Interesting albums from folk and roots music history, by Marius Roeting. God’s Little Monkeys: New Maps of Hell!
We’ll go back to the illustrious days of punk, the UK miner’s strike and the increasing dissatisfaction with Margaret Thatcher’s politics of the 1980s. Punk developed as a musical protest against the establishment, both musically and socially. At first, folk music seemed to be overlooked by all this turmoil, but as it turned out it actually revived due to the increased social engagement. Two apparent opposites- punk and folk- found each other. First of all there were the so called folk-punk formations which were nothing more than an uncomplicated way of making music, often technically inadequate and on the pretext of ‘fun is more important than quality’. However, punk, folk and openness actually do go really well together. There was, for instance, the punk-streetartist Billy Bragg, who was inspired by shining examples such as American folk singer Woody Guthrie or Joe Hill. And then there were God’s Little Monkeys, a Northern English four-person formation with committed lyrics crafted after traditional folk songs and also the first electrical amplified punk-folk band. Their energy came from punk, their vocal harmonies from folk, their subject matters from the streets…During this Disc-Cover we will look back at that first, clever masterpiece ‘New Maps of Hell’. Buckle up, we’re going to hit it hard…
God’s little monkeys
Playlist
God’s little monkeys – New maps of hell – Cooking Vinyl COOKCD 022
- Pay That Money Down 3.06
- Hangman Botha 2.49
- Underneath the Arches 1.56
- Sound Out the Symbols 2.30
- Minister for Motivation 3.28
- New Year’s Honours 3.19
- Sea Never Dry 2.48
- Tory Heart 3.20
- Where Were You- 3.17
- New Statesman 2.49
- Gas Town 3.04
- Whistle, Daughter, Whistle 5.03
God’s little monkeys – Lip – Cooking Vinyl COOKCD 043
- Hollywood or the Humber 3.26
- You Win Some But Lose More 3.25
- True Colour 4.18
- Reynard 3.02
- Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today) (Whitfield, Strong) 4.00
All tracks: composed, arranged by God’s Little Monkeys, except for track 17: Whitfield, Strong
Produced by:
