Review in Celtic Beat LAST CALL After twenty five years Black 47 has decided to go out with a bang. This CD is an achetypical collage where Jack Kerouac meets up with William Butler Yeats and James Joyce on the mean streets of Americay.It is a celebration of the end of one era. Where all the old paths have led to dead ends. And yet the truth in history must be remembered. On that first note “Johnny Comes a’Courtin’ “ is deeply instructive. Something that many in the Irish American establishment won’t want to hear(those folks who became “white”) that perhaps the Black Baptist(oh my god a Prot) is more deeply related to them than merely having ancestors who were conscripted labor for other Celts who were on the wrong moral, economic and religious side in that war and later Civil Rights wars of the 1960s. This is told as the tale of letters to and from home. Highly unlikely,but a necessary device. Oliver Cromwell in many ways could be called the first Totalitarian dictator, his Hell or Connaught Policy a model for tyrants such as Andrew Jackson, Fidel Castro, and Francisco Franco(all Celts unfortunately-I didn’t even have to mention theAustrian or Georgian rats). This grim tale of history is sung in a nonchalant manner underscoring the horror. Centuries out of this sorrowful legacy would spring men of genius like Malcolm Gladwell. That “ole debbil miscegnation: so hated by the inbred and ignorant is the salvation of the human race. You know what they say about roses. This cut actually sets the stage for the whole CD though it is #6. And of the current debacles Larry Kirwan and Black 47 rightly ask the correct questions. In “US of A 2014” where a neo feudalism (and those who profit are those who became “white”) propped up by a state which has no idea it is dying has replaced any real free enterprise. In this song the Communists are mentioned, as if Communism or any other kind of socialism represented any alternative other than a slight semantic difference in the same old reactionary crap. The great F. A Hayek said about Hitler that he made a point of absolutely not mentioning the real alternative to his rubbish. Because in a world bereft of liberty the tyrants will get together “left” or “right” to give you no choice. “Yet to the serious mess that is this nation in 2014(one hundred years from the War to End All Wars). Larry and Black 47 want admission ala Emma Lazarus for the masses yearning to be free.” I did not note in this song inclusion of the Buddhist and Hindu Asians whose entrepreneurial skills will regenerate a nation seriously Koyaniskaatsi(that from the Hopis-the first tax rebels in America, not the Johnnie Come Latelys of 1776). And bring balance(the Hopi word means out of balance) and promise of more than an EBT card and constant undeclared wars to immigrants. Black 47 pose the right questions,whether or not they give the answers. In that they set the stage for a real revolution. “The Ballad of Brendan Behan” is about growth. Referencing in one life that wider picture in much of this album. As an adolescent tied to abstractions(indeed the legacy of Cromwell again) Brendan Behan grew . And at a terrible price.in the end(Larry mentions that other Celtic bounder of the arts: Dylan Thomas). Brendan Behan’s perceptions brought progress to the debate as to get beyond the useless killing for no legitimate reason as in “The Hostage.. Or the realization as in “The Quare Fellow” that the state has no right to pervert god’s laws-in taking a life(-half way to the realization that therefore the state has no right to tax , to deprive of a livelihood or deprive of property-but half the path to progress is better than none)..Brendan Behan as Larry Kirwan so well points by way of the whole narrative.was a true casualty in this forever war. But his legacy will live on forever. In bringing this truth of one live and the impact it made Larry Kirwan and Black 47 have produced a masterpiece. Interspersed with this are memories of days gone by. “Dublin Days” in this group is grand and stands out to me, as does “Culchie Prince.” Of personal and individual pain and joy set against this wider world Those are my favorites here in this group with the hard driving singing of “Dublin Days” Here Larry Kirwan teams up with vocalist Christine Ohlmann as he does with Oona Roche on Johnny Comes A Courtin for maximum impact. And there are the the wild uillean pipes of Joseph Mulvanerty in “Culchie Prince.” You can find out which one you like the best. The greatest end could only be had by Larry Kirwan’s rendition of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times” Working against the background of the already heard “US of A 2014.” if you listen to the CD in order.This song from another depressing period in American history is the best way for Black 47 to end.“Time Was, Time Is, Time Shall Be.” Long Live Black 47. And long live the coming real revolution. AK
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 19:47:34 +0000