The Oxford Waits with The Mellstock Band / Hey For Christmas

The Oxford Waits / Hey For Christmas
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The Oxford Waits with The Mellstock Band
Hey for Christmas: Seasonal songs and carols from the Bodleian Library's Broadside Ballad collections
(Beautiful Jo Records, UK)
$17.99

The band says:
Here is a Christmas album with a difference - Hey for Christmas (BEJOCD-31) contains a lively selection of songs and carols from the 30,000 broadside ballads contained in Oxford University's Bodleian Library. Rare 17th-century ballads mingle here with folk carols, Christmas hymns and seasonal ditties from the early Victorian musichall. Music from the earlier period is played by a brand new band - The Oxford Waits - on instruments that include shawm, sackbut and bass viol. The Mellstock Band meanwhile feature concertina, oboe, serpent and clarinet. Besides over 54 minutes of playing time Hey for Christmas also contains enhanced-CD material for PCs, and a direct link to the Bodleian Ballads website.

Listen
Christmas Goose
Remember the Poor

'Enjoyable... revelatory... Shorn of their later disguises and "treatments" , many well-known Christmas favourites shine authentically.' Gramophone 'There's more than just boisterous entertainment in Hey for Christmas, a wonderful new CD of songs and carols from the vast collection of broadside ballads in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Though the compilation contains energetic comic ditties from popular Victorian sources and marvellous tunes from street bands, there are also more moving and thoughtful moments. Earlier pieces recreate the music of Pepys's time. Musical pleasure and historical insight are found in equal proportion, as the CD recalls Frost Fairs on the frozen Thames, the politics of city streets and the authentic sounds of Hardy's Wessex'. - Tom Deveson, Times Educational Supplement
'A lucky dip, full of warmth and charm, where the slightly familiar nestles snuggly alongside the unusual' - Traditional Music Maker
'A fabulous collection' - Dave Arthur, editor, English Dance and Song

Tracks:

1. The Christmas Goose (2.55)

2. Remember the Poor (5.02)

3. Hey for Christmas (2.21)

4. The Mistletoe Bough (4.40)

5. Herald Angels (2.45)

6. Christmas Hymn (3.07)

7. The Christmas Holidays, or Stuff Your Guts (2.37)

8. Joseph was an Old Man (4.18)

9. Arise and Hail (2.19)

10. The Moon Shines Bright (1.55)

11. The Beggars' Delight (2.19)

12. Christmas with Old Friends at Home (4.16)

13. News from the River of Thames (4.05)

14. Blanket Fair (3.44)

15. Christmas in 1859 (2.50)

16. The Wish (2.51)

17. The Holly and Ivy (2.27)

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