This is a long way from
Jah Wobble's other work with
Invaders of the Heart, and the emphasis not just on English ballads, but on ballads from the northeast, is a little bit of a mystery. The reconstituted band -- with all different personnel from previous incarnations -- seems to use the ballads themselves as jumping-off points for experimentation, since the songs are generally presented in a very straightforward manner (and singer Liz Carter is best described as competent, rather than outstanding), before taking off into unknown territory, as on "The Blacksmith," which develops into a dub piece. There are plenty of interesting things happening here -- "Byker Hill," for example, offers plenty of added basslines, and the whole thing comes together in something vaguely Indian-inflected, a possible reflection of modern multicultural England. There's nothing surprising about the choice of the songs here -- all are well-known to anyone with a passing familiarity with folk music. But that's perhaps the point; it's what's done with them that makes them different.
Wobble nibbles around the margins of plenty of different types of music; this time he's brought it home, and it works wonderfully. ~ Chris Nickson