MARIA DOYLE KENNEDY & KIERAN KENNEDY –
THE STORMS ARE ON THE OCEAN
2011 – Mermaid Records
4.5****
To say Maria Doyle Kennedy is multi-talented is an understatement. She is a highly respected actress and has made several well received albums over the years, although until this tremendous album I would have been unaware of her were it not for her role in the 1991 film ‘The Commitments.’ The duo that she forms with her husband, multi instrumentalist Kieran, is as perfect a match as they could have wished for and a tremendous blend of their respective strengths.
Many of the songs on this gorgeous album have at least their roots in the British Isles, although most of them were kept alive and recorded by numerous old time country artists in the 1920s. Had they not done so many of these classic tales would in all probability have been lost forever. Some of the songs have indeterminate authorship and are classed as traditional with the names of the originators now long lost. There are three gorgeous songs on the album that were originally recorded by country legends, the Carter Family and were credited
to A.P.Carter, although often on his song collecting trips it has been said he would take old songs and claim the writing credits. Even if he didn’t it is certain that he was hugely influenced by many songs that were old and traditional even back then and he did at least ensure they were not lost. There are also songs that were recorded by Ernest and Hattie Stoneman and by B.F. Shelton, both well known to fans of Harry Smiths Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith being another man who deserves huge credit for keeping the various strands of traditional music alive.
The fact that the Kennedys chose to record these stories, in many ways completes the circle, with the songs coming back to the islands where many were conceived and a quite beautiful job they make of it too. Whilst twenty first century technology was used, as well as several effects unavailable at the time of the original recordings, they have treated these songs with tremendous respect and not tried to change too much, allowing them to be heard with clarity and without all of the pops and crackles that would have been heard eight or nine decades ago. It’s fairly obvious that considerable thought has been given
to the arrangements with a little modernity here and there with some beautifully haunting steel guitar as an example. Maria’s vocals are simply gorgeous on each and every track and with Kieran’s playing being both superb and tasteful this is as good an album of this old music as you are likely to get in this twenty first century!
The three A.P. Carter songs Bury me under the weeping willow, Single girl married girl and The wandering boy are all given a beautifully haunting treatment with a quite stunningly spooky steel guitar and the steady banjo plucking supporting Maria’s evocative vocals, but with the latter song including the lovely tones of an accordion. There are some old time gospel harmonies on the 19th century hymn To the work and the
accapela female and male harmony on the traditional Standing on the promises. The song from which the album gets it’s title The storms are on the ocean, the authorship of which is lost in the mists of time but is almost certainly made up of several old British isles ballads, gets the album off to a tremendous start with the roll of thunder followed by chiming banjo and mandolin and Maria’s gorgeously evocative vocals on this lilting seafaring love song. It sets the album up nicely for what is to follow and every one of the ten tracks are hugely atmospheric and at times quite spooky in much the same way as the original recordings.
If there is one criticism it is that the album clocks in at just under half an hour, although if it was a full eighty minutes I would probably then be criticizing it for not being a double album with eighty minutes on each c.d. It really is that good!
http://mariadk.com
4.5****
To say Maria Doyle Kennedy is multi-talented is an understatement. She is a highly respected actress and has made several well received albums over the years, although until this tremendous album I would have been unaware of her were it not for her role in the 1991 film ‘The Commitments.’ The duo that she forms with her husband, multi instrumentalist Kieran, is as perfect a match as they could have wished for and a tremendous blend of their respective strengths.
Many of the songs on this gorgeous album have at least their roots in the British Isles, although most of them were kept alive and recorded by numerous old time country artists in the 1920s. Had they not done so many of these classic tales would in all probability have been lost forever. Some of the songs have indeterminate authorship and are classed as traditional with the names of the originators now long lost. There are three gorgeous songs on the album that were originally recorded by country legends, the Carter Family and were credited
to A.P.Carter, although often on his song collecting trips it has been said he would take old songs and claim the writing credits. Even if he didn’t it is certain that he was hugely influenced by many songs that were old and traditional even back then and he did at least ensure they were not lost. There are also songs that were recorded by Ernest and Hattie Stoneman and by B.F. Shelton, both well known to fans of Harry Smiths Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith being another man who deserves huge credit for keeping the various strands of traditional music alive.
The fact that the Kennedys chose to record these stories, in many ways completes the circle, with the songs coming back to the islands where many were conceived and a quite beautiful job they make of it too. Whilst twenty first century technology was used, as well as several effects unavailable at the time of the original recordings, they have treated these songs with tremendous respect and not tried to change too much, allowing them to be heard with clarity and without all of the pops and crackles that would have been heard eight or nine decades ago. It’s fairly obvious that considerable thought has been given
to the arrangements with a little modernity here and there with some beautifully haunting steel guitar as an example. Maria’s vocals are simply gorgeous on each and every track and with Kieran’s playing being both superb and tasteful this is as good an album of this old music as you are likely to get in this twenty first century!
The three A.P. Carter songs Bury me under the weeping willow, Single girl married girl and The wandering boy are all given a beautifully haunting treatment with a quite stunningly spooky steel guitar and the steady banjo plucking supporting Maria’s evocative vocals, but with the latter song including the lovely tones of an accordion. There are some old time gospel harmonies on the 19th century hymn To the work and the
accapela female and male harmony on the traditional Standing on the promises. The song from which the album gets it’s title The storms are on the ocean, the authorship of which is lost in the mists of time but is almost certainly made up of several old British isles ballads, gets the album off to a tremendous start with the roll of thunder followed by chiming banjo and mandolin and Maria’s gorgeously evocative vocals on this lilting seafaring love song. It sets the album up nicely for what is to follow and every one of the ten tracks are hugely atmospheric and at times quite spooky in much the same way as the original recordings.
If there is one criticism it is that the album clocks in at just under half an hour, although if it was a full eighty minutes I would probably then be criticizing it for not being a double album with eighty minutes on each c.d. It really is that good!
http://mariadk.com