Tracks on compilation albums are like friends. You can find good friends like Sir Reg, Greenland Whalefishers and The Go Set. There are friends you have lost touch with and need to reconnect with – The Porters, The Killigans and Kilkenny Knights. Friends that you need to get to know better – Mickey Rickshaw and Hoist the Colors and of course friends that you haven’t met until now. Raise Your Pints – Vol.2 is a very good compilation and if you want to know what is going on in the European scene the MacSlon is the man.
Tracks list:
1 The Rogues from County Hell – MacSlon’s
2 The Cloves and the Tobacco – Too Much Trouble
3 Kilkenny Knights – Mick Watson
4 Irish Stew Of Sindidun – One Way Ticket
5 The Killigans – From The Underground
6 The Mullins – 9 To 5
7 The Go Set – Holdfast
8 The O’Reillys & The Paddyhats – Sign Of The Fighter
9 Billy Treacy – Temple Bar
10 Sir Reg – All Saints’ Day
11 Hoist The Colours – Mourners
12 Mickey Rickshaw – Nonprofit Warfare
13 Uncle Bard & The Dirty Bastards – I Only Got One Pint
14 Paddy and the Rats – Lonely Hearts’ Boulevard
15 BalticSeaChild – Fool In The Rain
16 Drink Hunters – Celtic Punks
17 Airs & Graces – 4 Corners
18 The Moorings – Drink Up Fast
19 The Porters – Son Of This Town
20 The Clan – Horns Up And Fight
21 Greenland Whalefishers – The Letter
Track Listing:
The Templers Of Doom – The Oliver Cromwell Twist (Bring Me The Head Of John The Baptist)
The Radiators From Space – Television Screen (TV Tube Heart – 40th Anniversary Edition)
Hudson Falcons – Monahan’s (Desperation and Revolution)
The Skels – Pot to Piss In (Stoney Road)
The Bloody Irish Boys – Shake Hands With the Devil (Whiskey Devils: A Tribute to the Mahones)
Kilkenny Knights – Mick Watson (Various – Raise Your Pints Vol.2)
Sir Reg – All Saints Day (Various – Raise Your Pints Vol.2)
Black Anemone – Freedom and for all (In It For Life)
Craic – 20 Years Later (Sound of Vandermark)
Real McKenzies – Scots Wha Ha’e (Two Devils Will Talk)
Making a mix tape or a comp CD is almost a lost art. Happy to say the art isn’t lost on Nico of MacSlons Irish Pub Radio. An amazing nineteen tracks in all and like all great comps it comes with old friends and a few friends you haven’t met before. Old friends include Kilkenny Knights, Flatfoot 56, The Real McKenzies and The Rumjacks. New friends include The Black Tartan Clan, Rovers Ahead and 1916. Check it out, you’ll too find some new friends.
Full tracklisting:
01. Kilkenny Knights – Raise your Pints
02. Rovers Ahead – Ghost Of Anne Reily
03. The Clan – Paddys Day
04. The O`Reilys & The Paddyhats – Barrels of Whiskey
05. The Black Tartan Clan – Standing Strong
06. Scordisci – Birdies Song
07. Airs & Graces – Troubles
08. The Ramshackle Army – The Fire is burning
09. The Real McKenzies – Catch me
10. Flatfoot 56 – Take Hold again
11. The Ceili Family – Alive
12. The Roughneck Riot – Parasites
13. The Rumjacks – No Pockets in a Shroud
14. Mr. Irish Bastard – Kingdom of the Sun
15. Creeds Cross – The Irish Band
16. In Search of a Rose – If You Got A Pint
17. Smokey Bastard – Archipelago
18. 1916 – For Whiskey
19. Bastards – Drink the City
Running a little late with the list but whatever, great music doesn’t go stale. So without further adieu.
The top five:
#1 The Mahones: The Hunger & The Fight (Part 1)
Twenty five years on and more tour miles driven then the rest of the entire Celtic-punk scene combined, The Mahones on The Hunger & The Fight still have the enthusiasm of a band in the studio for the first time (but thankfully the 25 years and many albums under their belt studio experience).
I’ll go out on a limb and say McCarthy has the finest voice in Celtic-punk (and that includes Dave King), maybe Van the Moan threw in a few vocal lessons to boot. Of course a good voice won’t do it alone, the band are tight as f#*k, loud and fast and the songs first class and while still fast and trashy
#5 (joint) Black 47: Rise Up – The Political Songs
Black 47 hung up their green suede shoes in November, 2014 after 25 years of hard jigging and gigging. Two albums were released in 2014; Last Call, their final original album, full of fresh and originals ideas and, Rise Up – The Political Songs, a collection of, well, political songs as a reminder of how good this band was.
Kilkenny Knights are not actually from the medieval capital of Ireland but from Bavaria, though I guess the name Teutonic Knights just doesn’t have the right ring to it that you’d expect from a Celtic-punk band. The Kilkenny Knights have been around since 2009 and Brady’s Pub Tales their first full length. These guys must have been practicing real hard over the last 5 years as Brady’s Pub Tales is a bloody great debut. The music is classic Celtic-punk with strong Dropkick Murphys influences – bagpipes, big guitars and strong sing-a-long courses. In addition the Kilkenny Knights include some German folk influences that fit in real nice with the Celtic melodies. Honestly not a bad song over the entire almost hour of music and more then a few that could wake the dead and induce them into jig. Highlight include The Final Course and the the dead waking Dance!
Check ’em out Brady’s Pub Tales it really hasn’t been out of my car CD player for the last two months its that good.