Ostracon, by Tiger Moth

Ostracon

by Tiger Moth

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Ephemera! Comes with a bonus postcard of Lawrence Heath's "Tigermothy" artwork.

Includes unlimited streaming of Ostracon via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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£7 GBP
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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Polka Volta 02:51	info
2.	Soldier's Joy 03:24	info
3.	The First Wife 03:17	info
4.	Hunt The Goat 02:43	info
5.	Flor Marchita 03:19	info
6.	The Electric Kettle 03:21	info
7.	Marshall Curwan's Polka / Pepper In The Brandy 03:01	info
8.	Sestrina 03:37	info
9.	Bonus track: The Duchess Dressed In Blue (live) 04:46	info

about

Ostracon – a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological context, ostraca refer to shards that have writing scratched into them.

Here are the Mothshards – a special edition for completists! By demand, all the tracks from the wild English roots dance band’s two 1980s LPs that couldn’t be squeezed onto their 2004 Mothballs Plus compilation, some never before on CD – ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com/album/mothballs-plus – plus a bonus live track. And they're just as good as the rest!

Influential English roots dance band Tiger Moth tore up the UK festival ceilidh scene in the 1980s. They began on a wheeze in 1983 as an all-star recording band. Musicians Rod Stradling, Jon Moore, Maggie Holland, Chris Coe, Ian A Anderson and the late John Maxwell – who had played in The Old Swan Band, The English Country Blues Band, Jumpleads, The New Victory Band, Edward II and the Albion Dance Band between them – made a 7” single of the English country dance band anthem Speed The Plough. It didn’t trouble the charts but it created great interest in an album, and the buzz from that in turn brought about an irresistible demand for the band from festivals. Their ceilidhs were wild: the band’s motto was “the last one playing the tune’s a cissy” and whereas most ceilidh bands of the day played medleys of tunes to create the length for a could-be 10 minute country dance set, Tiger Moth would pull in influences from around the world and improvise on one tune for the full thing. And they were loud!

They happily made their debut as a gigging entity 40 years ago on 4th February 1984, recorded their self-titled debut LP that August, and for the next five years roared around UK festival ceilidhs, revered or feared for their noisy, no-holds-barred, improvisational approach and influences from everywhere. Venerable English hornpipes went on a world cruise, Italian tunes got played as Tex-Mex polkas with a Zairean lilt and schottisches filled up with Greek riffs. They followed it up with their second LP Howling Moth in 1988, and then embarked on studio adventures under the name of Orchestre Super Moth before halting at the end of the decade.

From 2004 to 2006 they had a brief but spectacular revival, including playing wild ceilidhs at two WOMAD festivals, the Big Chill and the big 50th Anniversary Sidmouth Folk Festival (see a clip at youtu.be/DXDggGC9TVc ). And then life and geography – members by then spread between Gloucestershire, London, Yorkshire, Carlise and Edinburgh – brought it all to a glorious but inevitable end. Sadly, John Maxwell and Chris Coe are no longer with us.

To coincide with those last dates, the compilation CD Mothballs Plus was released including tracks from their two Rogue Records LPs, singles, 12”s, rarities and a remix, but inevitably that meant some tracks from the LPs had to be left out. After lots of requests down the years, Ostracon remedies that for completists by including the rest of the LP tracks.

credits

released January 11, 2024

Ian A Anderson – electric & acoustic slide guitars; Chris Coe – hammered dulcimer, clogs (2); Maggie Holland – bass, banjo; John Maxwell – drums (except 9); Jon Moore – electric & acoustic guitars, synthesizer sequenced on 8; Rod Stradling – melodeons.

With Martin Brinsford – drums (9); Ian Carter – piano (3, 5); Ben Mandelson – bouzouki (3), electric baritone bouzouki (9); Danny Stradling – percussion (9); Fran Wade – fiddle (9).

Tracks 2, 6 & 7 first released on the LP Tiger Moth (Rogue Records, 1984). Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5 & 8 on the LP Howling Moth (Rogue Records, 1988). Bonus track 9 recorded live, 2004.

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Ghosts From The Basement Cambridge, UK

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