I am on holiday! Yeehaw!
After a long and hard year, I’m looking forward to twelve days off at a
time I am sharply feeling the need for down time.
On our last day in the office, I
brought my guitar to work and did my first ever playing with other guitar
players (that aren’t my teacher). At
first I found it a bit intimidating (they were both much better) and a little
awkward, but both guys were very gracious, and helped me not only participate,
but also show off those things I did best.
So many thanks to both Chris and Brennan, for their patience and
kindness. I had a great time, and can’t
wait to do it again.
Disc 578 is…. Rollin’ Home
Artist: The Irish
Descendants
Year of Release: 1998
What’s up with the Cover? Believe it or not,
there is a ship on the high seas in this picture, but you can’t see it past the
enormous Irish Descendants logo plastered on top. On previous reviews for this
band I’ve admired their use of the logo, but I think they overdid it a wee bit
on this occasion.
How I Came To Know It: I had been a fan of these guys since I’d discovered
them five years earlier, and this was just me buying their latest release.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Irish Descendants albums, and this one
is third or fourth best depending on my mood.
It really is a dead heat between “Rollin’ Home” and “Livin’ On the Edge”
(reviewed back at Disc 307) but going over them both I’ll give the latter
album the slight…er…edge based on the instrumental work.
Rating: 3 stars
If you need a spring in your step
on a cold winter’s day, look no further than a bit of Newfoundland folk music
like you’ll find on “Rollin’ Home.” “Rollin’ Home” gave me just such a spring,
and I think I was even caught by a stranger dancing a little jig on a street corner
where I thought I was alone. I regret
nothing.
Well, I do actually regret not
getting to review this record a bit earlier, because for all the joy it gives
me, it is also uneven in places – a noticeable challenge when the Odyssey rules
forbid skipping songs.
The album starts off strong, with “The Dublin Reel” and “Rollin’ Home” delivering up tempo songs on
upbeat topics. The fiddle and mandolin
playing is sprightly, and while the boys aren’t going to break any new ground
on how folk songs are constructed, that isn’t what folk music is for anyway.
A fun feature of an Irish
Descendants album is the humour, and previous records had songs about having
all your money stolen during a drunken tryst (“Peter Street”), and a man being pursued by the village harridan (“Uncle Dan”).
On “Rollin’ Home,” the songs
delivering the humour are “Murphy Broke
the Pledge” (about a town drunk on a rampage) and “Never Been There Before” (about the joys of casual sex) so they don’t
lack for good material. Unfortunately, the
songs are relatively weak musically compared to the earlier efforts. Given both the songs are traditional I can’t entirely
blame the Irish Descendants, who play them well enough, but they did choose to
include them, so that’s on them.
The best songs on “Rollin’ Home”
are the mournful love songs, a trio of tracks each named after a different
woman, “Colleen Malone,” “Nancy Miles” and “Madeline” (who, like Madonna, provided no last name. “Colleen Malone” is about a woman who
dies waiting for her man to return from his voyage, and “Nancy Miles” is a portrait of a maid once beautiful and cheerful,
but faded from age and circumstance. The saddest sounding of them all, “Madeline” is actually the most
uplifting; a simple love song from a man who has won a woman’s heart. Despite all the minor chords, this song is
actually positive, and the challenging vocal is brilliantly delivered by lead
singer Con O’Brien.
Instrumental reels are common fair
on a Celtic folk album, and “Rollin’ Home” has two. While ably played I found
neither particularly engaging, which ultimately is what puts it slightly behind
the album that preceded it (1996’s “Livin’ On the Edge”). Speaking of “Livin’ on the Edge” what is up
with these guys insistence on not spelling out the ‘g’ in the verbs? I don’t care how you say it, boys, but you
could at least spell it properly. But I
digress…
Back to the album, and a quick
note on the production, which is excellent, and maybe the best of any of their
records excepting maybe “Gypsies & Lovers” (reviewed back at Disc 517). So a shout out to producer Sandy
Morris – producers are an important part of making a good record, and Morris
does a fine job in getting a full and crisp sound out these songs.
Although “Rollin’ Home” isn’t a
perfect record, there is much to recommend it, and even though I hadn’t put it
on in a while, this listen reminded me why I used to play it so often. Thanks, CD Odyssey!
Best tracks: The Dublin
Reel, Rollin’ Home, Let Her Go Down, Colleen Malone, Nancy Miles, Madeline
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