me the horn:
Mike_H says
(Aswad – Warrior Charge/Dub Charge)
atcf says
In another life I would be a horn player in a soul revue. I think playing the BA-BA-BA bits in every chorus would make me very happy.
Always loved the surge the brass band gives this Rich Hawley track at about 2:15
There are several funky brass bands doing the rounds currently. My faves are the Hot 8 Brass Band:
fentonsteve says
Similarly, the Soul Rebels brass band – Sweet Dreams:
They did this on Later… years ago, in a circle around a single Soundfield microphone (if I remember)
Kaisfatdad says
I have just been having a listen to Brass Monkey. A quite marvellous brass folk fusion.
They guested on this track with the Dead Skunk Hitmaker.
retropath2 says
And the Brass Monkey horn section/duo were also in the Home Service, and the Albion Band ahead of that. In a quirk of fortune, Home Service now have a new singer in the form of Brass Monkey squeezebox merchant, John Kirkpatrick. This clip is with John Tams, no stranger to brass himself.
as the 2nd clip demonstrates
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks for filling in the gaps, Retro. I could do with one of those Rock Family Tree thingies to keep track of it all.
I am making some great discoveries on this thread.
No doubt in my mind now that brass bands are “folk music”.
retropath2 says
With most of english folk (rock) it all comes round again and all roads start and finish at Cropredy
Kaisfatdad says
That is quite a statement, Retro. Are there no other places that can lay claim to being the Mecca of English folk music? The Cambridge Folk Festival? Cecil Sharp House? A folk club somewhere like Soho?
Here is a book for serious brassheads: a history of the British brass band movement.
https://books.google.se/books?id=oolPwnvevRUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
The creation of the first brass bands was a gamechanger in UK popular culture: “the first mass engagement of working class people in instrumental art music, not just in Britain but perhaps anywhere” according to Trevor Herbert.
A review of Trev’s book:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n07/john-lloyd/a-fue-respectable-friends
retropath2 says
That’s why I appended parenthesised rock after folk, for the peculiar incestuousness and Hotel California vibe of anyone tainted by Fairport and the offspring bands. Makes even the Kevin Bacon connections game too difficult.
hubert rawlinson says
And Andy Findon of Home service has joined fellow members Graeme Taylor and Rory McFarlane in the updated version of Gryphon.
Kaisfatdad says
A rare bit of celebrity gossip from me, Hubert. Andy was in my brother’s class at school and I met up for him for a quick drink many years ago when he played here with Michael Nyman.
Friend of the stars, that’s me!
duco01 says
And, if I recall correctly, KFD, didn’t you get to shake the hand of the Draughtman’s Contract soundtrack Hitmaker himself?
Kaisfatdad says
How embarrassing! You remember the details of my life better than I do!
I do remember going back to the hotel where the band were staying so it could well be so.
Strange how one remembers the wrong things rather than the interesting ones.
Time for some brass.
Banda Ionica from Sicily. And very fine too.
Kaisfatdad says
We can’t do brass bands without including this magic moment….
The Potus was extremely bemused.
Kaisfatdad says
My quest for more information on Italian brass bands brought me to this site. What a find!
This bloke, “Dr Rhythm”, writes wonderfully about all kinds of world music. He’s lively and full of enthusiasm and really makes me want to give things a listen.
http://www.muzikifan.com/
Have a browse!
Kaisfatdad says
Sicilian trumpeter, Roy Paci, has his finger in so many brassy pies that I am amazed he has time to sleep. I knew of him because of his band high-tempo ska jazz band Aretuska which combines traditional Sicilian funeral marches with pop, latin rhythms and lots more besides.
Banda Ionica is another project Paci has using local Sicilian brass players. This track with its moody brass riffs is not a thousand miles from Tom Waits.
And then there’s his Banda Olifante, a jazz outfit which also takes inspiration from many different sources and make a very agreeable sound.
In addition to all that, Aretuska have been a houseband on Italian TV and Paci was a member of Manu Chao’s sensational tour band 2000 – 2001. I saw them play Roskilde and they were a treat.
This interview tells about some of his projects which include a prog band called CorLeone!
http://www.timesofsicily.com/interview-roy-paci/
Kaisfatdad says
Along with a lot of great bands I’ve never heard of, Alastair Johnson (Journalist, illustrator and DJ) aka Dr Rythm is the big discovery of this thread. He knows so much about different styles of brass music and fills in a lot of the background.
He’s even gone so far as to create his own imaginary compilation album of brass from around the world, complete with very comprehensive sleeve notes.
http://www.muzikifan.com/roundthehorn.html
He calls it Around the Horn! I think the least he could have done was have a contribution from Rambling Syd Rumpo!
That brings back a few memories!
Back to brass. Here are a few artists that Johnson mentions.
Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, a side project of the avant-garde trumpeter, did imaginative cover versions of pop songs.
No Brazilian Carnival celebration is complete without this brass band standard: Vassourinhas. Great slide show too.
Opera tunes were the pop music of their time in Italy. Not only would you hear them sung in the street, they would also be played by brass bands known as “banda” who would busk in the streets and even travel out to far flung villages so that everybody could hear the new hits.
Johnson mentions how students of the great Nino Rota in the conservatory in Bari recorded an album of opera hits recreating the sound of the banda which was a dying tradition: La Banda Cittá Ruvo di Puglia.
Beautiful track. Shame about the totally inappropriate erotic illustrations that some Greek geezer has added.
Yes Moose! The AW’s accidental pervert has done it again. Please close your eyes while listening! Or your nadgers will go green.
minibreakfast says
Am currently listening to an LP pressed in the 70s by small record label Kirkham, by The East Anglian School Band, called ‘Angular Brass’. It’s got that lovely amateur brass band wooziness and is a joy to hear (if you like that sort of thing I guess).
It was 50p at this morning’s car boot.
Kaisfatdad says
I like that sort of thing, Mini. Amateur wooziness is a great description.
It was a revelation to me to discover that all the members of these brass bands, even the famous ones are amateurs.
I found Kirkham
https://www.discogs.com/label/708551-Kirkham
Do you have a copy of Roger Hamilton and his 4 legged friend?
minibreakfast says
I wish. 😉
Kaisfatdad says
https://m.ebay.ie/itm/Roger-Hamilton-And-His-Four-Legged-Friend-Signed-LP-KRS-5001-
Damn right! It would get you 8 quid!
Diss-Norfolk-/302088097284?hash=item4655da8e04%3Ag%3AP94AAOSwmfhX6jRk&_trkparms=pageci%253A5b3184a5-b257-11e7-b472-74dbd18097e8%257Cparentrq%253A2496ede515f0a9caf1a904e5fffa5016%257Ciid%253A23
I would like to know more about the canine artist though. Did it do backing vocals? Or what?
hubert rawlinson says
More folky brass meetings.
The list thread reminded me of these
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Victory_Band
More recently
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks, Hubert! Two excellent new finds for me. The Scorpion Band have a marvellous mixture of instruments. I had to find out more!
http://www.new-scorpion-band.com/
One more from them!
hubert rawlinson says
Saw the Scorps (as we don’t call them) a few years back, the floor was laid out as if a plumbing convention was in town and had laid out all their wares.
Contains Brian Gulland of Gryphon (with the return of the mighty Krummhorn)
Kaisfatdad says
A plumbers’ convention! Wonderful description.
The New Scorps sound far more my cup of tea than their Teutonic namesakes.
http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/nsb05.htm
Kaisfatdad says
A comment by Hubert got me wondering about the use of brass bands in circuses. It was a marraige made in heaven. When a circus got to town they would often have a noisy procession through town to announce their presence.
The music of Julius Fucik, known as the Bohemian Sousa because he wrote so many marches was a perennial fave. I think you will all know The Entrance of the Gladiators.
Here are the Grimethorpe Colliery Band playing another of his famous marches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEnvinoZesc
Here’s another circus fave, this time by Mexican Juventino Rosas.
hubert rawlinson says
Via the Happy End Big Band.
The Barely Works.
Kaisfatdad says
A real discovery. The Barely Works absolutely hit the spot for me, Hubert. Eclectic, lively and with a rather unusual line up. Marvellous.
Moose the Mooche says
My Dad got into trouble for writing a review wherein he described the blonde lass as “foxy”.
The blonde lass didn’t mind.
Kaisfatdad says
Foxy is certainly a compliment in my book. Just ask Jimi Hendrix.
Fascinated to read that your dad wrote (writes?) concert reviews @Moose _the_ Mooche. So you are following in a proud family tradition.
Moose the Mooche says
What, being sexist?
Kaisfatdad says
Wir haben sa länge kommit….
But we have not even mentioned that there is a German festival, Woodstock der Blasmusik, which is exclusively dedicated to brass music. And popular too.
In Sweden we have community singing, WDB have community brassing. For this song half the audience are tootling away on a tuba, trumpet or other brass instrument.
A small selection of artists who have played there.
Innovative young band, Federspiel, with a gorgeous tune Avsked.
The very talented and witty Mnozil Brass with a James Bond medley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGwSmowLGTI
What more can one ask for than a large German beer and a 12 man Tyrolean orchestra blasting their way through Take on me.
fentonsteve says
That ‘Take On Me’ is ace, KFD. I’m going to send that to the kids’ head of music – there’s a Christmas Concert coming up.
Kaisfatdad says
Very chuffed you like it too, Steve. It’s a fine tune that lends itself to a rousing brass treatment.
Here’s the studio version.
Musikatzen ( a completely new discovery) give it their all in their version of Killing in the name.
Rage against the tuba?
I never thought I’d hear that performed by a bloke in lederhosen. Rock feel and blaskapelle musicality go rather well together.
Last week I insinuated that Crowded House were an Aussie band and now I’ve got my facts wrong again. Woodstock der Blasmusik is an Austrian festival.
http://www.woodstockderblasmusik.at
I will be blackballed by brass players throughout Bavaria.
Living in Sweden, I often hear about Yanks with Swedish roots celebrating Midsummer and Lucia and keeping the traditions of the old country alive. So I was not completely surprised to discover that there is a thriving Schwabian- Danubian brass band in Cleveland, Ohio, maintaining the culture of German immigrants.
Like the British brass bands mentioned earlier, they are, of course. all amateurs
Kaisfatdad says
Stumbled across this ingenious gig yesterday. The Brass Band Loire Forez performing live to a screening of Brassed Off. They certainly have more oomph than a silent film pianist.
Les Virtuoses is the French name for Brassed Off.
The band is a mixture of amateurs and professionals.
https://www.bblf.fr/l-orchestre