page_title: Beat about the Bush
section_title: Music
hierarchical_section_title: Beat about the Bush / Music
caption_attribution_description: Bolivian charango (lacks scale to indicate dimensions) overall length = 63 cm
context_page_description: Beat About the Bush is the fourth studio album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. Originally released by Twah! Records in 1994, it was their debut studio album to be released on CD, following the discontinued cassette albums that are Show of Hands from 1987, Tall Ships from 1990 and Out of the Count from 1991. It was their only studio album on Twah! Records, and was subsequently re-released in 1999 on the duo's own label, Hands on Music.
  Following Mike Trim's successful recording engineer work on Show of Hands Live, the joint vision on Beat About the Bush was to produce an elusive "radio friendly" folk/roots album that retained the band's live sound whilst adding a rhythm section. However, despite positive critical reception, radio reaction was minimal, and the duo subsequently moved towards a stripped down folk sound, and would not return to bass and percussion until 2006's Witness.
  The track "The Galway Farmer" would later be a staple on every live performance by the duo. It is one of the band's better known tracks, and would end up being on various other albums in different recordings The song "Day Has Come" would be completely re-arranged for future live performance.
context_section_description: Mike Trim's successful recording engineer work on Show of Hands Live lead to his and the duo's joint vision on Beat About the Bush to produce an elusive "radio friendly" folk/roots album that retained the band's live sound whilst adding a rhythm section. The duo had not experimented with a rhythm section before. Knightley sings and plays acoustic guitar, whilst Beer plays fiddle, mandolin, viola, slide guitar and melodeon on the album and has been credited for being responsible "for a lot of the unseen hard work involved in the development of the material's arrangements." The album also features various guest musicians; Knightley later commented that "lots of friends were drafted for the sessions". The album was recorded in January 1994 at Wytherston Studios, West Dorset.
  Nine of the songs are compositions by Knightley, these songs are commentaries on life and lifestyles, some with "the undercurrent of secondary story lines or oblique points, drawn out by a subtle shift of view." Living Tradition noted "Cars" pulls listeners "into this song, berating traffic congestion and the sheer number of vehicles, and are then faced with the questions, "Does anybody walk here? Or anywhere?"." The same publication noted "Class of Seventy Three", "Shadows in the Dark", "Day Has Come" and "The Hook of Love" with their "strong lyrics and melody lines, work well with their given arrangements, variations on folk leaning towards low key, soft rock", comparing the songs to Dolores Keane, Mary Black and Bonnie Raitt. "The Galway Farmer", one of the duo's better known songs, is about an Irishman betting on a horse at a race at Cheltenham Racecourse and winning, despite being ridiculed beforehand. Knightley, who was a part-time teacher, noticed the job's unusual impact on the song, commenting "I taught part time for about four years but I think the impact on the songs was a bit of rigour when it came to facts and figures. I like to know my history and geography. Even when I wrote ["The Galway Farmer"]. I like to know the odds and I like to know the number of jumps." The song has been played live many times by the band. Many of the songs have been re-arranged for live performances, including most notably "Day Has Come", whose musical structure was re-arranged for their 1996 performance at the Royal Albert Hall and further performances of the song. The album also includes four traditional performances.
caption: Guest musician Vladimir Vega plays two Andean instruments on the album, including the charango (pictured)
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