Brick Top Blaggers “Coaster” BlagThis Limited
Release date: March 18, 2011
Running time: 34:39,10 tracks
“Coaster” is the amazing debut album by the Southern California band Brick Top Blaggers (formerly The Blaggers). This 7 piece outfit consists of Steve Almond (vocals), Greg Mintz (guitars), Dustin Lindberg (vocals, bass), Matt Maulding (vocals, accordion, whistles, organ, bouzouki), Sonja Wyche (fiddle), Clement Barrera-Ng (Mandolin) and Colin McGrath (drums). The album has been produced by Matt and Greg and they have made a fine job. I love the sound, every instrument is played by excellent musicians and, moreover, all of them can be heard clearly.
Eight out of ten tracks have been written by the band members. Usually, a band has one or two songwriters, but Brick Top Blaggers have … FOUR. Yes, Matt Maulding and Steve Almond have written 3 tracks each one, Greg Mintz has written one track and arranged one traditional song, and Sonja Wyche has written another song. One could think that this could be a drawback (too many different directions in the album). However, I can state that this, had not happened and, together with the production, is the main strength of the album.
Matt Maulding’s songwriting is rooted in the modern Celtic traditional music. He has made it clear in the “Thanks” section of the booklet: “(thanks to) Kate Rusby, Ronnie Drew, Shane MacGowan, Andy Irvine and Andy Stewart, who help preserve and enrich the musical heritage of England, Ireland and Scotland and inspire me daily”
The beginning of “No Prodigal Son” has a sound that reminds me of The Whisky Priests. “Lady Liberty”, about Irish emigration to America, is also a “well-built” song, calm at the beginning, faster afterwards. And “Charlie Camden”, about an 19th century outlaw, is also a catchy song.
“Government Issue” lyrics are brave: a song asking why our young soldiers are sent to lands faraway. Steve comes from Brighton, East Sussex (England). So I guess that he likes the excellent song written by The Levellers “Another Man’s Cause”.
The second song written by Steve is “Goldstone Ground”. This is one of the highlights, a superb song. Steve hailing from Brighton, he had to be a Brighton and Hove Albion supporter like other East Sussex acts such as The Fish Brothers and Attila the Stockbroker. Goldstone Ground was the old BAHA stadium and it was sold in 1997. Today it’s a shopping mall. So, the song is about the nostalgia of the place. Celtic punk at its best.
Steve’s third song is “How Many Times”, which has a slightly influence by Flogging Molly.
Guitar player and producer Greg Mintz has written the other highlight from the album, “Oregon”. This song about Portland is really awesome and all the band members contribute to make it great.
Greg has not written “The Bold Harpooner” (a.k.a. “The Bonnie Ship the Diamond”), but he had really improved the song with his arrangements. This song has been recorded among others by Fiddler’s Green, but I have never been very fond of it. Now, after having listened to Brick Top Blaggers, I have really loved it.
“Walk the Plank” is the song written by the fiddler, Sonja Whyche. If you were expecting a mellow song, you are wrong. “Walk the Plank” fits perfectly with the rest of the album.
Special mention to the packaging of the album. When the packaging is unfolded, an excellent artwork composition can be watched: the colours of the Irish flag on pictures of wall of bricks, a ship and a sea monster …It’s not easy to explain you have to open it and watch it. Apart from that, an 16 page booklet, every lyrics in one page together with great background pictures, a two page picture of the band and full liner notes. Please, buy the CD instead of the digital version of the album, on the contrary you will be missing this labour of love.
Flogging Molly opened the door to new Celtic punk bands from California, firstly The Mighty Regis and now Brick Top Blaggers. I expect that little by little Brick Top Blaggers will be playing more shows outside California and their reputation will be growing all around the USA and abroad.
Tracklist:
01. No Prodigal Son 2:33
02. Government Issue 2:38
03. Finnegan's Wake/Whiskey March 4:35
04. Oregon Song 4:05
05. Goldstone Ground 2:46
06. How Many Times 3:06
07. Lady Liberty/Limerick Rake 5:27
08. The Bold Harpooner 3:19
09. Charlie Camden 2:40
10. Walk The Plank 3:26
http://www.bricktopblaggers.com
http://www.reverbnation.com/bricktopblaggers
http://www.myspace.com/blaggers
http://www.facebook.com/bricktopblaggers
To buy the CD from CDBaby, click here
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bricktopblaggers
To Buy the mp3 from Amazon, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/Coaster/dp/B004TMH19I/ref=mb_oe_o
Review by Kinksmarkham
.
Release date: March 18, 2011
Running time: 34:39,10 tracks
“Coaster” is the amazing debut album by the Southern California band Brick Top Blaggers (formerly The Blaggers). This 7 piece outfit consists of Steve Almond (vocals), Greg Mintz (guitars), Dustin Lindberg (vocals, bass), Matt Maulding (vocals, accordion, whistles, organ, bouzouki), Sonja Wyche (fiddle), Clement Barrera-Ng (Mandolin) and Colin McGrath (drums). The album has been produced by Matt and Greg and they have made a fine job. I love the sound, every instrument is played by excellent musicians and, moreover, all of them can be heard clearly.
Eight out of ten tracks have been written by the band members. Usually, a band has one or two songwriters, but Brick Top Blaggers have … FOUR. Yes, Matt Maulding and Steve Almond have written 3 tracks each one, Greg Mintz has written one track and arranged one traditional song, and Sonja Wyche has written another song. One could think that this could be a drawback (too many different directions in the album). However, I can state that this, had not happened and, together with the production, is the main strength of the album.
Matt Maulding’s songwriting is rooted in the modern Celtic traditional music. He has made it clear in the “Thanks” section of the booklet: “(thanks to) Kate Rusby, Ronnie Drew, Shane MacGowan, Andy Irvine and Andy Stewart, who help preserve and enrich the musical heritage of England, Ireland and Scotland and inspire me daily”
The beginning of “No Prodigal Son” has a sound that reminds me of The Whisky Priests. “Lady Liberty”, about Irish emigration to America, is also a “well-built” song, calm at the beginning, faster afterwards. And “Charlie Camden”, about an 19th century outlaw, is also a catchy song.
“Government Issue” lyrics are brave: a song asking why our young soldiers are sent to lands faraway. Steve comes from Brighton, East Sussex (England). So I guess that he likes the excellent song written by The Levellers “Another Man’s Cause”.
The second song written by Steve is “Goldstone Ground”. This is one of the highlights, a superb song. Steve hailing from Brighton, he had to be a Brighton and Hove Albion supporter like other East Sussex acts such as The Fish Brothers and Attila the Stockbroker. Goldstone Ground was the old BAHA stadium and it was sold in 1997. Today it’s a shopping mall. So, the song is about the nostalgia of the place. Celtic punk at its best.
Steve’s third song is “How Many Times”, which has a slightly influence by Flogging Molly.
Guitar player and producer Greg Mintz has written the other highlight from the album, “Oregon”. This song about Portland is really awesome and all the band members contribute to make it great.
Greg has not written “The Bold Harpooner” (a.k.a. “The Bonnie Ship the Diamond”), but he had really improved the song with his arrangements. This song has been recorded among others by Fiddler’s Green, but I have never been very fond of it. Now, after having listened to Brick Top Blaggers, I have really loved it.
“Walk the Plank” is the song written by the fiddler, Sonja Whyche. If you were expecting a mellow song, you are wrong. “Walk the Plank” fits perfectly with the rest of the album.
Special mention to the packaging of the album. When the packaging is unfolded, an excellent artwork composition can be watched: the colours of the Irish flag on pictures of wall of bricks, a ship and a sea monster …It’s not easy to explain you have to open it and watch it. Apart from that, an 16 page booklet, every lyrics in one page together with great background pictures, a two page picture of the band and full liner notes. Please, buy the CD instead of the digital version of the album, on the contrary you will be missing this labour of love.
Flogging Molly opened the door to new Celtic punk bands from California, firstly The Mighty Regis and now Brick Top Blaggers. I expect that little by little Brick Top Blaggers will be playing more shows outside California and their reputation will be growing all around the USA and abroad.
Tracklist:
01. No Prodigal Son 2:33
02. Government Issue 2:38
03. Finnegan's Wake/Whiskey March 4:35
04. Oregon Song 4:05
05. Goldstone Ground 2:46
06. How Many Times 3:06
07. Lady Liberty/Limerick Rake 5:27
08. The Bold Harpooner 3:19
09. Charlie Camden 2:40
10. Walk The Plank 3:26
http://www.bricktopblaggers.com
http://www.reverbnation.com/bricktopblaggers
http://www.myspace.com/blaggers
http://www.facebook.com/bricktopblaggers
To buy the CD from CDBaby, click here
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bricktopblaggers
To Buy the mp3 from Amazon, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/Coaster/dp/B004TMH19I/ref=mb_oe_o
Review by Kinksmarkham
.
No comments:
Post a Comment