Subject: RE: Paul Brady's version of Arthur McBride
From:
PoppaGator
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 12:22 PM
Glad to see this discussion reappear. Although I'm often guilty of trying to "get the last world" in real life, here on this forum I *hate* to post the final message to a thread!
But here I am, risking it again...
I've only recently (last couple of years) become interested in Irish folk music, and have little opportunity to hear much of it here in New Orleans. (Of course, we have plenty of other great music hereabouts to keep us all busily listening and, hence, distracted.) Because we're right on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, one song that is often heard from local and touring Irish and Celtoid acts is, of course, "Lakes of Pontchartrain," and my efforts to learn *that* song led me to discover Paul Brady and, consequently, to learn about "Arthur McBride."
Last month, I rented a DVD video, "Out of Ireland: From a Whisper to a Scream," a nice thorough survey course on a wide range of recorded music to come out of Ireland since the mid-60s, including rock and pop as well as plenty of traditional/revival music. That is, Van The Man, Phil Lynott, Rory Gallagher, Geldof, U2, Sinead, etc., but also plenty of Donal Lunny and Christy Moore (each in the context of several different groups), and of course Paul Brady. Brady appears at fairly great length as an interview subject -- in a "speaking role" -- but is also heard performing. You get to hear about 3/4 of the first verse of "Arthur," live and solo in the context of an interview. Very nice.
I'd recommend the film highly, especially for Americans (Irish-Americans) like me, or anyone not already thoroughly familiar with the scene and the artists in question. Because Irish musicians had such difficulty getting "out" and breaking into the UK and international markets, they had their own local culture which remained unknown to those of us across the ocean (if not *quite* so unknown to Britain). To me, it was like a peek into life on another planet or some parallel universe, where disaffected kids left home in the mid-60s, not for San Francisco or London, but for "swingin' Dublin"; where the reigning guitar-hero power-trio was not Cream but Taste; where the big folk music revival came after "rock n roll" became "rock," not before; etc. Fascinating!
My wife loved this rental DVD even more than I, and was very reluctant to return it. Fortunately, we got it from www.netflix.com, where there are no late fees. You pay a flat monthly $18 to rent out 3 DVDs at a time; the faster you view and return the videos, the more different films you get for your money, but you can keep any one of them as long as you wish.
I think we kept it three weeks and played it, who knows, 30 or 40 times (sometimes just in the background, of course), until we both had most of the narration memorized, and finally mailed it back about a week ago.
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sj
