It has been quite the run on
Canadian folk recently. My next album is
the third one in a row.
Disc 517 is…. Gypsies & Lovers
Artist: Irish
Descendants
Year of Release: 1994
What’s up with the Cover? Attention folk artists: this is how you do a cover. Keep it simple, keep the graphic lines neat
and clean and, if possible, ensure your band has a groovy logo. When it comes to the importance of a groovy
logo folk musicians are only rivaled by metal bands.
How I Came To Know It: I already liked the band through owning their debut
album (reviewed way back at Disc 60) and so it was a natural progression
to buy their next one. Also, I had
recently taken a trip to Ottawa and while I was there I was introduced to a
cool pub called the Heart and Crown. It
had a live east coast act every night, and I got to know the Stan Rogers
classic “Barrett’s Privateers.” I didn’t yet own any Stan Rogers, so the fact
that “Gypsies & Lovers” had a cover version was also a selling feature.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Irish Descendants albums, and “Gypsies
and Lovers” is the best.
Rating: 4 stars but close to 5.
As you
can tell if you checked that link to Disc 60, the Irish Descendants will never
win a beauty contest. However, it is
their good fortune to work in a musical genre that is not obsessed with image
and marketing. Folk music fans do look for
strong musicianship, however, and on that front these guys have few equals.
“Gypsies
& Lovers” is their third album, and also their best. The musicianship is so tight it is seamless
and when I hear them all playing together in such perfect harmony it is sad to
think that a few years later they’d have a bitter falling out.
Since
this album comes on the heels of two other Canadian folk albums, comparisons
are inevitable.
I
praised the Rankin Family for Jimmy Rankin’s “Roving Gypsy Boy” but it falls short of what the Irish Descendants
deliver with the traditional number, “Raggle
Taggle Gypsy.” Admittedly Jimmy’s
song is an original composition so points for that, and he also has a happier
story to tell – the ‘roving gypsy boy’ being basically a friendly traveler that
shares freely with those he meets on the road.
By contrast, the ‘raggle taggle gypsy’ runs off with some rich guy’s
wife, which seems far less hospitable. To
be fair, the story is a happy one from the perspective of the wife.
But the
melody in “Raggle Taggle Gypsy” can’t
be denied, expertly carried by some kick-ass bouzouki playing (I think) layered
with tin whistles, bodhrans and a bunch of other traditional instruments I don’t
know enough to pick out.
I also
noted the beautiful love song on the last Gordon Lightfoot album, “Dream Street Rose” but once again the
Irish Descendants have it beat with a remake of Donovan’s “Catch the Wind” which is not only better than Lightfoot’s offering,
it is head and shoulders better than the Donovan original. “Catch
the Wind” may be principally about wooing a woman, but it is so beautifully
constructed not falling for its charms would be the bigger sin.
The
Irish Descendants also bravely tackle the Stan Rogers’ classic, “Barrett’s Privateers” and do a strong
job. Rogers version has a raw gusto that
appeals, but the Descendants put a polish on it that the original can’t
match. I heard the Descendants version
first, and so I have a soft spot for it, but I like them both in equal measure.
The
struggles of Newfoundland’s fishing industry is a common thread through all
Descendants albums, and “Gypsies & Lovers” entry into the catalogue is “Will They Lie There Evermore” a
heartbreaking tale of an aging fisherman watching not only his livelihood pass
away, but also his neighbours moving away and ultimately, his own son:
“Well I hear people say we’d be
better off to stay
Ashore and train for jobs outside
the fishery
Now wouldn’t I look like a fool to
go traipsin’ off to school
After forty years of living off
the sea
“Now my son he’s barely twenty
one and handy at the trawl
For years he helped me fish the
Labrador
Now he’s moving to Ontario before
the first snowfall
‘Dad there’s nothing left for me ‘round
here no more.
“And I wonder will I see his
children born
And I wonder will they lie there
evermore.”
When the
album isn’t causing me to well up with stuff like that, it is wowing me with
technical excellence. The bodhran and
fiddle playing on the reel medleys “Merry
Blacksmith/Swallow’s Tale/Banshee” and “My
Lagan Love/Drowsy Maggie/Dionne Reel” are both amazing. “Rattlin’
Bog” is a bit of a silly song that is more of a musical exercise than a joy
to listen to.
That
said, as someone who is still struggling with keeping even the simplest guitar rhythm
at a steady tempo, listening to these guys deftly and deliberately increase
tempo ever so slightly through about fifteen increasingly complex verses is
quite something.
Very few
of the songs are originals to the Irish Descendants, but with the exception of “Barrett’s Privateers” I don’t have
anyone else doing them, so they are original to me. If you were to only own one record by these
guys, this is the one to get.
Best tracks: Raggle Taggle Gypsy, Catch the Wind, Barrett’s
Privateers, Merry Blacksmith/Swallow’s Tale/Banshee, Will They Lie There
Evermore
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