Review

The Real McKenzies: Oot & Aboot

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First off, how ’bout those Warpipes, and thundering drums, on that last track “Taylor Made”? It’s a perfect example of a theory of mine… (and I’m sure about a million others before me, agree!) The theory is that the drums represent the heartbeat, and the bagpipes represent the soul, and when it’s done right, it’s simply an overwhelming feeling that hits you deep in the gut. You know you’re truly alive when you feel it. If you’ve ever witnessed up close a huge crowd of marching bagpipes and drums then you should know what I’m talking about. In my personal opinion, the last track, “Taylor Made” gave me that exact same feeling.That song could have lasted 10 – 15 minutes, and i’d still be happy with it. I ask all you reading this review to get the album “Oot & Aboot”, go home and turn up the volume to 50 and start with track 13. If you don’t get that feeling I’m talking about, then go far, far, away & shoot yourself, or better yet, lay down on some railroad tracks.

Sorry about that, got a wee bit carried away…On with the album review, if I had one word to describe the new album it would be, catchy. I mean that in a good way, mind you. I’m seriously impressed with the vocal melodies scattered throughout this new album. I’m also impressed with the overall sound on “Oot & Aboot” The dual guitars are clean, Paul McKenzie’s vocals are solid, and the bagpipes are interwoven perfectly, not to mention the bass and drums hold everything down like they should. You can tell they had some professionals in the studio with them this time, unlike some previous efforts in the past. Have I mentioned catchy yet?

“Oot & Aboot” starts out with a damn fine pirate number “‘Cross The Ocean” and in my book, every good Real McKenzies album MUST have at least one pirate tune on it.

“Droppin’ Like Flys” is more or less an ode to all the punk bands of the past. Speaking about the unfortunate and untimely deaths of Joey & Dee Dee Ramone (among others.)

“Ye Banks And Braes (O’ Bonnie Doon)” is one of the two traditional tracks on the album originally written by the master Scottish poet, Robbie Burns, it good to see another one of auld Rabbie’s poem’s alive and kicking again.

“Get Lost” is one of those catchy tracks on the album i’ve been talking about. It’s also one of the songs the lads played during the Fat Wreck Chords tour earlier this year.

“Lest We Forget” is a good follow up to “Get Lost” it’s like a one-two punch of how good the vocal melodys have become. If I heard everything right, I think it’s about women!

“Heather Bells” is another traditional ditty, it’s also one of the stronger tracks on the album, is more or less an ode to the Scottish homeland, an ode to a land that we long to be! I’m sure anyone displaced or homesick can relate to this track no matter where the homeland may be! Ahh! I need a vacation!

“Dance Around The Whisky” is the most folky tune on this album. Centered around an acoustic guitar, It’s a drunken sing-a-long about Scotch whisky. Complete with the background pub atmosphere. One of my favorites. It almost reminds me of earlier folky stuff off of “Clash Of The Tartans”

“Oot & Aboot” I hate to break it to all the Canucks reading this, but, YES! You do have an accent when you say Oot & Aboot!! Can I have some Canadian bacon and maple syrup now?

“Shit Outta Luck” The melody reminds me of “King O’ Glasgow” It also reminds me of alot about my luck lately! Is it unlucky to accidentally break a mirror on Friday the 13th? What the fuck? I’m shit outta luck!

“Jennifer Que” Hell yeah! the fastest, hardest-hitting track on the entire album. For the idiots that think the Real McKenzies have gotten soft. Take a listen to this one. This is how some of the older stuff would have sounded like if it was produced a little cleaner.

“Drink The Way I Do” (The same song that’s one the ecard that I emailed everybody with!) What happens when you drink the way I do? Simply put, a hangover, that’s what will happen.

“The Night The Lights Went Out In Scotland” April 16th, 1745. The Battle Of Culloden. The Scottish Jacobites were slaughtered by the English. The Jacobite rebellion was more or less brought to it’s knees, yet it’s still not forgotten. Fuck no, never forgotten! After the battle of Culloden, The Highlanders were eventually kicked off their lands, and forced to leave the only way of life they have ever known. At this moment, I raise my glass to those displaced Highlanders.

“Taylor Made” an instumental song using the instruments of war. – Hey Paul! Can you guys record a half-hour version of this track and send it to me? Hey Matt! Brad! Whaddya think??

September 2003

Review By Brian Gillespie

Review

Mutiny: Bag of Oats / Digging for Gold

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“Folk Punk For Punk Folks”

Melbourne Australia’s, Mutiny have sailed the seven seas for over a dozen years, and the quality of the music reflects the years of hard work they’ve put into their craft. For some reason or another, Mutiny’s pirate ship has gone undetected by alot of landlubbers over the years. Hopefully that will change when they release a new album next year. (and a possible US tour?) If you’re a fan of nautical-folk-punk that leans toward sea shanties, and ballads (much like The Dolomites early stuff did) than this is your band.

2002’s album, “Bag of Oats” is six-song CD that will knock yer pegleg off. The lyrics of folk songs should tell the listener about what’s really going on in their paticular part of the world, and with songs that speak about current and historical issues, that’s exactly what Mutiny does, and with a true Aussie accent throughout the vocals to boot. Musically, the album has no weak spots either. It really is folk punk for punk folks. I tried to pick a favorite track from this album, but I couldn’t do it. Each and every song is as solid as stone. More or less what it does is make me itch for the new album!

Next up is a single titled “Digging For Gold”. Released just before the holiday season last X-mas, the single contains three songs such as: “Digging For Gold”, the previously released “Bag Of Oats”, and “Heave Up”. It’s just as solid as their earlier material. So there you have it. Mutiny is obviously a quality group from the land down under. Those of you who have heard them before know what i’m talking about, and those of you that haven’t had best get off your arses and get familiar with ’em, because if they do tour the States, we need to do our best to support them. I know I will! (and if that’s not a plea for them to come to Portland- then I don’t know what is!!!)

September 2003

Review by Brian “Capt. Redbeard” Gillespie

Review

The Street Dogs: Savin Hill

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History is full of “what if questions”. What if JFK wasn’t assinated? Would the US have got so intangled in Vietnam? What if Al Gore had won the Florida re-count? Would we be in Iraq today? What if Mike McColgan hadn’t left the Dropkick Murphys to join the Boston Fire Department? Well the first two questions I can only guess at. Yes, we would have got as deeply involved in Vietnam and it would have been as messey. And no we wouldn’t be in Iraq but we’d still be in the shitter. The one question I can answer with certainty is the DKM’s would have followed up “Do or Die” with something that would sounds pretty similiar to “Savin Hill”. In fact it’s closer to “Do or Die” then anything the Dropkicks have done in a while. This is fifteen tracks of fist pumping, chant-it-out, punk anthems that bring alive Savin Hill (also known as Stab’n’Kill,) the tough blue collar Irish-American neighborhood that Mike calls home. Possiably, the best rock’n’roll album I’ll hear this year.

September 2003

Review

Pete Berwick: Ain’t no Train Outta Nashville

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Chicago born Pete Berwick started out his career in the early eighties fronting various Chicago punk bands before moving south and absorbing the sounds of his adopted new home town of Nashville. Combining both the big city punk influence and the country sounds of Nashville, Berwick has made one of the best pieces of American rock’n’roll with attitude I’ve ever heard. Think Steve Earle, meets The Georgia Satellites meets Chuck Berry while the lyrics bring small town Midwest America alive very much in the way Springsteen brought working class Jersey to life. If your looking for a perfect piece of Americana then this is it.

2008

Review

Various: Paddy Rock Vol.3

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Hats off to Paddy Rock’s John Bowels (again) for putting together another great compilation of the finest Punk and Celtic Rock. And as with his previous comps he’s managed to surprise me with a host of fine new bands even to my ears and of course some great bands well known over in Shite’n’Onions world and a couple of tracks I actually wanted to use on Shite’n’Onions V3. Highlights’ include Catgut Mary of course, the Finns Fury powerful cover of ‘The Auld Triangle’, and then new and reinvigorated Pubcrawlers. This has inspired me to get the finger outta me own arse and start pulling together Shite’n’Onions V3 – incase John nabs the reaminder of my tracks for his V4. Copies of Paddy Rock Vol. 3 are available here http://www.cafepress.com/paddyrock.165669694. Pick it up and help keep a great radio show on the air.

2008

Review

Prydein: Loud Pipes

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When Motorhead first started out in the ‘70’s there was a comment made – a compliment actually – that if Motorhead moved in next door to you that your lawn would die – I keep thinking of that comment after listening to “Loud Pipe’s”. Though I have a feeling that if Prydein and their 2 bagpipers moved in next door to you not only would your lawn die but they would finish off your trees and maybe any domestic animals with in a block (a compliment and also a warning to cat owners actually). These guys are so loud with a massive guitar sound (think Malcolm Young riffing on classic AC/DC) and dueling bagpipes. The title of the CD “Loud Pipe’s” is misleading. I would have gone with “Loud Guitars and Really Bloody Loud Pipes”.

2008

Review

Irish Stew of Sindidun: So Many Words

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The first thing I noticed when i first cracked open the plastic, tossed the CD in my CD player and let the first strains come to my ears was 3 things: 1) that there is no electric guitar (except for one of the songs) only an acoustic. 2) The singer (Bojan Petroviæ)’s voice is different. It’s the voice of a Serbian who just learned English a week ago and to supplement the accent, he had an Irish language instructor. 3) the band play with such energy that the absence of a crashing electric guitar is not noticed. For many songs, Bojan’s voice accompanies the acoustic for the first part of the song and then the rest of the band joins in. Bojan’s somber Serbian accent renders track with needed severity in some cases and an almost humorous irony. At the risk of being horribly incorrect, I think they sound like Siobhan, acoustic but still punky. There are only a few tracks that stand out which make the price a little too much even if (like me) you gotta have’em. We start off with a nice upbeat little track called McGee’s Daughter. The whistle/fiddle/drums combined with that ever prominent voice provide a sharp, fun melody. The next track, Why, asks the eternal question in a sad tone which doesn’t make it any less of a great track. We skip ahead to Patrick Malone, a dark ambiance around a rousing song about a man and his problems with the drink. We skip again, to my favorite track on the album, Stout. The acoustic guitar and fiddle anchor a rollicking song with an awesome chorus. “Fuckin’ stout, fuckin’ stout. I’ll drink all night, and I don’t care if it’s wrong or right, stout, fuckin’ stout, I drink all night and then in the morning I’m so fuckin’ drunk!”, awesome track. The next track of note is a reworking of the classic, Black & Tans. The lyrics bring a smile to your lips as Bojan slurs tries to pronounce the complicated phrases and the jig-like energy takes some of the usual sadness which so often surrounds other covers of this track. Right behind it comes Skibereen, the song starts lament-like as Bojan’s somber Serbian accent renders the sadness of having to leave Ireland until the guitar, fiddle and banjo join in to provide a backbeat. All in all, while I love this CD, there probably aren’t that many others who would shell out the copious amounts of cash(almost $30!) required to obtain this unless they really like it. I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t already love ’em.

2008

Review: Bigmac

Review

The Porters: Anywhere But Home

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I was familiar with The Porters from their 2001 debut, ‘A Tribute to Arthur Guinness,’ which was essentially a CD of rocked up traditional standards. As such, however, it failed to leave any lasting impression on me aside from containing a couple of fairly respectable covers, (“Irish Soldier Laddie” and “Four Green Fields” being the ones that stick out the most in my, granted, overly-perforated memory.)

In any case, it was with only minimal enthusiasm that I decided to sample their latest release, ‘Anywhere But Home’ while trolling iTunes for new music. Quite a surprise, here, as this whole disc proved to be a confident, and welcome addition to my Paddy-punk rotation.

Musically, the band appears driven primarily by the guitar and accordion, but is peppered liberally with mandolin and whistle as well as an occasional fiddle. Also, still present are the gruff, gravelly vocals from the first CD, but practiced into a naturalness with a result far more listenable and sounding somewhere between those of St. Bushmill’s Choir, The Skels and Popes-era MacGowan.

Although the band hails from the Düsseldorf, Germany area, one cannot detect any betrayal of this; all lyrics are in perfect English, and without accent, (unlike a fellow German paddy-punk band’s ‘Foggy Dew’ rendition, “Vas down ze glen vun Easter morn…”) Nor is there any novelty act stuff or a German-influence hybrid effect in the music. Just straight ahead, energetic, Irish-folk-punk sounds. And, after repeated listens, a number of tracks stood out on the this CD and not a dog to be found.

True, there is no major innovation or departure from formula, or anything we haven’t heard before from others in the genre, but ‘Anywhere But Home’ is a strong release in the vein of Greenland Whalefishers and The Swaggering Growlers, and, with 14 tracks and clocking in at just under an hour, its Paddy-Punk-Per-Penny value should also earn it your average bean counter’s nod of approval.

Grade: The Porters’ ‘Anywhere But Home’ comes in on The Toler Scale™ with a grade of a solid, clockwork “B+” for above average, which translates to your average listener as “worth the purchase” and ”worthy of repeated plays.”

But don’t take my word for it, check ‘em out first on iTunes, and dowload the whole disc for $9.99!

2008

Review: Christopher Toler, THE Blathering Gommel

Review

The Broken Shillelaghs: The Broken Shillelaghs

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The Broken Shillelaghs, from Brooklawn, NJ, are a 5-piece Irish musical group featuring acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass, accordion, tin-whistle, and percussion. I believe this is their first release. Though I honestly think the bhoys here have managed to squash every Irish-American cliché onto one disk – the bands name, the cartoon leprechaun, the IRA mural on the cover, the thanking of every Irish tavern and AOH division between the Hudson and Delaware – Yet despite this (or because of maybe) the 13 or so contempary Irish standards played in an upbeat Irish meets pub-rock is bloody enjoyable. It also cool to see Flogging Molly getting respect as the band cover ‘Devils Dance Floor’ along with more standard covers of material originally by the Pogues and The Wolfe Tones ect.
As the count down to Paddys day starts, if your in the New Jersey area on the big day go see these guys, you’ll have a beer soaked great time.

2008

Review

The Lorelei: Home EP

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From the way north of Scotland come The Lorelei who originally formed in 1990 and after 2 albums and 7 years on the high and low roads of England and Scotland in a little yellow transit van the band split………………until 2005 when after a chance meeting of original founding members Jonny and Beefy the wheels got in motion and a great and much missed band were backed. The 6 track Home EP is the first offspring of the reunion. I would describe The Lorelei as fast trashy indie guitar rock meets fast trashy Celtic folk. The Waterboys on crystal meth if you will.And remember if it’s not Scottish it’s crap!

2008

Potato-eating, Whiskey-drinking, Bog-trotting, CELTIC PUNK ROCK