Black 47
Trouble In The Land
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Black 47
Trouble In The Land
Shanachie, 2000
RiYL: The Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison |
Uileann pipes, that is.
The New York-based band has perfected this technique on three studio albums since 1993, and it has met with some success. The group's first record Fire Of Freedom scored a minor cult hit with the undeniably catchy "Funky Ceili," a comical tune about glorifying Kirwan's less than graceful exit from Ireland -- after getting a girl pregnant, her father gave him two options: "castration, or a one way ticket to New York." In 1994, Black 47 delivered the much darker Home Of The Brave, which appeared to capture Kirwan's realization that things are never the same when you leave home ("you can always go home / you just can't stay," sang a remorseful Kirwan in the disparate "American Wake").
The band took a much lighter approach in 1996 when it released Green Suede Shoes, an album that more or less reverted to the sounds and feel of their 1993 debut. Green Suede Shoes didn't really pave any new ground for the band, but it certainly solidified their standing as one of the strongest Irish rock bands around, picking up where the Pogues left off.
Now it's almost four years later and Black 47 has come full circle with its new album Trouble In The Land. A remarkably consistent album, it certainly has the darker feel of Home Of The Brave, but contains enough light moments that make the group one of the most fun bands around. The band, including Kirwan on vocals and guitar, Chris Byrne on pipes and whistle, Geoffrey Blythe on saxophone, Fred Parcells on trombone, Thomas Hamlin on stix, and Andrew Goodsight on bass, is as tight as ever, which should hardly be a surprise as the core of the band has been together for nearly 10 years.
Musically Trouble follows the same path as the band's previous three albums. Each song is carefully structured around the brass section, with Byrne's pipes providing the hooks to build from. It's a pattern that has made the band one of the hottest live acts along the East Coast Old Line states -- New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia -- and certainly does not fail the band here.
Lyrically, Kirwan takes few chances on the album. Each previous album contains one or two songs exalting an Irish revolutionary or an unsung American hero (Irish patriot James Connelly, Communist sympathizer Paul Robeson, and others) and Trouble is no exception, with Kirwan evoking -- though with only moderate success -- the trials and tribulations of Robert Kennedy. "Bobby Kennedy" highlights Kirwan's strengths and weaknesses as a songwriter. The man can write a catchy tune with a strong chorus, but sometimes his lyrics fall completely flat. Throughout the song he has strokes of genius -- centering the song around a Temptations-style beat -- coupled with some lines don't seem to fit except for the fact that they rhyme.
"Ran against Hubert and Gene McCarthy / Got to give the people a voice / though its breaking up the party," Kirwan writes.
Not bad.
"Then someone whacked Martin in a state of paranoia / Bobby won the primary in the state of California."
Pretty bad.
That said, while Kirwan may have trouble eulogizing a complicated person's life into one song, he has no trouble doing it for the immigrant experience. His strongest effort on the album is "Fallin' Off The Edge Of America," which is one of the best songs he's ever written. The song captures the essence of leaving home and leaving one's lover with such passion that you wonder if Kirwan goes through the same thing he evokes in this tune every day.
Take note:
Got my back to the Pacific / I'm a million miles from home / On a tightrope called America / With no place else to go and Now you've put me so far behind you / Do you really call this a life / Nothin' to do but to go on / Turn you collar up to the rain / Here I go fallin' off the edge of America again.
Overall, Trouble In The Land isn't really a step forward for Black 47 as much as it is a step in the right direction. Kirwan knows what he can and can't do, and, lucky for Black 47 fans, he really doesn't push his limits. The album certainly won't break the band in the mainstream, but it will more than satisfy the group's devoted followers.
And after all, isn't that about all you can ask a band to do?
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.