Boys of The Lough, "Live At Passim"

Boys of The Lough
"Live At Passim"
Philo (1975)
1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die

It's hasn't been too long since we looked at a Celtic revival band, so you'll forgive me if most of my observations about "Live at Passim" by the Boys of The Lough are made comparing them to The Bothy Band, featured several posts ago.

Obvious difference between the two acts: vocals, and the frequency of them. The Bothy Band features a variety of vocal approaches over a variety of song-types, whether its group vocals during jigs and reels, or a lone voice recounting a woeful tale. The Boys of The Lough seem to consider singing and music playing as two separate concepts, not meant to be mixed. Only one track features any vocals and instruments at the same time ("The Hound and Hare"), and even that's for a brief period only. During the rest of the sung tracks, one voice (Robin Morton) performs solo on topics both comical ("General Guinness" about beer during wartime, or "The Darling Baby" about a father's struggles putting an infant to bed) and depressing ("The Flower of Magherally" or "The Shores of Lough Bran").

This comparison point alone makes The Bothy Band a better starting point for newcomers to Gaelic music, in my opinion, but credit should be given to the Boys of The Lough for taking the more historically accurate route. Most of the instrumental reels and jigs played by the group are clumped into medleys with similar songs, a characteristic of musical performances in Scotland and Ireland. Again, this observation is based on limited research, so I won't claim it as fact.

The Boys certainly have fewer members helping to fill the many spots open for instruments in traditional Celtic music than the Bothy Band did. It seems that Morton, who handled vocals alone, serves as the wildcard, filling instruments as the band finds necessary. His primary instrument is the concertina (the simpler ancestor of the accordion), but he adds the traditional percussion of the bodhran as well. Bless Morton's heart for singing and bringing some comic relief to the act, but as with the Bothy Band, The Boys are at their bests when keeping the instrumentals lively. Aly Bain is the only fiddle and that works out fine. Keep an ear out for Dave Richardson's mandolin…it can be easy to miss when he's not taking a solo.

If you've only time to listen to one Celtic album from my last ten posts, make it "Old Hag You Have Killed Me" by The Bothy Band. I don't know any bylaws of traditional gaelic forms that make one band better than the other, but Bothy carries a bit more flair, and fewer song titles to memorize.

INTERESTING FACT: If you're like me, what's Irish and what's Scottish is tough to tell on "Live at Passim" (I'm Polish). Still a little peculiar that Morton, an Irishman, would later found Temple Records to record primarily Scottish music.

The Bothy Band, "Old Hag, You Have Killed Me"

The Bothy Band
"Old Hag You Have Killed Me"
Green Linnet (1976)
1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die

Don't get Tom Moon wrong: The Bothy Band is not the modernization of Celtic music in terms of adding synthesizers or anything like that. In fact, there's little for the average Joe to hear here and understand the modernity of it. So I think it's best to understand that the Bothy Band band plays great, tight Celtic music that happens to make music in the modern era, and happens to play centuries-old music.

All the traditional instruments are here, but there are a few "modern" instruments that make a difference as well. I'll break down the instruments chronologically using the song "Michael Gorman's," my pick for the best track on "Old Hag You Have Killed Me." The opening introduces with a non-Irish instrument right away: the bouzaki, a Greek instrument resembling a lute, and it begins alongside the flute, a more traditional Irish instrument. Next comes the uilleann pipes, a variant of the bagpipes, and the bodhrán, a hand drum that supplies a bass rhythm. The fiddles come in later than usual, as they tend to be the lead instrument in Celtic music (and they tend to open most of the tracks on "Old Hag"). The last modern instrument to join is an acoustic guitar, filling a similar role to the bodhrán in it's simple strumming.

It doesn't sound so swell when I describe it as I just did, but consider that as these instruments pile up, the party gets more and more raucous. Nearly every instrumental on the album builds into this thrilling crescendo. For modern listeners, I'd compare it to the music of Flogging Molly, minus the male vocals and drum kit of course. Dónal Lunny, the bouzaki player and bandleader, tears off on some incredibly quick solos (so fast I swore it must be a dulcimer). The tracks you'll hear at Gaelic festivals, such as "Music In The Glen" and the title track, feature dueling fiddles. Irish fiddle is marked by slurring, or playing several different notes in one bow movement (and not an offensive reference to Irish culture).

Few of the tracks actually feature vocals. Those that do tend to be downers, in the best way. In case you weren't aware, the fiddle and violin are the same instrument played in a different method. The players here switch to violin mode to lure mournful notes from their instruments, adding them to the high, minor key of the low whistle. Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill may only get three tracks to sing, but she makes the most of them. Check out "The Maid of Coolmore" if you want to relax from dancing jigs.

If you want to check out one track that sounds modern, check out "Fionnghuala." It may be the most traditional track (it's in Gaelic), but it could work in a club setting. The layered vocals, sans instruments, certainly have an interesting rhythm to them. Really, check it out. Okay, I tried Tom Moon. You're on your own.

INTERESTING FACT: Green Linnet, who put out "Old Hag You Have Killed Me," is an American record label that specialized in Celtic music. The name is derived from the Irish nickname for Napolean, who Irish rebels hoped would free them from the British monarchy. A real linnet is red.