A far as soccer songs goes this ain’t too bad, kind of middle of the road (middle aged) rock with a big locker room chorus. Better then anything Man. U. or Liverpool or the Huns ever released.
The story of the Lisbon Lions is much better. It’s the story of 11 scrappy Glaswegians who had reached the final of the premier soccer club championship, “The European Cup”. The first “British” club ever to do so thirty five years ago now. Facing them on the football pitch was the Italian powerhouse Inter Milan, previous winners who were expected to destroy Celtic. Inter Milan’s tactics were to score quickly and then defend the remainder of the match. True to form Milan went one up in minuets and retreated into their defensive bunkers.
Celtic played a very different style of football to the Italians. Where the focus was on ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK for the full 90 minutes. Celtic manager Jock Stein believed that the only place Celtic should defend was the inside of the opposition’s penalty box. Celtic’s high pressure cracked the Milan defense once (Tommy Gemmell) then twice (Steve Chalmers) giving them a fantastic victory for Celtic, Scotland and Football.
The b-side will musically be of much more interest to S’n’O readers. Shane MacGowan joins the Celtic Chorus with the first original MacGowan release in a long time. True to form the music is a rip-off of the melody of “Kelly the Boy from Killane”, the style is still that Country’n’Irish sound of “Crock Of Gold” and Shane sounds positively blotto. Certainly not a classic MacGowan but still nice to hear something new(ish).
I bet you’re thinking, “Celtic music from…. Belgrade, Serbia??” Well, to answer your question, that even I was asking, aye! it is Celtic, and it is from Serbia! The Orthodox Celts are a seven member folk band that plays Irish traditional music with a slight rock edge to it. The lead vocals of Aleksandar Petrovic kind of remind me of good ole’ Ronnie Drew. (just a slight accent) As soon as I heard the album, I could tell The Dubliners have made an impact on these guys. The Orthodox Celts are huge Glasgow Celtic Football fans (take a look at the photos on their website.) They have also popularized Celtic music and culture in their little neck of the woods, and they sell out concerts on a regular basis. (about 1000 to 5000 people) Some of the tracks on the album include, “The Rare Old Mountain Dew”, “Rocky Road To Dublin”, “Whiskey, You’re The Devil”, my favorites include “The Beggarman”, and “Merry Sisters” and of course, the instrumental, “Marie’s Wedding” I was surprised to say the least, but if you’re a big Dubliners fan, take a listen. I bet you’ll be surprised too.
So you started out liking the Dropkick Murphys, then discovered Flogging Molly and then the Pogues and now your inspired to check out some pure tradition Irish music. Well this might be the CD for you then.
San Francisco’s Culann’s Hounds are one of the purest and best tradition Irish groups I’ve heard in a long time. This really is the real thing. The jigs and reels sound like they originated around a fireside in West Cork and the ballads like they came from the deepest Liberties of Dublin, especially with Frank Jordan whose voice at times sounds like he’s possessed by the ghost of Luke Kelly.
A couple of months ago I got a whole serious of emails from a cocky bunch of Cornish men known as Bates Motel, telling me they were the greatest thing to hit Celtic rock since the beginning of creation and I should do a feature on them and listen to some mp3’s on their web page. Now I’m not too good at listening to mp3’s cos’ mostly I listen to music on the train to and from work and It’s often hard to bring the desk top along on the train so they went unheard for a while.
Finally this 3 track demo/promo arrives through the mail and man does this ROCK! Powerful Celtic rock from the new masters of Celtic Grunge (to quote Steve Davies), heavy on the fiddle with an energy that could raise a dead man and get him jigging. To steal a quote from Rock’n’Reel magazine, “a glorious hybrid of the Clash, the Levellers and vintage Thin Lizzy” and there is not much I can add to that except that the Levellers sound like the strongest influence and I also hear some NMA.
Boston’s hometown boys the Bosstones (F**k Aerosmith, who are really from New Hampshire- Jeeze I wish those guys would do us all favor and retire, they haven’t even managed to co-write a decent song since “Pump”) are back after a couple of years that would have split up mere mortal bands. The MMB’s were dumped by their label after much corporate shenanigans and the disappointing sales of 2000’s “Pay Attention” along with the departure of longtime guitarist and Dickey’s songwriting partner Nate Albert. Both have been suitably replaced, Mercury/Def Jam/Island with happening major-indie Sideonedummy (home of Flogging Molly) and Nate with Lawrence Katz, who certainly has picked up the Bosstone writing knack.
This is a much stronger CD then “Pay Attention” and much dirtier, gruffer and a lot less radio friendly then 1997’s “Let’s Face It”, but still with that original mix of Ska, Reggae, Punk and Hardcore and proud Boston roots that makes the MMB’s so special. Something certain to please longtime fans and win some new ones. It certainly pleased this fan.
The Pogues! There I went and said it. I knew it would be hard to review the new CD from Defenestrated without mentioning the Pogues (again!) From the first note of opener “Do As You Will…” to the closing note of the charmingly titled “Bird Shit Stained Rocks”, Defenestrated proudly nail the colors of the Pogues (again!) toothless Jolly Roger hard to the mast.
The music is a glorious, raw, drunken, riotous and chaotic tribute to the glory days of the Pogues (4 time’s) arguably greatest period, “Red Roses For Me”. So if you’re like me and wish Steve Lillywhite hadn’t cleaned up the rough edges and put the music through the studio version of the washing machine then this CD is for you. Pure raw poguetry in motion.
One complaint is that a couple of the songs just don’t work and if they were left off we’d have a great CD.
“Monk’s Not Dead” is the follow up EP to Belfast Oi-sters very excellent first CD “Reclaim the Streets” which set a new standard for Irish punk and arguably came very close to the sheer brilliance of SLF’s “Inflammable Material”.
Unfortunately of the 5 originals on “Monks’..” only one “PTA” comes close to the standards set by “Alcoholic Heros” or “Judge, Jury and Executioner”. Sure the music is still as hard as a crack over the head from a RUC baton but with the quality of songs lacking I doubt I’ll be wearing out this EP like I did with the first release.
The covers are GG Allen’s, “KTP”, which I suppose you can still get away with if you’re from Belfast. A version of those SMF’s Twisted Sisters “(Oi) We’re Not going To Take It”, that will crack Dee Sniders makeup foundation. “Runnin Riot” by Cock Sparrer is excellent but “Babylon’s Burning” originally by the Ruts doesn’t work and not being familiar with the song I can’t tell you if it’s a shitty version or just a shitty song.
Hopefully this EP is just a filler and the band are keeping the good stuff under raps tills the next full length.
Hey I know I just reviewed the GC5’s singles collection in the last edition, but the GC5 seem to be able to get a release out a hell of a lot quicker then I can get an update out (God bless’em)
“Never Bet…” is the second proper CD from the 5 the other released being a CDEP and the previously mentioned singles collection. While the first CD “Kisses…” showed the bands potential in songs like “City Lights” and “White Flag”. They have now captured that potential after a year and a half solid touring, playing 250 plus shows, honing their song writing skills and getting some help from the Dropkicks; Ryan Foltz in the production department. The GC5 have taken their SLF, Utters, Clash and Billy Bragg inspired punk, stepped up to the plate and are ready to swing for the best punk band in America. And with this CD I think they will hit a home run.
The back cover of this CD says it all. The industrial background, one man dressed in black, the tattoos, the quaff and side burns. The guitar ready to go. Brian Blood plays dark, brooding acoustic rock with strong roots in 50’s Rock and American Country with a touch of Irish. Perfect for someone who wished Johnny Cash was a little more rock’n’roll or Mike Ness was a little more country.
I’ve never actually been to the Warped tour but I think it’s a great idea and a great way for bands that MTV or commercial or “alternative” radio won’t touch to gain exposure to a huge audience. Sure I hear you complain that it’s headlined by MTV punks like Blink 182 and Sum 41 are playing this year so it’s really a commercial sell out. But I say to you where else can you arrive a Sum 41 fan in the morning and leave that night a Flogging Molly fan (though rarely the reverse happens).
This comp. is a 50 (yes 50) track double CD of all the bands playing this year. Something for everybody and a good opportunity to hear those bands whose name you’ve only previously heard before and for a low price it’s a steal.
Shite'n'Onions 