Advantages: Some really poignant songs Disadvantages: None really
ChristyMoore - Ride On. 1984.
I have long been a fan of Irish music, and a fan of protest songs, from John Lennon to The Clash, so it is fair to say that I have a fair collection of Irish protest music, some of which has a distinctly anti-British feel.
Before anyone slates me for writing a review of well known IRA sympathisers' songs, many of which are very supportive of the IRA cause, let me say this.
Like it or not, there has been a conflict between the British and Irish for hundreds of years, and the troubles of the 70's and 80's were not new. It was inevitable that songs would be written, and inevitable that whoever wrote them would have a subjective slant.
This album is not just about the IRA by the way, it also chronicles other 'struggles' such as the Spanish Civil War and the El Salvador conflicts.
Moore himself ...
Advantages: moving,different,good for pub sing alongs Disadvantages: not for people already feeling depressed
I love this album.I love it so much I used to make my Thai lodger listen to it after our weekly bonding pub sessions.She didn't get it! I first heard the title song "Ride On" 18 years in our local music playing pub and have sang this and other songs so often using my guitar and my ChristyMoore song book that the book's fallen apart!
Background
Christy was born 1945 in County Kildare (Eire) and was one of the founding members of "Planxty "-an Irish folk band who shared the stage with Donovan in County Galway in the 1970's.He eventually left to set up another band "Moving Hearts" and then went solo.He has an interest in songs which are involved in social or political commentary.I've seen him live twice at the Hexagon in Reading and it was fantastic.I had to drag my husband-ageing grumpy biker-kicking and screaming the first time but ...
Advantages: Good mix of musical moods, suberb vocals and musicianship. Disadvantages: None that I can see
the lyrics are a straight-forward piece of storytelling of are representational of something more profound.
By the same songwriter (Jimmy MacCarthy) is the sublime song Bright Blue Rose which leaves the listener wishing to hear its' complex and (at times) unfathomable lyric over and over again in order to connect with its' deeper meaning.
The Night Visit, Mystic Lipstic and Elvis Costello's The Deportees Club all have melodies which lift the mood and contrast with some of the more soulful tracks.
Missing You has become an all time favourite with many of ChristyMoore's fans and tells the story of a young man who has left his native land in order to find a living on foreign soil only to be disappointed (and somewhat ashamed) that finding material success and good fortune has not been easy for him.
It is my opinion that The Voyage ...
