Review Summary: Irish folk for those who feel too young to listen to The Dubliners.
The late 1990s was a great moment for Irish folk music. It saw in fact the rise of many bands willing to create a sort of revival mixing the traditional sounds with the more rocky noises the music landscape also offered. It's the case of the Flogging Molly and The Tossers (respectively from L.A. and Chicago), formed in the middle of the decade, which developed the rhythms and sounds that had started to take shape ten years before with The Pogues, Irish and British band lead by Shane MacGowan.
Gaelic Storm is another story, though. Their songs are somehow faithful to the traditional ones, very different from the Flogging Molly's or Dropkick Murphys' distorted versions, still they succeed in sounding fresh and young compared to the ones performed, for instance, by The Dubliners, a band which certainly remains an institution for contemporary Irish folk music.
Listening to this record is just as intense as seeing the same songs performed by other not less talented artists in the pubs around Dublin.
Every guitar, every whistle, every mandolin and every fiddle sounds clear and they are all skilfully played by these awesome musicians.
It takes just the first two minutes of
The Hills of Connemara, the opening track, to get into the mood of the album.
If you're familiar with Irish music you'll be enthusiastic about so catchy and frenetic rhythms, but also about the lyrics sung in a nice Irish accent, which lately has been missing in celtic (punk) rock, being the bands usually American (and Gaelic Storm is no exception), with the members being third- or fourth-generation Irish.
Anyway, the album contains some remarkable titles which the Celtic tradition has always been proud of: it's the case of
Tell Me Ma, one of the most sung tunes in pubs, or the well-known
Rocky Road To Dublin, which has been covered by almost any band that has to do with Irish folk music.
Of course some great drinking songs are played as well, like
Johnny Jump Up, in which the protagonist regrets trying cider because of its byproducts.
The album also features completely instrumental pieces: the introspective and sublime
The Storm, the joyous
Farmer's Frolic and the thrilling
The Road to Liskeard, an excerpt of which is also contained in the Flogging Molly's song
Black Friday Rule (from
Swagger, 2000). These are just a few examples of the many instrumental tracks contained in this stunning album, which does not have a single weak point in it, not even that boring track you would normally skip to get quickly to your favourite one, for every song out of
Gaelic Storm might become your favourite track.
Unfortunately, the following Gaelic Storm's discography does not offer another album crafted with the same intensity and as faithful to the Irish folk traditions as the self-titled debut, with the band undertaking immediately from the sophomore release a catchier path, mixing folk with soft rock and pop, which might be a let down for those who were hoping for more material like this or for a punk turn, but what seems clear is that a change in style was probably needed in order not to sound too repetitive, proposing the same music one album after the other. However, what happened next has no importance when you are before such a superb album.
Recommended Tracks
The Hills of Connemara
Johnny Jump Up/Morrison's Jig
Tell Me Ma
The Leaving of Liverpool
The Road to Liskeard
4.5/5
