Posted on February 15, 2015 by Mustard Finnegan

Running a little late with the list but whatever, great music doesn’t go stale. So without further adieu.

The top five:
#1 The Mahones: The Hunger & The Fight (Part 1)

Twenty five years on and more tour miles driven then the rest of the entire Celtic-punk scene combined, The Mahones on The Hunger & The Fight still have the enthusiasm of a band in the studio for the first time (but thankfully the 25 years and many albums under their belt studio experience).

#2 Whiskey of the Damned: Monsters are Real

I’ll go out on a limb and say McCarthy has the finest voice in Celtic-punk (and that includes Dave King), maybe Van the Moan threw in a few vocal lessons to boot. Of course a good voice won’t do it alone, the band are tight as f#*k, loud and fast and the songs first class and while still fast and trashy

#3 Blood or Whiskey: Tell The Truth And Shame The Devil

Pissed and angry but still a party. Its great to have’em back.

#4 Kilkenny Knights: Brady’s Pub Tales

Honestly not a bad song over the entire almost hour of music and more then a few that could wake the dead and induce them into jig.

#5 (joint) Black 47: Last Call

#5 (joint) Black 47 Last Call

Black 47 hung up their green suede shoes in November, 2014 after 25 years of hard jigging and gigging. Two albums were released in 2014; Last Call, their final original album, full of fresh and originals ideas and, Rise Up – The Political Songs, a collection of, well, political songs as a reminder of how good this band was.

The best of the rest (in no particular order):

The Pourmen: Too Old to Die Young

Finnegan’s Hell: Drunk, Sick And Blue

Craic: Amongst the Mischief and Malarkey

Wages of Sin: Queensbury Rules

Bastard Bearded Irishmen: Rise of the Bastard

The Biblecode Sundays: Live Near Abbey Road (Park Royal)

Bodh’aktan: Against Winds and Tides

Best of ballads and folk:

Irish Whispa: Irish Whispa

The Canny Brothers Band: The Guinness Situation

Hugh Morrison: Scotland is Free

The Fenian Sons: 617

Punk rock shout out

The Hex Bombs: Everything Earned