The Moorings "Pints & Glory" Artscèneprod LSP005
Release date: July 2011
Running time: 12 tracks
It’s official, France has a Celtic punk scene. After The Booze and Celkilt, the next band to come is The Moorings. These 7 guys from Sélestat (Alsace, France) have just released their 12 track debut album: 3 self-penned songs, one Flogging Molly cover and a bunch of standards. In fact, The Moorings say that they are influenced by Ronnie Drew & The Dubliners, Dave King and The Pogues.
The original songs are awesome. If you have already watched their video clip, then you know that “Friendship” is a Celtic top-ten song. Lyrics are about touring together with the Hungarian band Paddy and The Rats. Denis Jelly (The Moorings frontman) was recently a guest on their second album (track no. 12, “Immigrant’s Sons”) and Paddy is a guest on "Pints & Glory" (track no. 4, “Spancil Hill”)
“Away from Home” is also an excellent song. Moreover, they have taken a good approach. In a song like that, the obvious way was to take a Dropckick Murphys approach, but instead of that they sound like The Moorings. Even if there is a guest piper, the pipes don’t take the lead.
I can say the same thing for “Working Class Hero”. If you are expecting an oi! inspired song with gang vocals, then you’re wrong. The Moorings do something different and it really works.
“What’s Left of the Flag“ is close to the original, but it’s a good addition to the album. Regarding the standards, I have enjoyed the first rendition of “Champion at Keeping Them Rolling” (track no. 6). I knew this song with the same music and different lyrics and titles, “The Leaving of Liverpool” and “Darby O’Leary”. However, I didn’t know that there was a song with that music and Ewan MacColl lyrics called “Champion at Keeping Them Rolling”. Track no. 4 is a fantastic Celtic punk version. The same song is at the end of the album and it’s played at a slower pace.
“Molly Maguires” seems to be the next “Fields of Athenry”. Circle J included the song in their second album and recently the Swedish band Finnegan’s Hell released a video of this song. For the moment, the song is not worn-out and The Moorings version is good. The other trad. songs that I have enjoyed are “Finnegan’s Wake” and “The Nightingale”. “The Nightingale” is an almost acoustic song and it’s one of my faves.
“Pints & Glory” is a good album and it’s the evidence that competition would be hard in the French Celtic Punk scene. A godd news for the Celtic punk fans. The Moorings sound, with tin whistle, fiddle and viola, is really fresh. And their original songs are so good that I feel that maybe it would have been better to release an 8 track mini-album instead of a 12 track album. Then we would be talking about a must have album. Definitely a band to follow.
Tracklist:
1 - Friendship
2 - Away from Home
3 - Molly Maguires
4 - Spancil Hill
5 - Finnegan's Wake
6 - Champion at Keeping them Rolling
7 - Working Class Heroes
8 - All for Me Grog
9 - The Wild Rover
10 - What's Left of the Flag
11 - The Nightingale
13 - Champion at Keeping them Rolling
http://www.myspace.com/moorings
http://www.facebook.com/mooringsband
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Review by Kinksmarkham
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