Disorder on the Border
Vol. 1
BDV 2338
click on track for audio sample
New Mexican Man (Rickard/Watkins/ Hart), Seven Mabone (Nkosi/ Bopape), Love Has No Pride (Kaz/Titus), Dynamite (Watkins/Hart), Allons Rock and Roll (L. Walker), C13/Equator 1 (trad arr. band), Tired of Living in the Country (Cooke), Basile Mille Etoiles (R,W,H), Monsieur Concorde (Watkins), Louise Louise (Watkins), C'est Ca (Hart), That Ol' Mule (Watkins)
Charlie Hart, fiddle and vocals; Gary Rickard, guitar and vocals; Geraint Watkins: accordian and vocals
''This 1993 recording is a kind of chamber music version of Balham Alligators: an acoustic crazed, bon temps roulez mix of blues, zydeco, and country all percolated via sarf London. It doesn't so much swing as swagger, stagger and stroll with Watkins doing his Clifton Chenier thing, growling through 'Monsieur Concorde' and 'C'est Ca'. But this is very much a trio record with Hart deft throughout and Rickard's guitar keeping the tempos thoroughly nailed down, not to mention getting heartbreakingly lonesome on the ballad 'Love has no Pride.'' Andy Robson Jazzwise
This has all the makings of an act which will give any club or festival a rattling good time' - Folk Roots
The Babel Label is proud to release a timeless recording by an evocative but unique-sounding roots-based/world music acoustic trio. Disorder from the Border AKA Rickard, Watkins and Hart has developed a fierce creative purpose having played together as a trio for over 10 years. Besides this, they're hugely respected musicians in their own right with quality pedigrees that include Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, Ian Dury's Kilburn and the High Roads, People Band, Van Morrison, Mick Jagger, Mark Knopfler and Billy Jenkins. For this recording 'Vol. 1', a soulful, earthy freshness immediately alerts listeners to their authentically-sourced range of Cajun, Zydeco, country blues, African Kwela, R&B, Rock n Roll, cakewalk, swing, and Celtic influences. The trio head out for the fascinating frontier of these diverse but interrelated music cultures and lend to it their own heartfelt identity. Made up of mainly originals and covers that range from an affecting rendition of lost love in the ballad 'Love has no Pride', to the raw swagger 'n' boogie of legendary Cajun musician Lawrence Walker's 'Allons Rock and Roll' formerly recorded by the Balham Alligators (of which Geraint Watkins and Gary Rickard were among the members) - and South African West Nkosi's 'Seven Mabone'. This is an intriguing blend of traditional styles, instrumental colours and high-spirited emotion from musicians who have an expressive bond with their material that is second to none.
" You have in your hands a rare artefact from the late 20th Century. It clearly dates from a time when musicians still performed on their own instruments, and when the accordion, an early portable keyboard used here, could still legally be played in public. The fiddle (violin) and guitar were stringed instruments. There are numerous references to towns and locations in Tierra Latina, then known of course as the USA, and the geo-computer analysis of all these produces a mean collated grid reference of 33 5N 107 55W, or 12 imperial miles south-west of a town in old New Mexico called Truth Or Consequences. The significance of this is hard to imagine. But surely it marks the location of the Border of the title. " Taken from The Sleeve note by Fred Quimby, Strine Music Archives, Darwin, May 2086 (sic)
Purchase CD from our shop by clicking on sleeve
Click here to download high quality mp3s and listen to one minute track samples