Dropkick Murphys - The Meanest of Times
Born & Bred Records - 18th September 2007
By Jack Deming
Here are well known Celtic punkers the
Dropkick Murphys with their sixth studio release and the first through their own Born & Bred Records.
The Meanest of Times is your standard time worn
Dropkicks fare, a collection of mostly fast tunes made up of traditional Irish jigs, downstrumming, and yelled lyrics of laments and drunken nights, etc.
A few tracks are redone Irish standards, such as the antiwar tune
'Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya', and even better
'Flannigan's Ball'.
Flannigan's Ball features guest vocals from Spider Stacy of
The Pogues and Ronnie Drew of
The Dubliners, and it is an unusual treat to hear Ronnie in what was presumably his last studio appearance before his death in 2008. Familiar Irish jigs and themes are also often thrown into otherwise original tunes. Particularly good is the ballad
'Fairmount View', which lifts its melody from the traditional tune
'Spancil Hill'. The material lacking traditional Irish hooks is on the whole much less interesting, and the group's once solid and identifiable punk sound seems watered down at times;
'God Willing' in particular sounds at times like a late eighties
Ramones tune sped up a bit.
Like them or not, the
Dropkick Murphys' sound has remained largely the same in the last twelve years, and even in their early days they were never plumbing the depths of ethnic and comparative musicality. By now these guys sound like butter spread over too much bread, and this is audible on
The Meanest of Times. But hey, some people like their toast dry. The poor man's
Flogging Molly if you ask me.
Official Dropkick Murphys Website
Official Dropkick Murphys Myspace
Warner Independent Label Group Website
