Craic On

Angie McLaughlin, who has many Moville connections but lives in Dublin, has released her 3rd CD. The previous two were with the Sick and Indigent Song Club most of whose members are now in her current band Minnie and the Illywhackers. Angie is Minnie. The previous CD has sold over 5,000 last time I heard. They play in places like Whelans and the Mercantile and used to play at Ha’penny Bridge. they have also played the Electric Picnic the last few years.

Angie says that all but one of the songs are upbeat. She said I probably wouldn’t like the CD. I don’t know what she was inferring from that.

She said that the style is Swing music that could have been sung in a Speakeasy during prohibition times. It is swing music but with more modern influences too.

Songs

1. Don’t You Touch My Ukelele – A good start to the CD. A catchy music-hall type song.

2. Everything We Have In Life is Free – This is one of my favourites on the CD. It put me in mind of Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick Out of You”. If you haven’t heard that song here’s a version that Gary Shearston did in the mid-seventies I Get a Kick Out of You. It’s one of my favourite songs. Frank Sinatra did a version too.

3. That Aint Right – This one is more rocky but played in a 1920s style. An upbeat number. One could imagine Elvis singing it.

4. Nobody Do Me – This is a soulful song. There’s a whiff of the Beatles “Don’t Let Me Down” in this one especially in the lyrics. It really grows on you the more you hear it.

5. Licence to Beat the Blues – very upbeat chirpy song, easy to listen to. Musically very good. A song to put on when you are feeling a bit down – like Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by the Monty Python Team.

6. See What the Boys in the Backroom will Have – This is very influenced by Irish Trad and Folk. It’s a great little number. I could imagine Paddy the Shoe singing it with Angie in Rawdons on his Friday nights.

7. I’m Too Lazy for Anything but Making Soup – This one puts me in mind of Donovan and his classic sixties song Mellow Yellow. I’m talking about the style here (as in my other references) rather than it sounding like the song itself. I could just imagine Donovan singing it. I heard he performed at Buncrana recently. A couple of years ago Tony Bramwell asked me if I would put Donovan on at the BeatlesFest if he could get him. I said ‘yes’ but it didn’t happen. I like this song. My daughter wondered if it was about me, my having lost 35 pounds on a soup diet last year. Surely that’s the only similarity to the lyrics of the song.

8. Wait for you in Summer – Another chipper little happy song. A real old-fashioned song from bygone days – a twenties feel to it. One person said they thought it sounded Hawaiian and it does a little.

9. Make Me Yours – Fifties-sounding. Another one you could imagine Elvis singing it. A real swing song. A bit in the genre of Rock Around the Clock.

10. Amen Glory Be – This is the most striking song on the CD. If a single was released I would expect that this would be the one. It has a catchy chorus. It’s Dylanesque and would remind one of his One More Cup of Coffee in its style and genre. This is the 2nd last song. I would have had this as the last one but perhaps they wanted to finish with an upbeat songs as it is an upbeat CD.

11. You Saved Me – This one has a Gospel sound to it a real American feel to it. Perhaps a touch of country too. Another chipper song to finish with.

In summation this is a good CD – a nice upbeat CD to help cheer us up. It seems that it costs 13.95 Euros in the shops but can be obtained from Angie for a tenner.

I find myself singing the chorus to Amen Glory Be as I type this. It’s really catchy.