CELTIC FOLK PUNK AND MORE: REVIEW - BILL GROGAN'S GOAT "Second Wind" (2011)

Bill Grogan's Goat "Second Wind"
Release date: November 26th, 2011
Running time: 53:47, 12 tracks

Bill Grogan’s Goat, the band from Detroit that was featured on our March 2010 sampler, released their second album “Second Wind” at the end of 2011. The album got a rave review at Shite’n’Onions and it reached no. 5 at Grinning Beggar’s Best of The Rest Artist & Albums 2011. This is a good background, but I had to give some spins to the CD in order to verify if I seconded those opinions.

When an album full of traditional/Celtic standards is released, the songs have to get a different treatment to become interesting. If the band offers the usual songs with the usual arrangements, the listeners will find them boring. But if the musicians re-arrange the songs and record their own renditions, then the fans will appreciate them. Some good examples are Icewagon Flu and The Pubcrawlers on their recent split with The Ousiders.

So, have Bill Grogan’s Goat succeed or have they failed? They have really succeeded. Why? Because their album is a sure bet: guitars, guitars and more guitars. And the addition of a great deal of pipes, fiddle and tin whistle performed by multi-instrumentalist Mindy Whalen.

Regarding the track listing, one can say that most of the tracks have been covered by a lot of bands. That’s true, particularly “The Foggy Dew”, “Danny Boy” and “Drunken Sailor” can be found on different albums that have been released in 2012. But you should remember that Bill Grogan’s Goat released this album before those albums were issued.

If I had to choose the best moments of the album, these would be the numbers that I would pick : the two sets of tunes on the album, “Pumpkin’s Fancy” (bagpipes on this) and “Stress Bay” ( a top-notch Scottish set featuring excellent fiddle and guitar arrangements); “Cam Ye O’er Frae France” (Mindy sings and plays the pipes on a cover as good as the Steeleye Span's version) and “Galway Races" (a fantastic work on this song: fiddle, guitar parts …)

Anyway, there are other songs that deserve to be heard: “Waxie’s Dargle” (kick-ass guitar version featuring “The Siege of Ennis” polka at the end), a funky version of “Whiskey You’re the Devil” and “The Mermaid” (a song that was covered by Fiddler’s Green in 1995)

If you like the mix of Celtic music with the Detroit r’n’r tradition, then Bill Grogan’s Goat “Second Wind” won’t disappoint you.

Track listing:

1 Pumpkin's Fancy 3:04

2 The Mermaid 4:17

3 Greenwood Sidee 4:15

4 Foggy Dew 7:25

5 The Galway Races 5:23

6 Stress Bay (A Strathspey And Two Reels) 2:52

7 Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore 3:26

8 The Waxie's Dargle/Siege Of Ennis 3:20

9 Danny Boy 5:04

10 Whiskey, You're The Devil 3:40