Customer Reviews

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Of all the older BE albums, this is the one I listen to most. It has a great amount of spontenaity to it, as you would expect from a band making its first CD. There are great instrumental arrangements, and also some fine vocals from lead singers Damien and Rhoads, as well as choral effects when the whole band contributes backing vocals. "Wild Mountain Thyme" is a perennial concert classic from this band.

This has been one of my favorite albums for the last 15 years! I don't know anyone who's grown sick of it, everyone I've played it for liked it, and it remains one of my most listened to albums after all these years.

I enjoyed (and still enjoy!) listening to this album, which I bought after downloading some music available on the Free Downloads section of Amazon. I particularly like Henry Martin.
I just bought Amplificata, and look forward to receiving it shortly.
People in the SCA will probably like it, but that's not its only audience.

This is Broadside's first album. At this point, we hear the second incarnation of the band, and what an incarnation it is too! With Melissa Demian and her dulcimer stepping in to share vocals with Tom Rhoads, Tom, Jim, Helene, and Melissa were able to start exploring more complex intrumental and vocal arrangements.

I love singing, and my breath is still taken away by the beauty of Tom's vocal arrangements. Good Lord! (Simon and Garfunkel fans should listen to "The Six Questions" for alternate (and earlier?) take on a familiar song.)

Look to "False Sir John / La Rotta" (one of Melissa's favorites to this day!) to see how much mileage Broadside gets from mixing two songs, a practice that they would continue on later albums. The result is something that feels deeply rooted in folk tradition, but is also unique and fresh. This is the magic alchemy that Broadside manages again and again. Get this album for an intro to the folk scene's best kept secret that rather deserves to be shouted from mountain tops.