Celtic Soul Brothers tradition
skel
You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
It being St. Patrick's day....Ireland has had its fair share of rock and punk successes, maybe even punching above its weight. However it seems there is a shortage of Irish input in the realm of soul/jazz/funk.What can be added to the following loose chronology of Irish/related soul-type moves?Van MorrisonThin Lizzy's funkier moves and Phil Lynott in particularDexy's Midnight Runnersa detour to the book/film The Commitments (I do not ride)Is there any Boston/ NY related stuff worth mentioning?Or am I wishful-thinking this whole tenuous genre?Third generation Irish immigrant enquiring minds want to know....
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It's neither Scots nor soul but I heartily recommend etc the fine and weird LP 'Scotch and Soul' by Rufus Harley.
Bagpipe funky jazz heat for sure.
Pick up The Pieces -
now whilst it is true he was born in Dumbarton, this thread is moving further away from the Emerald Isle than I had anticipated... not that I mind!
That's a good question. Is there a Local Black Exp Soul/R&B tradition in Boston?
New Edition and Avery Brooks as Hawk in Spenser for Hire.
Hell yeah. I'm not the one to chronicle it, but Skippy White could break it down.
He's a white guy, but most of the black folk would tell you to talk to him, too.
It did always crack me up that the leading expert on
local black music in Boston was a caucasian named Skippy White
The Too Rye Ay-era Gipsy look and fiddle sound may have given the impression of Irish heritage, but Dexy's are from Birmingham, ENGLAND.
Kevin Rowland is English-born, but his parents are Irish, and he has always considered himself Irish. The band's first single, "Dance Stance" (later retitled "Burn It Down") was an attack on anti-Irish racism as manifested in the "paddy jokes" once favoured by English stand-ups, and the chorus was a list of Irish literary figures, meant as ironic examples of so-called "thick paddies";
"Never heard about Oscar Wilde
Don't know about Brendan Behan
Don't think about Sean O'Casey
Don't care about George Bernard Shaw
Never heard about Samuel Beckett
Won't talk about Eugene O'Neill
Don't know about Edna O'Brien
Won't think about Laurence Sterne"
The cover photo of their first album, "Searching For The Young Soul Rebels", shows a picture taken from an Evening Standard article about Catholic families being burnt out of their homes in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
Dexy's music has always dealt with Irishness. The concept for their sound draws as much from Van Morrison's "It's Too Late To Stop Now" live album as it does from 60s soul. I know they're perceived as one-hit wonders in the US but, in truth, they're anything but. Personally (and irony notwithstanding) I consider them to be amongst the best bands ever to have come out of the UK. Seriously. Top 10 GOAT material.
on the song 'My Life In England' Rowland gives the impression that he moved from Ireland to Birmingham at an early age, before moving on to London.
That's where his Brummagen accent comes from, not to mention supporting Wolves...
But anyways, looks like the Celtic Soul Brother movement he tried to articulate has not been followed up since, which is a shame as the sentimentalist Irish side of me hankers for that whole roving soulful troubador thing.
And Dexy's still have a place in many a UK heart, and Kevin in particular as having the kind of integrity which is sorely lacking in a lot of/most of pop music today.
I draw the line at the cross dressing stuff, however.
NAGL, especially on him....