Brick Top Blaggers "Two Years Enough" Blagthis
Release date: September 15, 2013
Running time: 50:17, 13 tracks
Sooner or later, musicians confront a dilemma: to keep faithful to their first album sound or to move forward. Brick Top Blaggers have not waited to the “difficult third album” and have taken their decision before releasing their second album. They issued a fantastic 3 EP some months ago and their answer was clear: new instruments, new sounds and a lot of respect to tradition. “Two Years Enough” is the logical follow-up to that EP.
It’s true that the line-up of the band has changed, but most of the tracks have been written by Steve Almond (vocals) and Matt Maulding (accordion). And even if Greg Mintz is not a full-part member of the band now, he has written “Two Years Enough” and “Love by Attrition” and co-written “Plastic Paddy” and “Witness to My Own Wake” together with Steve and Matt. Moreover, he has played guitar on 7 tracks. New members Nolan Lynch (5 string banjo, tenor banjo, bouzouki, mandolin) and Daniel Murillo (guitar) have also written or arranged some compositions.
Given that a couple of tracks were already reviewed on the EP write-up, I’ll focus on the new songs.
“Quitters Nevers Win” and “Coffin Ships” are The Pogues/Flogging Molly infused numbers. The former is a catchy number with a fantastic drums intro. The latter is a song about Irish emigration to Amerikay back in 1848 featuring “The Cooley’s reel”. Excellent fiddle work on this track.
Christy Moore or early Moving Hearts influences can be heard on “The Rising”, a song about the Easter Rising in 1916. The song flows perfectly from the acoustic guitar and uileann pipes beginning to reach its peak after accordion, mandolin, bass and drums have progressively joined. There is a spoken part, a excerpt from W.B. Yeats’ poem “September 1913” and a slow air written by Matt Maulding is also featured on this number. Amazing low whistle, by the way
Brick Top Blaggers are able to make easy something that I find too difficult. On their first album they covered a song that normally I didn’t love, but I enjoyed their rendition. They have done it again. I am not very fond of “Spancil Hill”. I like the lyrics, but not the music. However, BTB have arranged the song in such a way that the final result is perfect. If I have to raise an objection, maybe the “Morrison’s Jig” is an overexposed tuned. Anyway, I have really loved BTB’s cover.
Apart from Irish numbers, “Two Years Enough” showcases other musical directions. “Walk the Plank Again” is a kick-ass pirate number. “Eastern Promises” is the gypsy/Eastern European number featuring piano, accordion (both played by Matt) and fiddle (guest Paul Castellanos). “The Battle of Stirling Bridge” is a tribute to Scottish hero William Wallace. Did I say that Matt plays the Highland pipes on this album? This is one of the songs on which they are played.
Another number featuring the pipes is “Two Years Enough”. More lyrics about the Easter Rising (just have a look to the artwork and you’ll know why) on a song with a Flatfoot 56 twist thanks to the pipes and backing vocals.
Finally, “Love by Attrition” is an excellent song that could be filed together with the Australian seminal band Roaring Jack’s stuff.
“Two Years Enough” is a brilliant album that any Celtic punk fan should own. A must have. Hats off to Brick Top Blaggers.
Tracklist:
01. Plastic Paddy 3:04
02. Quitters Never Win 3:00
03. Two Years Enough 3:38
04. The Rising 4:50
05. Spancil Hill 3:58
06. The Burning of Bridget Cleary 3:23
07. The Battle of Stirling Bridge 5:05
08. Coffin Ships 6:17
09. Eastern Promise 3:49
10. Walk the Plank Again 2:40
11. Love By Attrition 3:25
12. Witness to My Own Wake 3:34
13. American Dream 3:34
http://www.bricktopblaggers.com
https://www.facebook.com/bricktopblaggers
https://twitter.com/blagthis
Lyrics:
http://www.bricktopblaggers.com/lyrics/
Click to buy:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bricktopblaggers3
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Years-Enough-Explicit/dp/B00F1DKHZY
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/two-years-enough/id701064026
Review by Kinksmarkham
Release date: September 15, 2013
Running time: 50:17, 13 tracks
Sooner or later, musicians confront a dilemma: to keep faithful to their first album sound or to move forward. Brick Top Blaggers have not waited to the “difficult third album” and have taken their decision before releasing their second album. They issued a fantastic 3 EP some months ago and their answer was clear: new instruments, new sounds and a lot of respect to tradition. “Two Years Enough” is the logical follow-up to that EP.
It’s true that the line-up of the band has changed, but most of the tracks have been written by Steve Almond (vocals) and Matt Maulding (accordion). And even if Greg Mintz is not a full-part member of the band now, he has written “Two Years Enough” and “Love by Attrition” and co-written “Plastic Paddy” and “Witness to My Own Wake” together with Steve and Matt. Moreover, he has played guitar on 7 tracks. New members Nolan Lynch (5 string banjo, tenor banjo, bouzouki, mandolin) and Daniel Murillo (guitar) have also written or arranged some compositions.
Given that a couple of tracks were already reviewed on the EP write-up, I’ll focus on the new songs.
“Quitters Nevers Win” and “Coffin Ships” are The Pogues/Flogging Molly infused numbers. The former is a catchy number with a fantastic drums intro. The latter is a song about Irish emigration to Amerikay back in 1848 featuring “The Cooley’s reel”. Excellent fiddle work on this track.
Christy Moore or early Moving Hearts influences can be heard on “The Rising”, a song about the Easter Rising in 1916. The song flows perfectly from the acoustic guitar and uileann pipes beginning to reach its peak after accordion, mandolin, bass and drums have progressively joined. There is a spoken part, a excerpt from W.B. Yeats’ poem “September 1913” and a slow air written by Matt Maulding is also featured on this number. Amazing low whistle, by the way
Brick Top Blaggers are able to make easy something that I find too difficult. On their first album they covered a song that normally I didn’t love, but I enjoyed their rendition. They have done it again. I am not very fond of “Spancil Hill”. I like the lyrics, but not the music. However, BTB have arranged the song in such a way that the final result is perfect. If I have to raise an objection, maybe the “Morrison’s Jig” is an overexposed tuned. Anyway, I have really loved BTB’s cover.
Apart from Irish numbers, “Two Years Enough” showcases other musical directions. “Walk the Plank Again” is a kick-ass pirate number. “Eastern Promises” is the gypsy/Eastern European number featuring piano, accordion (both played by Matt) and fiddle (guest Paul Castellanos). “The Battle of Stirling Bridge” is a tribute to Scottish hero William Wallace. Did I say that Matt plays the Highland pipes on this album? This is one of the songs on which they are played.
Another number featuring the pipes is “Two Years Enough”. More lyrics about the Easter Rising (just have a look to the artwork and you’ll know why) on a song with a Flatfoot 56 twist thanks to the pipes and backing vocals.
Finally, “Love by Attrition” is an excellent song that could be filed together with the Australian seminal band Roaring Jack’s stuff.
“Two Years Enough” is a brilliant album that any Celtic punk fan should own. A must have. Hats off to Brick Top Blaggers.
Tracklist:
01. Plastic Paddy 3:04
02. Quitters Never Win 3:00
03. Two Years Enough 3:38
04. The Rising 4:50
05. Spancil Hill 3:58
06. The Burning of Bridget Cleary 3:23
07. The Battle of Stirling Bridge 5:05
08. Coffin Ships 6:17
09. Eastern Promise 3:49
10. Walk the Plank Again 2:40
11. Love By Attrition 3:25
12. Witness to My Own Wake 3:34
13. American Dream 3:34
http://www.bricktopblaggers.com
https://www.facebook.com/bricktopblaggers
https://twitter.com/blagthis
Lyrics:
http://www.bricktopblaggers.com/lyrics/
Click to buy:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bricktopblaggers3
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Years-Enough-Explicit/dp/B00F1DKHZY
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/two-years-enough/id701064026
Review by Kinksmarkham
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