(Editors note: We don't normally do more than one review of the same CD unless the second contributor is offering a totally different view which isn't the case here. However, due to the holiday period causing some lack of communication among our blogforce, fans of Irish folk, jazz and blues can read again the fascinating story of the Foxrock Folk Club and the resultant recordings.)
(Review by Russell)
To the south of Dublin is the village of Cornelscourt.
In the 1960s its ‘rather nondescript and rundown’ parish hall was to become the
venue of Foxrock Folk Club presenting folk, jazz, blues and poetry. A 15 year
old local schoolboy, Kevin McCann, had a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He took it
along to the parish hall and recorded many of the musicians who played at the
club during 1970-72. Somehow the tapes survived down the years and some fifteen
years ago were transferred to CD. Careful restoration and mastering followed
and The Parish Hall Tapes is the
result.
The two discs have a generous running time; the first
at over one hour, the second at one hour fifteen minutes. Legendary names on the
Irish folk scene were recorded at Foxrock
– Al O’Donnell, Andy Irvine, Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew to name but four
– as were a host of superb acoustic blues musicians and a first rate jazz
outfit.
Disc one, comprising of nineteen tracks of which thirteen
feature traditional folk material, covers a wide range. Some of the recorded
sessions include potent political commentaries from Luke Kelly – Alabama ’58 and Jail of Cluain Meala – the bluesmen Red Peters and Brian Fry play
country blues, Johnny Norris plays ragtime and, as the informative album notes
point out, pianist Tony Drennan plays Meade Lux Lewis on ‘the somewhat battered
parish hall piano’. Peters and Fry – known as Clawhammer – play Alberta. Peters’ vocals are quite
something, big and powerful. The jazz tune on the first CD is Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone
by the Butler Fox Jazz Band. Clarinettist Phil Butler and Rock Fox (trumpet and
flugelhorn) co-led one of Ireland’s finest traditional to mainstream jazz
bands. The septet, including pianist Tony Drennan, was surely one to be heard,
and now, thanks to Cornelscourt Records, this fascinating documentary project
brings them to life.
The second CD includes a collector’s item. Luke Kelly
singing Blackwaterside is his one and
only available recording of the song. Ronnie Drew sings McAlpine’s Fusiliers, a tune as pertinent today as it was at the
time of this 1972 recording. The Dirty Dozens – Johnny Norris and Gerry Doyle,
guitars, Red Peters, vocals, Shay Fogarty, harmonica – are heard on Statesboro Blues and it is Peters and
Fogarty (superb harp playing) who steal the show with Louise, Louise Blues. The thirty-seventh and closing track features
nine minutes and twenty two seconds of sheer excitement as the Butler Fox Jazz
Band blow up a storm on Swinging the
Blues. The audience response is ecstatic (a noticeable feature across the
two CDs) as Fox proudly introduces the ‘All Irish Rhythm Section’ of Tony
Drennan, Jimmy McKay on bass, and ‘the incomparable’ John Wadham, drums.
Principal credits:
Kevin McCann, original recordings at Foxrock Folk
Club, Cornelscourt
Johnny ‘Oldhitz’ Hughes, transfer to CD
Adam Sinclair, restoration and mastering
Barry Somerville, art work and design
Liam Clare and Michael Blake, photography
Jeremy Kearney, producer
The Parish Hall Tapes is clearly a labour of love for all those involved
with the project – the restoration of the tapes, the research, the CD artwork
and the lovingly written booklet.
For those with a passing interest, The Parish Hall Tapes is a recommended
purchase. For those with a keen interest, consider it an essential purchase.
Russell
Live at Foxrock Folk Club – The Parish Hall Tapes is available on Cornelscourt Records, catalogue
number CR 001.
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