Album Notes

Black Sheep are:

Titch - Fiddle
Bilbo - Melodeon & Concertina
Johno - Bass
Plim - Drums

Establish in 1983 in the UK,we play for dances and at festivals and events in the South, occasionally travelling to Europe for fun gigs.

This offer includes both our studio and live album, read on for extracts from both CDs sleeve notes.....

Wrecking Reels: Studio 2000

(Titch (the little one) and Bill (the big one) met way back in the early 80’s and discovered a mutually irreverent attitude towards music. A band coalesced; acoustic and uncertain – but we bluffed it out, and with the recklessness of youth we took on barn dances and survived (just!)

As experience builds, so does confidence and competence. We borrowed John the Bass from another band and forgot to return him. Steve the drummer on this CD played for several influential years before being overwhelmed by spontaneous combustion. Meanwhile gigs came and went, and we kept saying we must make a recording.

The first one, on Shellac for HMV, never got finished; nor did several other false starts. But at last we have done it! We have got recorded output! That’s exciting. But let’s face it; this CD is not intended to be a scholastic work, nor even a major musical event. We are a live dance band playing for people of all ages and persuasions to enjoy themselves; frequently to there own surprise. So our CD just celebrates and awful lot of barn dances over several years, for tens of thousands of people, who have enjoyed themselves, while we ourselves have had a good thrash. And that is as good a reason as any to celebrate.

So to achieve maximum benefit from this recording, don’t get cerebral; just turn the volume knob clockwise, and enjoy the dust, the sweat and the noise.

Warts 'n' All: Live Album 2007

Well here it is, after seven years, our second album of musical mayhem. Our line
up has seen one change; Plim, our erstwhile Bass dep. has taken up his sticks to
occupy the most comfortable seat in the house bringing with him a savagely laid
back social and musical demeanour. Meanwhile Bill continues his quest to
resurrect England’s green a pleasant land, Johno has traded his routine commute
for daily strolls across open fields and Titch has escaped corporate entrapment to
fiddle around to his hearts content.

For a live band, having to perform in a studio meant Wrecking Reels was a
traumatic experience. At gigs we make up medleys and arrangements in-between
dances; sometimes during dances, maybe that’s the reason why the music still
excites. So this time in true Black Sheep style we sidestepped rehearsals and Beer
prohibition and recorded our performance in the big marquee at Wimborne
Festival. Enjoy the result, warts and all, we did.