The Dark Streets Of Love is Mahones leader Finny McConnell’s first solo effort in his thirty plus years of taking Celtic-punk to the four corners of the earth. To most people, Finny is the Mahones, so why the solo project? While The Mahones have previously done an acoustic album, The Dark Streets Of Love, allows McConnell to step outside of The Mahones and the preconceived notions of what his songs should sound like and put a different (non-Mahones) touch on his music. I’ve said it before that McConnell is a very fine songwriter but often the sheer quality of the songs gets lost behind the force of nature that is The Mahones. Here, everything is stripped down to it’s raw essence. This is McConnell’s Nebraska – in fact a cover of Springsteen’s Atlantic City (from Nebraska) opens the album. Other influences are covered too, Shane MacGowans, A Pair of Brown Eyes and Pale Blue Eyes by Lou Reed. The real strength though is McConnell’s own material previously recorded with The Mahones such as the lament, So Far Away, and the sleazy lounge lizard, Cocktail Blues. The emotional tribute to his old mate, Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip in the cover of Fiddlers Green (for Gord) is stunningly good.
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Track list:
- Atlantic City
- Someone Save Me
- Stars (Oscar Wilde) – Mahones
- A Pair of Brown Eyes
- New York City – Mahones
- So Far Away- Mahones
- Pale Blue Eyes
- We’re Miles Apart
- Cocktail Blues – Mahones
- Fiddlers Green (For Gord)
- Back Home (Acoustic)
Shite'n'Onions 