CD Odyssey Disc 877: The Irish Descendants

I’ve had a couple of enjoyable evenings. On Wednesday I went to a friend’s house and listened to Tool’s Lateralus on vinyl (I reviewed the CD experience at Disc 622). I don’t always love more modern records on vinyl, but “Lateralus” was amazing. I highly recommend the experience.

Last night I went for drinks with a friend and talked about a whole bunch of stuff, including music. He recently got the Cure’s “Disintegration” (Disc 465) on vinyl and I’m looking forward to giving that a listen as well.

I was not nearly as musically fortunate on my latest review, but as Bad Santa teaches us, “they can’t all be winners, kid.”

Disc 877 is….Blooming Bright Star

Artist: The Irish Descendants

Year of Release: 2001

What’s up with the Cover? It looks like an x-ray of a plant. It makes the plant feel kind of empty and vacant, which is perfect because that’s how this record sounds for the most part. Also, would it kill these guys to capitalize the title of the record?

How I Came To Know It: I was a fan of the Irish Descendants’ previous to this, and already owned four of their first five albums. This was just me buying the latest release.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Irish Descendants albums and “Blooming Bright Star” is by far the worst. It isn’t even close. Since this is my last Irish Descendants review, here is a recap:

1. Gypsies & Lovers: 4 stars (reviewed back at Disc 517)
2. Look to the Sea: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 60)
3. Livin’ On the Edge: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 307)
4. Rollin’ Home: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 508)
5. Blooming Bright Star: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 2 stars

Despite the fact that by the year 2000 most of the original Irish Descendants were no longer with the band, I was cautiously optimistic that “Blooming Bright Star” would work out all right. I was a fool to be so hopeful.

The first and most important ingredient for successful folk music is heart. You can pick the finest songs and hone your craft all you want, but without heart a folk album is dead on arrival. “Blooming Bright Star” is tired and lifeless.

The replacement musicians on the record are all talented and original Descendant Con O’Brien still has that deep vibrato baritone that is a big part of their sound. That just makes it all the more frustrating to hear the band just going through the motions. The notes are all there, but the songs just clunk along. At times it feels like O’Brien is singing scales. It is just too perfect, more like a class recital than a folk band. It is the musical equivalent of a paint-by-numbers: an accurate reproduction of the original song, but nothing to distinguish it as interesting or creatively inspired.

Which brings me to another gripe: every song on this record is either a cover or a traditional song. I love that Celtic folk music pays homage to the songs that came before, but it would have been nice to have a little original content mixed in.

Because these are all covers, I have many of them by other artists, and in every case the other version I have is superior. The Barra MacNeils version of “Caledonia” is poignant and beautiful. Shane MacGowan and the Popes knock “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” out of the park with their derisive and dismissive delivery. Loreena McKennitt’s “She Moved Through the Fair” is mysterious and romantic. All of these very different songs come out equally ‘bleh’ on “Blooming Bright Star”.

Near the end of the record, the album manages a couple of redeeming moments. “The Black and Tans” is a great early twentieth century song celebrating the Irish rebellion. The Black and Tans were a group of temporary constables (who wore black and tan) tasked with helping put down the rebellion. The song tells the tale of a man who comes home drunk and goes out on the street to challenge them to a donnybrook. It begins:

“I was born in a Dublin street where the loyal drums do beat

And the lovely British people walk all over us

And every single night, when my da would come home tight

He’d invite the neighbours out with this chorus

“Come out ye Black and Tans come out and fight me like a man

Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders

Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away

From the green and lovely lakes of Kilashandra.”

The Descendants capture the frustration and anger of these lyrics well, and the arrangement has a great combination of nervous tension and aggression that replicates the feeling that happens right before people come to blows.

The other good song on the record is “The Island” written about the more recent Irish troubles of the eighties. It juxtaposes regret over all the violence, with two people trying to keep their love alive amid the tragedy. I checked out the Paul Brady original and a popular cover by Dolores Keane, and the Descendants version is (this time) their equal. OK, maybe the Keane version is better, but it is close.

For whatever reason, the troubled history of Ireland brings out the best of the Irish Descendants on “Blooming Bright Star.” To quote a previous album title it gets them “living on the edge” which is where you need to be to make great folk music. If they had done it a bit more often, this record could have been a whole lot better.

Best tracks:  The Black and Tans, The Island