1 of 2

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

command. The title is again from Irish history, but I wont go into that one as this is beginning to turn into a history lesson as it is.
Bass player Cait O`Riordan takes the vocals on the traditional song, Im a Man You Dont Meet Every Day. With minimal musical arragement to detract from her gorgeous voice, it carries the tune, of Scottish derivation by the way, beautifully.

The full band are back in on A Pair of Brown Eyes, a real pub sing along, you can smell the Guiness. The song is about drunken bar room reminiscences of the girl who has just left you, again littered with references to Irish singers and stars.
The most famous song of the album follows. Sally MacLennane is more bar room nonsense, and I defy you to keep still to this. The beat is infectious, the whistle plays the part of lead guitar, the accordian the rythymn. By contrast the slow and dark tones build like a spaghetti westarn on a Pistol for Paddy Garcia, the whistling in the background very "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". If Clint Eastwood had been Irish then the man with no name would have ridden in to town to this tune.

Dirty Old Town is a cover of Ewan MacColls tune, him being the father of Kirsty who joined the Pogues for their most famous song, Fairy Tale of New York, and the town of the title is actually Salford, where MacColl was born. The guitar and harmonica play a wistful and sorrowful tune as MacGowan launches into tales of romance in the poor and grim back streets of an industrial metropolis. Again a slow ballad but with a thumping beat and a hook line that gets you moving.
Jesse James is another traditional jig, whistle fronted about the famous western gang. Side guitar helps lend a country feel to the song. Navigator is a dedication to the Irish work gangs that sought work in England building the canals and railways. The banjo begins this slow waltz and the band back it up with subtle harmonies, the accordian running through all the available gaps in the song.

Billys Bones is about an Irish Man serving in the middle east, a fast punk-folk rant all rockabily drum shuffle and whistle lead parts playing along to the vocal harmony. More soldier songs in the form of the Gentleman Soldier, which combines a hand fully of familiar military melodies and the funniest female vocal impression from MacGowan.
The finale is Eric Bogles much covered And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, the ballad of an Australian soldier who survives the horrors of Galipoli in the first world war, and the album is worth buying just for this. Mainly banjo and voice for the first half of the song, but the words are so poiniant that you could get away with out having any music at all. The tune Waltzing Matilda is the Australians equivalant of the Irish Danny Boy and the chorus of this song is a constant reference to it. The song builds to a become an almost military march before merging into the aformentioned Waltzing Matilda for the play out of the song.

The album is not about power, many of the songs have a minimum of kick, but creates its dynamic from a magical weave of instruments and knowing who to orcestrate songs. There are some faster numbers but this is not about speed either but it does have attitude and it is full of great tunes. It is probably a bit non-traditional for the folk purists, not fast enough for the punks and not punchy enough for the rockers, but as I said in the opening, they are not easy to categorise, oh just buy the album.

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about Album reviews: Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, by The Pogues?
We want to hear your view. Write now!