Swing Boys Swing
Recorded during the spring and summer of 2015 in Challock and Whitstable in Kent. This CD consists of 12 tracks, of which five were written and composed by Nigel, five others with words from Andrew Ling, one song from a poem painted on a piece of plywood found in a Faversham boatyard and one traditional number.
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The subject of the songs range from The Swing Riots that started in Kent in 1830, the names of Spritsail barges sailing out of Malden in Essex, a flint tower in woods near Whitstable, to the ever-ending story of Vic Plums. The rest conjure up feelings, hopes and dreams.
"You can almost hear the roots burying themselves in the English soil as the songs waft by on the summer air.
And that, indeed, is the quality of many of these songs: a kind of breeziness, a summeriness, a lightness of touch that can nevertheless lead you to some very deep places."
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- Chris Stone
You can read Chris Stone's full review of Swing Boys Swing here.
The following musicians and friends have contributed to the recording of these songs:
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Darren Reynolds, Neil Sloman, Robert Jarvis, Matin Kember-Smith, Diane Comley, Alan Clayton, Will Glanfield, Joe Hand and Daniel Mackenzie.
Nigel and the Dreamlanders at the Whitstable Labour Club / Photo courtesy of Nick Cordes
I Will Never Forget / Coach & Horses / Whitstable, 2016
Tracks:
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1. I Can't Explain (3:10) (Hobbins/Ling)
2. Head Over Heels (4:51) (Hobbins)
3. Swing Boys Swing (6:52) (Hobbins)
4. Back Down To Ground (3:22) (Hobbins/Ling)
5. The Dargate Stomp (3:39) (Hobbins/Ling)
6. Hares on the Old Plantation (3:14) (Trad)
7. The Spritsail Barges (4:06) (Hobbins/Anon)
8. I Will Never Forget (3:38) (Hobbins/Ling)
9. Vic Plums (5:23) (Hobbins)
10. So We Owe (2:51) (Hobbins/Ling)
11. Far Far Away (3:41) (Hobbins)
12. Beautiful Day (5:57) (Hobbins)
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