Undrentide (2000)
Getting Medieval On Your Ass
It’s not hard to imagine ex-Miranda Sex Garden’s Katherine Black sitting around struggling to concoct a moniker for an all-female group performing elegantly eccentric, vocal-driven musical derivatives of pre-14th Century music, and wondering to herself what to call a bunch of “medieval babes” bucking industry expectations. What more need be said? The concept is so unique and distinctive that any other name just wouldn’t have fit the bill. The Bæbes are a somewhat (but not totally) obscure outfit comprised of up to 12 ladies specializing in vocal-heavy medieval fare. They’ve got over a half-dozen albums under their collective skirts, embracing the lilting, magical ambiance of another era, utilizing almost as many lyrical languages as group members, from Latin to Cornish, Russian to Gaelic. It’s a mesmerizing blend that, depending on your sensibilities, just might hit your other-worldly sweet spot. The occasional modern musical accouterments – driving percussive elements, slick production – give this ensemble their spice, keeping the music from lapsing into museum pieces, all while dragging the beauty and spirit of ancient times into the 21st Century. This particular album, their third (I think) is produced by John Cale, and is the limited edition version sporting the extra track, “Aria” – performed by the group Delerium, with lyrics by the Bæbes. Exy just posted The Bæbes’ latest 2012 release, The Huntress, HERE, if you want more. Find Undretide at Amazon, HERE.
Undrentide (4:49)
Isabella (3:32)
Quan Vey La Lauzeta (3:12)
Besse Bunting (1:57)
E Volentieri (4:28)
Cantiga (1:48)
Summerisle (The Maypole Song) (1:36)
Averil (3:53)
Secreit Nicht (1:38)
Now Welcom Somer (2:21)
Veni Coronaberis (2:54)
Omnes Gentes Plaudite (The Drinking Song) (3:05)
Lanquan Li Jorn (2:29)
At A Springe-Wel (1:23)
Dance Of The Trolls (1:14)
Maiden In The Mor Lay (2:47)
E Volentieri (Reprise) (4:48)
Palastinalied (4:34)
Aria (Delerium/Mediaeval Baebes) (3:58)
12 Comments
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thank you!
I think my daughter is going to love this, and I’m not going to mind hearing it come out of her room.
Anybody but Miley, huh?
Yikes ! What an Odd choice! I was never much for the MB’s, because youtube videos show an infatuation with the over-dramatic that is beyond Diva-dom. One can only assume that unlucky band or managerial members steer clear of the dressing areas after a concert, especially if there are tensions between dueling egos!. That being said, I sure like looking at them. Yes sure, I sure do!
Might be why I like ‘em. Never saw anything about them or any videos. Have only heard the music.
I sometimes wonder about the truism of statements like yours- I really do wonder if if sometimes I would truly like an artist more if I never saw them live or in a concert format. I think that it is possible that I would have never gone to a Yes concert if I had seen “Yessongs” (The Movie) first, just because, I am unsure how I would have reacted to seeing Steve Howe make the creepiest faces while playing, probably only 2nd to John Weathers ( See enclosed: http://youtu.be/UWfmfgHXAfE?t=1m17s) of Gentle Giant who I dearly love. Maybe Spock was right. Maybe wanting IS better than having!)
There’s the other side, too. I thought Springsteen’s first two albums were just OK. Interesting, but I couldn’t get into them no matter how hard I tried (and despite all the media hype). Then I saw him live and it was like those albums opened up in technicolor overnight.
Me too. Also the Dead — I thought Live/Dead was OK but couldn’t get into anything else till I saw them in London in 72 and then it all made sense. (El Paso in the middle of The Other One was the moment.) And conversely sometimes it takes a catchy piece of unrepresentative fluff to get me to pay attention.
Wow, that’s a blast from the past.
Re the aftershow dressing area. I saw them supporting Jools Holland at Newcastle City Hall about the time that album came out. My mate, Jim, blagged us backstage but the JH section was a bit dull. So Jim grabbed a bottle of champagne and as we were sneaking out we heard giggles coming from behind the door. Jim knocked and looked in with the champers and his best Terry Thomas leer. We got invited into the MB’s pokey dressing room, tanned the champers, guided their tour bus back to the hotel and I got tasked with taking some of the girls to the gloating nightclub on the River Tyne because they wanted to dance on the revolving dancefloor. Tbh they were all very nice, and there seemed to be a lack of tension given the circumstances.
Ye Gads! I have often wondered what became of the members of Miranda Sex Garden. I was totally infatuated with their first LP/CD (I think I mayt have played the vinyl at my lasy college radio gig in 1991-1993). I especially liked the remixes of ‘Gush Forth My Tears’, namely the one done by Youth (from Killing Joke and the orchestral Led Zeppelin project he may have done that Pink Floyd one too back in the mid-90s to the work he did with The Fireman a/k/a Paul McCartney)) that mixed the medieaval plainsong and madrigal sound with what was the current flavor of white boy trip hop. I still have the CD-EP with 3-5 mixes on it (now I have to dig and see if I can find it and my collection of CD singles of course with extra tracks that I collected while at my last record store gig in the mid-90s). That Youth mix of ‘Gush Forth My Tears’ (which was a capella on the original recording) is absolutely mesmerizing and got CONSTANT airplay in my last two years on radio. It set the bar too high for me re: Miranda Sex Garden, because I just kept looking for more of that genre-mixing and as much as I liked MSG, their second and third recordings fell short….and you say they have half a dozen recordings? Oh. boy. Thanks for getting me up to date on this!
I promise when I find that CD I’ll post it so you all can enjoy it.
BTW, I LOVED to segue that Youth remix into another CD-single only extended remix of WIR3′s ‘So and Slow It Goes’ from their mid-90s output. There was so real cool music happening on the fringes of that whole ‘alternative’ crap. Being the Program Director at a college station back then I had a lot of arguments with the ‘Studentia’ about the meaning of alternative. They seemed to think it meant only things that sounded like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana and precious few other bands. I argued that bluegrass, reggae, blues, world beat and singer/songwriters could qualify, too. Hell, even Jimi Hendrix was a radical alternative to what passed as popular music then. Eventually they impeached me. Really. IMPEACHED! I guess I had it coming, being an arrogant 40 year old SOB that dared to go back to school full time days and get involved in the radio station and student politics. That’s when I learned how conservative 18-22 year-olds can be.
An unusual and beautiful choice. Thanks, Willard!