REVIEW - HOMELAND "The Show" (2014)

Homeland "The Show" Wasted Heart Records
Release date: August 1st, 2014
Running time: 51:44, 13 tracks

Hey guys, don’t be afraid! You’re at the right place, I have not moved from Celtic music reviews to TV series reviews. So if you have thought that I was going to write about Carrie Mathison adventures in the Greater Middle East, you’re wrong. The Homeland from this write-up is not the Claire Danes TV series, but a kick-ass Celtic rock band from Central Ohio.

Homeland are Scott McGillivray (electric & acoustic guitars, vocals), Rob Koogler (bass, bckg. vocals), Jeremy Washburn (drums, percussion, bckg. vocals), Tyler Moore (fiddle, mandolin, bckg. vocals) and Steve Foley (lead guitars, bckg. vocals). On their previous album (“Bridge”), Larry Fortsom played different pipes and whistle. Larry stepped out and Steve stepped in. Anyway, there is a guest piper on some tracks on “The Show”: Kevin Palm (Highland pipes).

“The Show” is a well-balanced album and the band sounds really tight. Most of the tracks on the album are original songs. The guys cover Ewan MacColl’s “Dirty Old Town” (adding a fiddle tune played with an American twist), “Leaving of Liverpool” (awesome bagpipes and fiddle on the traditional tune that has been added) and the sadly defunct piper Gordon Duncan’s  “Pressed for Time” (which gets a fiddle treatment à la Shooglenifty “The Pipes Tunes”)

“Modern Man” is the right opener and Tyler plays mandolin instead of fiddle. I can hear some  Oysterband  echoes on this Celtic rock at its best number. “The Show” is a great song featuring “The Cooleys” reel. “Nothing Simple” has a “Camptown Races” vibe and a U2 flavour. It’s followed by “Mud”, a rocking number.  The next song  is “The Climb”, a track featuring bagpipes whose beginning makes me think of The Clash “Guns of Brixton". Nice La-La-la chorus.

Track no. 6, “The Cloud”, is an excellent number with some hard rock and funky arrangements. Great fiddle and guitar work on this song. “The Roof” is another amazing song. A quieter beginning and then the full band burst at 1:20 shifting to a U2 infused number. “Ghost Ship” is a brilliant song featuring pipes and mandolin. “Pipe Song” is a top-notch tune on which only guitars and percussion can be heard. And, finally, “Closing Song” is a quieter number that sounds like Oysterband singing  acapella “Old Mountain Thyme”.

The album is packed in a 4 panel digipack. No lyrics to the songs have been added, but a band pic, thank you’s and credits are included. I feel that there was a mess when the credits were sent to be printed. It’s stated that all songs are written and arranged by Homeland except “Pressed for Time” written by Gordon Duncan. However, “Dirty Old Town” was written by Ewan MacColl and “Leaving of Liverpool” is trad. As the guys stated every single tune featured in their songs on their previous album, but they are not written now, I guess that they did it again, but a computer goblin removed some lines.

Celtic punk and Celtic rock are not closed worlds. There is a door between them and I recommend to Celtic punk fans to open it and go into the Celtic rock universe. Homeland are excellent musicians who write their own songs, but also know and respect the traditional tunes and ballads. They play their songs with gusto and their skill to fit traditional tunes and songs is really remarkable. Get a copy of Homeland “The Show” and listen carefully to the songs. You won’t find big stadium bullshit, but honest songs with a heart.

Tracklist:

01. Modern Man 4:09
02. The Show 4:47
03. Nothing's Simple 4:26
04. Mud 3:02
05. The Climb 4:40
06. Cloud Cover 4:29
07. The Roof 4:31
08. Ghost Ship 4:19
09. Dirty Old Town 3:21
10. Pressed for Time 4:10
11. Pipe Song 2:51
12. Leaving of Liverpool 4:38
13. Closing Song 2:14

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Review by Kinksmarkham