REVIEW - THE TARTAN HEARTS "Flag's at Half Mast" (2008)

THE TARTAN HEARTS "Flag's at Half Mast"
Release date: 2008
Running time: 35:40, 12 tracks

Sometimes I find a top-notch band and I get a special feeling. For instance, the first time I saw The Real McKenzies live during their “Loch’d & Loaded” tour. I try to experience the same feeling once again, but I have to keep on waiting. I think that I felt something similar the first time I listened to the Tartan Hearts songs.

The Tartan Hearts, raucous? Sure. Rowdy? Yeah. Rough at the edges? Of course, so what? That’s exactly what I love: an honest band that plays music with passion. If the world is gonna end tomorrow, I would like to see The Tartan Hearts on stage before that happens.

The band hailing from Calgary (Canada) released a kick ass debut album back in 2008. Unfortunately, they kept a low profile and the band broke-up a year later. I wouldn’t say that The Tartan Hearts were an underrated band. A band is underrated when the fans know their music, but they are unable to notice that it’s worth hearing. On the contrary, I would say that The Tartan Hearts were the best kept secret in the Celtic punk world.

“Flag’s at Half Mast” is a twelve track CD in which eleven tracks are self-penned songs and only one is a traditional tune (the opening track “Masons Apron”). Even if Aaron Taylor (bagpipes and tin whistle) had played live with the previous incarnation of the band, No Coast Hardcore, both bands are different. The Scottish traditional music has a bigger weight on The Tartan Hearts sound, a  blend of bagpipes, street punk and oi!

IMHO, there is no clunker on this album. Great  anthems and sing-alongs like “Broken Bottle, Broken Strings”,  “Petty Crime and Five Buck Wine”, “United Voice”, “Fire the Pipes”,  “Piper’s Salute” and “Ken” that will make you jump and shout.  Vocalist Peter MacLeod’s wife is called Amy Leigh, but she is not the girl on the song “Amy Leigh. Anyway, another great track.  “Land Ho” is an excellent shanty, I could row a boat while listening to that song.  And the last track “Sailor’s Grave” with a guest playing banjo (John Clark) is the best choice to close the album.

I remember that a friend told me some years ago that The Real McKenzies were “a second tier band”. I realized that normally I prefer that kind of bands. Therefore, in my own world,  the term “second tier band” is not an offence, but a compliment. I feel that if Mike McColgan   was forced to choose today between Dropkick Murphys and the Tartan Hearts, he would prefer the Canadian band. So, if you like “second tier” bagpipe punk bands like The Real McKenzies, The Tradesmen or Pipes and Pints, you should contact Peter McLeod to buy your copy.

The Tartan Hearts: “A piper’s salute to a new generation”




Tracklist:

01 - Masons Apron
02 - Broken Bottles, Broken Strings
03 - Amy Leigh
04 - Petty Crimes and Five Buck Wine
05 - Land Ho
06 - United Voice
07 - Fire the Pipes
08 - Piper's Salute
09 - The Town that Died
10 - Ken
11 - Dover Boys
12 - Sailors Grave
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tartan-Hearts/22285428705?sk=info
http://www.myspace.com/tartanhearts
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/artists/thetartanhearts
http://twitter.com/#!/TheTartanHearts

To buy the album, contact the band:

thetartanhearts@yahoo.ca

Remember that you can download free the following sample featuring 4 Tartan Hearts tracks

http://celticfolkpunk.blogspot.com/2009/12/vol-xxiii-canada.html

Review by Kinksmarkham