BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST - That’s All Folkies!
WildGoose Studios WGS437CD
A celebration of a 25-year collaboration between Paul Sartin and Paul Hutchinson, collectively Belshazzar’s Feast, this collection features tracks from all studio and live albums plus three bonus medleys. In actual fact, it’s getting on for 30 years now, as the pandemic curtailed touring and thus the release date of this album was put back – and now, sadly, this release is a final throw of the dice for the talented pair who have decided to call it a day and will be on their farewell tour by the time this is published.
The combination of Paul Sartin’s wind instruments and Paul Hutchinson’s accordion works well on the many instrumental tracks, and the few vocal tracks - including the delightful Doll Thy Ale and their signature song, Home Lad, Home - are also engaging. Gathering traditional source material primarily from England, they also feature a Romanian tune, snippets of Vivaldi and Beethoven, and even a Kipling poem (De’il Take The War) set to a Hutchinson melody.
Something that doesn’t really come across in this collection is the humour that is an integral part of the two Pauls’ act – an element that seldom translates to recorded product. However, if you haven’t caught them live, I would recommend that you try and catch them on the farewell tour to get the full immersive experience that was Belshazzar’s Feast.
I have a gut feeling that we haven’t heard the last of this talented pair. I wish them well for the future.
www.belshazzarsfeast.com
Grem Devlin
This review appeared in Issue 144 of The Living Tradition magazine