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- Released: October 2006
- Rating: 8/10
- Format: 2-CD set
Now into a 44-year career and 35 albums to their credit, Irish folksters The Dubliners are as popular as ever.
From their humble beginnings playing at ODonoghues Pub on Merrion Row, Dublinin 1961, as the Ronnie Drew Group, they rode the crest of a wave during the early’60s folk boom. Drew, not happy with the bands name, they chose their currentname whilst Luke Kelly was reading James Joyces The Dubliners.
DMGTV now release a double CD of 20 studio tracks and 18 live takes from a2002 show at the Gaiety in Dublin. This whopping 28 tracker is a must forhardcore fans and casual admirers of the cult godfathers of urban folk. Theirfamous gritty aesthetic has endeared them to generations of fans around theglobe, so you can now fully appreciate their impact via CD 1, where we geta best of studio work spanning 1972 to 2005.
Apart from Whiskey In The Jar and Seven Drunken Nights theresno other song duplication which must have been difficult to achieve, andtempting to include. Why DMGTV chose to start at 1972, is quite baffling asthe band first recorded in 1964 as The Dubliners with Luke Kelly on TransatlanticRecords.
Invited to perform at the 1963 Edinburgh Festival, they met TR owner NathanJoseph who gave them their first major deal. Prior to the 2002 live recordingat the Gaiety (a celebration of 40 years as a band) there have been sixlive albums, starting in 1964 with In Concert, through to 1997’sAlive Alive O, though this is the first time a studio album hasaccompanied a live show as a package.
Their UK debut single, Seven Drunken Nights (No.7 67) opens theirmagnificent journey, and single Black Velvet Band (No.15 67).
Highlights include thrilling versions of Whiskey In The Jar andThe Irish Rover with The Pogues. To date theyve charted with sixalbums from 1967 to 2003, and this CD will doubt be added to their achievements.Only one original member remains Barney McKenna.
Tracks include:
CD 1: Seven Drunken Nights, Liverpool Lou, Whiskey In The Jar, MollyMalone, The Irish Rover (featuring The Pogues)
CD 2: Recorded live at the Gaiety, Dublin June 2002 includes BlackVelvet Band, Lord Of The Dance, Carrickfergus, the Fields of Athenry, TheWild Rover.
Check the Amazon link above for a full track listing.
Catch them live on their October/November UK tour.
Weblink:come.to/thedubliners
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.