Grater Hits (2007)
13 tracks, 64 minutes
Nowhere to stream or download online, unfortunately. If you want to get a listen of this album, their Facebook page was taking orders as recently as November – drop them a message!
I've seen the Glitzy Bag Hags live a few times, but I don't think I've ever seen them on stage. When I used to attend Larmer Tree Festival regularly (from about 2009 to 2014ish I reckon), they were on the bill almost every year, but I always saw them instead just performing around the festival site, a big heap of accordions, drum sets, clarinets, double basses, frilly dresses and wellies making an almighty racket to crowds of stunned but cheerful onlookers.
The best, most succinct way I could describe the Hags is that they're a right laugh. Theirs is not a high wit – they're mad as hatters (fancy and not-so-fancy hats are an important part of their junk-shop-on-ecstasy chic) and they're sillier than a chimp's pyjamas. Their songs tackle big themes such as eBay, David Hasselhof and unstoppably peckish pooches, and they also add their own delightful spin to covers of everything from Duke Ellington's 'Caravan' to Destiny's Child's 'Independent Woman' and 'Super Sharp Shooter' by The Ganja Kru.
They're surprisingly hard to define, musically. They definitely inhabit the world of klezmer, but there's also an energy and attitude that lies somewhere along a heretofore unhypothesised skiffle-ska continuum. The way they play is sloppy, even on record: there's wrong notes here and there, some questionable solos and time-keeping that would give a conductor an aneurism. But that's not to say that any of it is bad, or even out-of-place. It all lends to the madcap and off-kilter shopping trolley ride that is the Glitzy Bag Hags' music. Its endearing. They're obviously good musicians (well, most of them) but they're so caught up with having a good time that their instruments sometimes run away from them, and that's all part of the fun.
It's a real shame that you can't hear this album on t'internet (for now) and the band's incredibly scant online presence doesn't give many clues as to whether the band even exist any more. Nevertheless, if you ever see this album tucked in a corner somewhere, or see the Glitzy Bag Hags' name lurking in some obscure part of a festival programme, I do very much urge you to take the opportunity, and make your day a little bit sillier.
No comments:
Post a Comment