Belvedere Mountain Express – latest news
Our web presence
We are on Bandcamp, Facebook and Soundcloud.
Note that we are no longer on MySpace.
CDs available
Unthinkable Skies was released on 20 June 2011. You can still buy it as a download from CD Baby, Amazon or the iTunes Music Store, or order a home-made, beautifully packaged CD-R direct from us here.
This three-track, 22-minute EP, is a spoken word/music collaboration, consisting of Juliet Wilson’s poetry being read to an accompaniment of Belvedere Mountain Express music. The first track is a piece in three parts which was commissioned for the launch of Juliet’s chapbook Unthinkable Skies in May 2010, in which the music was specially composed to three of the poems from the book. The other two tracks are instrumental pieces from the first two Belvedere Mountain Express albums, to which Juliet has added some poetry.
18 May 2011 – last live appearance
We played a fifteen-minute set at The Golden Hour at the Forest Café in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 18 May 2011. It was semi-acoustic because the venue had lost all power to the main sound system for the first half of the evening. Becky sang as loudly as she could, I (Howard) played the accordion, which is loud anyway, and the electronic backing was played through the café’s everyday sound system, which is used for background music. The audience gathered round and were very quiet!
Cauldstane Slap reviews (late 2010)
Our third album, Cauldstane Slap, was released on 15 November 2010. It is available to buy on CD from us here and as downloads from CD Baby, Amazon, iTunes etc.
It was reviewed on line by Leicester Bangs and Coke Machine Glow.
Poet and occasional collaborator Juliet Wilson wrote a clear and informative review on her blog, Crafty Green Poet.
Cauldstane Slap also received a four-star review in The Skinny, the Scottish arts/music monthly free paper. Apparently we have ‘a delicate ear for sounds and samples’ and ‘a genuinely haunting, unearthly atmosphere not quite like anything else out there’. See the full review here.
About Belvedere Mountain Express
Belvedere Mountain Express is the musical project of Howard Goodman, a composer and keyboard player originally from southern England but now based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The latest incarnation of Belvedere Mountain Express consists of Howard on electronics and accordion, and Becky Rose Fisher on vocals.
I also collaborate from time to time with Lená Sings, from Essen, Germany.
In 2009 as part of a small side-project, the Edinburgh-based poet and blogger Juliet Wilson has added some spoken-word texts to some older Belvedere Mountain Express instrumental pieces.
The earlier incarnation of Belvedere Mountain Express featured Vicki Giblin on vocals/lyrics on about a quarter of the tracks, the remainder being instrumental. We released two full-length CDs, A Vow in the Blue Belltower in August 2003, and Through Sulph’rous Night in January 2005.
I am still open to offers of collaboration, though, especially with singer/lyricists who can work with my music.
Listen to Belvedere Mountain Express
Recent releases
Visit our Soundcloud page to stream a selection of tracks from our most recent releases.
A Vow in the Blue Belltower (2003)
Here are one-minute samples from the first album A Vow in the Blue Belltower. Vicki sings on tracks 3, 6, 9 and 12.
Buying Belvedere Mountain Express music
Unthinkable Skies (2011)
Unthinkable Skies, the three-track collaboration between Belvedere Mountain Express and the poet Juliet Wilson, is available as a download from CD Baby, as well as from Amazon and the iTunes Store.
If you prefer a physical disc with packaging, you can order a home-made CD-R by clicking on the buttons below. It includes a card sleeve, with photographs by Juliet Wilson, and an insert with the five poems which feature in the three pieces.
| Unthinkable Skies – postage to UK and Europe | £4 | |
| Unthinkable Skies – postage to North and South America, Asia and Australia | £5 |
Cauldstane Slap (2010)
Cauldstane Slap is available on CD from CD Baby. This is the best option for people in North America.
If you are in the UK or anywhere in Europe, please buy the CD direct from Pigeonhouse here. Please pay by Paypal by clicking on the buttons below.
| Cauldstane Slap – UK postage | £8 | |
| Cauldstane Slap – Europe postage | £9 |
Cauldstane Slap is also available as a legal download from the usual places.
Through Sulph’rous Night (2005) and A Vow in the Blue Belltower (2003)
The first and second albums are only available on CD. Through Sulph’rous Night can be bought from CD Baby, which may be the easiest if you are in North America.
Both CDs can also be bought direct from Pigeonhouse here. Please pay by Paypal by clicking on the buttons below. Prices include shipping, anywhere in the world.
| A Vow in the Blue Belltower | £6 | |
| Through Sulph’rous Night | £6 | |
| Both CDs together | £10 |
Get in touch with Belvedere Mountain Express
Belvedere Mountain Express can be contacted by email, at bme@pigeonhouse.com
Or you can tweet to @HowardBME.
Note that the PO Box address on the packaging of the first and second CDs is now defunct.
Links
Belvedere Mountain Express web pages
We are on Bandcamp, Facebook and Soundcloud.
Reviews
- A short favourable review of Cauldstane Slap in the online fanzine Leicester Bangs
- A long and highly entertaining review in Coke Machine Glow, with a score of 78%
- 4-star review of Cauldstane Slap in Scottish arts/music monthly The Skinny
- The Wire magazine – Through Sulph’rous Night was favourably reviewed in the April 2005 edition. The review describes the LP as ‘a gently inventive collection of melodies, scattered percussion and occasional samples lifted from Eastern European films and shortwave broadcasts’ and goes on to say that ‘the inclusion of live cicadas on “Where The White Mulberry Trees Grow” and field birds on “The Town Beneath The Sea” indicates a talent for sensitive phonographic excursions.’
- Review of A Vow in the Blue Belltower in Splendid e-zine
- Issue 13 of Eld Rich Palmer e-zine, which has a review of A Vow in the Blue Belltower (link no longer available)
- Review of Through Sulph’rous Night in Splendid e-zine
Related artists
- The visual artist Katherine Sola, who did the sleeve artwork for Through Sulph’rous Night
- The Edinburgh poet, blogger and educator Juliet Wilson, with whom I have an intermittent spoken-word collaboration. Buy her booklet, Unthinkable Skies, here
- The Edinburgh musician and writer Chelsea Cargill – quite different music from Belvedere Mountain Express, but rather lovely. Buy her CD!
Radio programmes
- Tracks from the first two albums have been played on Feedback Monitor on CIUT Radio in Toronto, Canada.
- A track from Through Sulph'rous Night was included in a mix from the radio programme The Garden of Earthly Delights on CRMK 89.8 FM in the Milton Keynes (UK) area.