BATTLEFIELD DANCE FLOOR

Description

With its striking cover of a severed puppet, 'Battlefield Dance Floor' is the 18th studio album from the Proper Records label and one of the most popular acts on the traditional folk circuit, the band 'Show of Hands'. Indeed, "Show of Hands" in a nutshell is: over two decades on the road, 25 albums, 2 honorary doctorates, 3 BBC Folk Awards, 4 sell-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall. Tours in 14 countries from America to Australia. This 13-track album, their first in over three years, features eight highly anticipated new songs (and one co-write) from the pen of Steve Knightley, widely recognized as one of the country's most inspired and original songwriters. Phil Beer is the "master decorator" of the songs - a brilliant and accomplished multi-instrumentalist, while long-term third member Miranda Sykes is back with her eloquent double bass and vocals after her sabbatical - and Cormac Byrne and his percussion skills (as evidenced by his autumn 2018 UK tour) bring a new dimension to the party. Matt Clifford, a Rolling Stones collaborator, adds his keyboard skills to some tracks and an impromptu collective called 'The Bridge Hill Shanty Men' is the icing on the cake, with rousing backing vocals. Perhaps their most commercial release to date, 'Battlefield Dance Floor' is an exuberant, lush and bloody album co-produced by the highly sought-after Mark Tucker and Knightley. It's a broad-ranging album that blends songs of despair and displacement, emphatic songs, sprightly songs, poignant songs and carefully chosen covers into a very attractive classic 'Show of Hands' package. It's an album that successfully combines vintage 'Show of Hands' and unreleased material, breathing old and new influences and this time - as a four-piece band - with even more depth and panache. Steve said: "With the added heartbeats and harmonies from Cormac and Miranda, we are finally creating a sound we have dreamed of producing for twenty-five years!" Available on CD and double vinyl. The vinyls feature 4 bonus tracks: "Jenny's Waltz"/ "Gwennap"/ "Breakfast For Altan" on disc 1 and "Along The Lanes And O'er The Lea", on disc 2.