NAME: The Lancashire Hotpots

ALBUM: The Lancashire Hotpots’ Christmas Cracker

YEAR: 2009 (November 30)

LABEL: Townsend Records

RATING: 2/5

FIVE WORD REVIEW: An unfunny ‘comedy’ Christmas album.



LOCATION: Lancashire



LINE UP: Bernard Thresher (Vocals, Guitar) / Dickie Ticker (Accordion, Hand Percussion) / Bob Wriggles (Bass, Acoustic Bass) / Willie Eckerslike (Drums, Melodica)


WHAT’S THE STORY?: “The Spinal Tap of folk bands” according to their comedian friend Paddy McGuinness. He’s not their only famous fan either. Other supporters of these “Masters of parody” include Steve Lamacq and those fine folks at The Guardian. To their credit the Hotpots have had two outings at Glastonbury and have quite a following online.

SOUNDS LIKE:Peter Kay threw together some mildly humorous lyrics and stuck them over some christmassy music. Thats perhaps slightly unkind. It means well but at 11 tracks long,the album should be much funnier than this. Highlights include their song about Cliff Richard.

YOU’LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: Those comedy albums your dad buys off his mate in the pub.



LINKS: Official Website // MySpace

– Brett Chapman