The Children Of Lir.

This is the story of the children of Lir. Bodb Derg was elected king of the Tuatha Dé Danann which annoyed Lir, who wanted to be king. Bodb appeased Lir by giving him one of his daughters Aoibh in marriage and Lir agreed that he would end the strife. Aoibh had four children with Lir, a girl Fionnghuala, and three sons, Aodh, and twins Fiachra, and Conn. After the birth of the twins, Aoibh died, so Bodb then sent another of his daughters, Aoife, to marry Lir, which he accepted happily, but Aoife became jealous of her four stepchildren, and one day, she set out in her chariot with the children intending to kill them, but couldn’t go through with it, so she took them to Loch Dairbhreach for a swim, but once they were in the water, she cast a spell and transformed them into four white swans. 

She said they would spend a period of nine hundred years as swans. She allowed the children to retain the power of speech, stating they would sing plaintive songs without equal. Lir set out to find the children and at the shores of Loch Dairbhreach, he encountered the swans singing with human voices. They told him of Aoife's evil act. Lir told Bodb of Aoifé's treachery and Bodb cursed her and turned her into a demon of the air. it was proclaimed that no swan should ever be killed in Ireland. Eventually Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, and one day a holy man Mochaomhóg arrived. The swans heard him ringing a bell for matins and Fionnghuala declared the sound of the bell would liberate them from the curse, and so they listened to it.  Finally, the swans' feathers fell off revealing three very old men, and an old woman. Fionnghuala asked the monk to baptise and to bury them as she sensed they were close to death. They were baptised, and then died.

I have told you that story because today I have been listening to a CD which arrived recently called The Children Of Lir by Loudest Whisper. I came across this band when I was looking through the catalogue of Sunbeam Records which is a label I like because they reissue music from the past which might have been overlooked on first release, but is deserving of a second chance with a new audience. When I saw that it was a folk-rock album by an Irish band, I became interested and ordered a copy. I am very glad I did because I have enjoyed listening to this album very much indeed. This release on Sunbeam is the definitive version of the album and includes six extra excellent bonus tracks. There is also a booklet with all the information that you need about the band and the music.

Loudest Whisper are a band from the small town of Fermoy in East Cork, Ireland. The Children Of Lir is their debut album, released in 1974. They had signed a record deal with Polydor, but when they presented their album to Polydor UK it was rejected. It only had a limited release in Ireland of 500 copies. This gave the album a huge rarity value and the few original vinyl releases that are in mint condition have changed hands for astronomical sums. Founding band member Brian O'Reilly was influenced by American bands such as The Byrds, Lovin’ Spoonful, and The Mamas & The Papas, but developed an interest in Irish folklore, myths & legends. 

In 1972 he composed a musical based on the legend of The Children Of Lir This attracted a lot of attention which led to the making of the album. Leo O’Kelly who I know and admire from his work with Tir Na Nog produced the album. The opening track is the eerie and haunting Overture which sounds like a classical piece until electric guitars join in. Lir’s Lament has male vocals accompanied by a string quartet. Good Day My Friend reminds me slightly of Fairport Convention and has some great Progressive Rock style guitar playing. Wedding Song features the ethereal crystal-clear vocals of Geraldine Durgan, and the Hades Choir. 

Children's Song has an acoustic guitar intro and flute arrangements. It has a West Coast Cass Elliot type feel to it. Tracks 6 & 7 are Mannanan Parts 1 & 2 which develop into an epic sound of choir and guitars. Children Of The Dawn again features Geraldine who is then joined on Dawning Of The Day by the Hades Singers and Brian O’Reilly playing piano. Septorus again has the Testore String Quartet and some frenetic guitar playing. Farewell Song by contrast has a much gentler acoustic sound. Cold Winds Blow perfectly suits this time of year and features some nice flute playing. The original album ended with Sad Children and again the group is joined by the full choir. In my opinion the six bonus tracks are just as worthy as the songs on the original recording. William B is a homage to W.B Yeats and was released as a single in Ireland after some changes to the lyrics because of objections from the Yeats estate. (I have shared this track below if you want to hear it) 

False Prophet was the B-Side of that single and is a complete contrast, being a driving electric Prog-Rock song with falsetto type vocals and loud guitar & drums. Wrong & Right features Geraldine again and has folky and rock verses. Silent O’Moyle is possibly my favourite song of all. Geraldine sings accompanied by electric guitars which again remind me of early Fairport. I think The Wheel Of Life must have been a demo tape. You can hear the group talking just before singing and playing. It has a nice acoustic timeless quality to it. 

The final track The Children Of Lir is taken from an RTE radio broadcast. An unknown narrator with a wonderful speaking voice tells the story in between the songs. It makes you think that it would have been great to see the original musical performed live. I am very pleased I discovered this music. I think I will put it on my CD shelves next to Tir Na Nog and Mellow Candle. Well done to Loudest Whisper and Sunbeam Records. 

Loudest Whisper - William B (1974)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬 - 𝐁𝐄 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 - R.I.P Ronnie Spector.

Van Morrison: My New World Crystal Ball.

At the moment I am listening to a Van Morrison bootleg CD called My New World Crystal Ball. It was recorded at the Lion’s Share in San Anselmo in 1971. It really is excellent. Disc 1 is the early set and begins with three acoustic songs, Sweet Thing, I Wanna Roo You and Tupelo Honey. Some of the words to Tupelo Honey are different to the official version. Then the band join in with Van singing part of Que Sera Sera which I remember Doris Day singing and this suddenly changes to Hound Dog and I don't think I have heard Van sing Rock n Roll like this. John Platania's guitar playing deserves a mention. This is followed by These Dreams Of You with some great sax by brother Jack Schroer.  Then another surprise, Van sings the Everly Brothers Let It Be Me and as usual Van effortlessly makes the song his own and is followed by Tennessee Waltz made famous by Patti Page. Moonshine Whiskey follows and I think Van's wife Janet is one of the backing singers. 

I wonder if that song might have been inspired by Janis Joplin. The wake after Janis’s funeral was held at The Lion’s Share. it is nine minutes of genius followed by Bob Dylan's classic Just Like A Woman. Nobody interprets Bob as well as Van. Two songs from the Street Choir album follow, I've Been Working and Domino. Jack Schroer's sax is quite incredible, and the two songs are thirteen minutes of jamming, scatting, improvising and being quite amazing. The final song on Disc 1 is Buena Sera Senorita which I think was originally recorded by Louis Prima in 1956. Then the MC asks everybody to leave by the back door as people are already queuing for the second show.

Disc 2 is much the same show, apart from three song changes. Street Choir replaces I Wanna Roo You. Van sings, ‘You know I just can't see you, now, In a-my, in a-my, in a-my New world crystal ball, You know I just can't free you, now, That's a-not my job at all'. Which gives this CD its title. It is just Van, acoustic guitar and the three girl backing singers. When That Evening Sun Goes Down replaces Tennessee Waltz, plus, there is the addition of Gloria. This recording was worthy of an official release because it captured Van at the height of his powers in the early part of his great career. I am glad I was reminded to listen to it again on this dull January afternoon.

Vashti Bunyan - Winter Is Blue

Bowie & The King

As you probably know January 8^th is the birthday of both Elvis Presley and David Bowie. Elvis would have been 87 yesterday, and David 75. Because of this, I spent yesterday evening watching documentaries about the two of them on BBC 2. Firstly, I didn't used to be a great fan of Elvis. I was too young when he released his great rock n roll records in the 50s, and by the time I started taking a big interest in music around 1964 Elvis’s career was in the doldrums. I think this was due to the greed of his manager Tom Parker. 

Elvis was reduced to making a series of sub-standard films containing inferior songs. Because Elvis didn’t write his own songs, he was relying on good songwriters to work with him. Parker would demand 50% of the song royalties, so consequently no decent songwriter would offer their work to Elvis. I think that is why I didn’t like Elvis in the early to mid-60s. I was more into The Beach Boys and the British bands who all wrote their own material. However, there was an improvement in about 1968/69 when Elvis tried to reinvent himself and came up with great songs such as In The Ghetto and Suspicious Minds. Luckily for me, that was the period that last night’s documentary focused on. I think it was called The Rebirth Of Elvis. Elvis made a TV show in 1968 which has come to be known as The Comeback Special. It was directed by Steve Binder who realised that in rehearsals Elvis was quite brilliant when jamming with other musicians informally. Therefore, the show included a sit-down session where Elvis sang and actually played the guitar and improvised. There is a great version of Baby, What You Want Me To Do? , a Jimmy Reed song. Also, in the show Elvis sang If I Can Dream which was powerful, emotional, and inspired by the death of Martin Luther King a few months earlier.

Elvis & Roy Hamilton.

One interesting thing I learned from the documentary was that Elvis admired a singer I had never heard of before called Roy Hamilton, and wanted to make records in his style. He wanted a more soulful ballad sound. I have shared a video below of Roy Hamilton singing a song live called The Secret Path Of Love. I urge you to listen to it, and I’m sure you will agree that the similarity to Elvis is uncanny. They only ever met once in Memphis at American Sound Studio. Elvis admired Roy so much that he gave him a song that he was going to record himself called Angelica. 

Elvis, Lightning Bolt.

That studio was owned by Chips Moman who had previously worked at Stax Records. Working with Chips Moman Elvis produced what many people consider his greatest album From Elvis In Memphis. The Colonel as usual didn’t get on with Chips Moman, he had other plans to make lots of money from Elvis and arranged long term residencies in Las Vegas which started well, but ultimately killed Elvis because of the punishing schedule of working seven nights a week. Despite the sad ending I enjoyed watching the documentary and learned a lot from it.

Bowie, Lightning Bolt.

Immediately after that, I watched a film about David Bowie which concentrated on the period leading up to the Ziggy Stardust era. I didn’t learn much from this because I was a huge Bowie fan back in the 70s. I still enjoyed watching it, and the music was great. It showed how important Mick Ronson was to Bowie’s success. Before he became world famous, Bowie’s publishers would offer the songs to anyone who wanted to record them in order to generate some income. I found it very amusing that Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits fame got to number 12 in the UK charts with Oh You Pretty Things. That song was inspired by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his ideas about the Homo Superior when he postulated the idea of the Übermensch or Superman in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I bet Peter Noone had never heard of Nietzsche. 

Elvis, Black Star.

Bowie during the 70s was so prolific he also helped the careers of others. Even Lulu had a hit with The Man Who Sold The World. He gave one of his best songs All The Young Dudes to Mott The Hoople, rejuvenated the career of Lou Reed by producing Transformer, and worked with Iggy Pop on Raw Power which was very influential on the emergence of Punk Rock. His influence can be seen even today in people like Lady Gaga. So, apart from having the same birthday, can we see any other links between Bowie and Elvis? I know David Bowie was a huge fan of Elvis. In 1972 he flew to New York for a long weekend just to see Elvis perform at Madison Square Garden. Elvis recorded a song called Black Star which was about dying, and Bowie’s last album recorded just before he died was called Blackstar, coincidence? 

Bowie, Blackstar.

Elvis called his backing group The TCB Band which stands for ‘Taking Care Of Business’. The logo was a TCB with a lightning bolt. Elvis often wore a necklace with this design, and it was on the side of his tour bus. It is very similar to the lightning bolt design that Bowie had on his face during the Aladdin Sane period, coincidence? I have heard that Bowie wrote Golden Years with Elvis in mind, but that might be just a myth. I can’t think of any more possible links between the two, but if you do, let me know. Cheers.