Published on Mar 21, 1999
Irish rock and roll is dead, hail Irish rock and roll.
U2 hasn’t done a decent album in nine years, instead becoming
self-indulgent stadium rockers who equate incomprehensibility with
intellectualism; In Tua Nua is forgotten; Sinead O’Connor gave up a
brilliant first CD to become the Pope’s primary public detractor,
and then hooked up with The Artist From The Outer Darkness; and the
less said about the Cranberries, the better. (Sorry, Crans fans;
until Delores O’Riordan stops hitting Rs like Kevin Cronin on
Prozac, I won’t listen to her. Enunciation
is a part of music theory.)
But wait, there’s hope. Irish rockers the Saw Doctors formed in
1987 in County Galway, their goal being a fusion of Irish
sensibilities and traditional American rock and roll. Within two
years, they had the biggest single in Irish charts history, “I
Usedta Lover”, which spent nine weeks at Number One. Since then,
they’ve produced four albums.
Sing A Powerful Song is an American compilation release of
their first three CDs in the UK. (As a side note, I’m still
debating whether I like this marketing technique, used by Great Big
Sea most recently. While I understand that releasing one CD as a
test is cheaper than cutting three, it would be nice if the full
albums were then released later, something we’re still waiting for
with both Great Big Sea and the Saw Doctors).
Let it be stated here: the Saw Doctors are just a whole lot of
fun. These lads aren’t some sort of pseudo-Celtic mystics, Clannad
in flannel; they’re rock and rollers who happen to be Irish, what
you’d get if Bruce Springsteen had grown up in Galway instead of
New Jersey.
Sing A Powerful Song isn’t an intellectual experience,
particularly; it’s a visceral one, and a hoot at that.
Tracks that bear particular attention: “It Won’t Be Tonight”, a
driving paean to breakups and moving on; “Macnas Parade”, a joyful
tribute to an annual festival in Ireland; “N17”, the regrets of an
Irish expatriate in America; “Red Cortina”, “Never Mind The
Strangers”…oh, heck, it’s all good. “Share The Darkness” is a
soft and moving love song, gentle and oddly emotional for such an
otherwise straightforward band, and “Hay Wrap” is…er…well, put
it this way: Saw Doctors lead vocalist Leo Moran wanted to prove
there was indigenous rap music to Ireland. This is a scary thought
in and of itself. And finally, ending the CD, the bouncy,
blasphemous, rollicking “I Usedta Lover” shares the thoughts of a
young man whose piety ends when a certain behind appears at the
communion rail. This is why rock and roll exists on some level.
This is
fun
.
The best way to summarize the Saw Doctors is in their own words:
“Born into a repressed, catholic, conservative, small-town,
angst-ridden, agrarian, and showband-infested society, we’re trying
to preserve the positive elements of our backgrounds and marry them
to the sounds which have culturally invaded our milieu through TV,
radio, 45s, fast food restaurants, 24 hour petrol stations, and
electric blankets!” Sounds to me a lot like the birth of rock and
roll in America. Get back to your roots – go snag some Saw
Doctors.