The Jukebox Rebel

The Dubliners second LP for EMI-Columbia, this time solely produced by Phil Coulter who actually plays some piano on the record as well as adding some string touches. Sharp intake of breath… turns out it’s a subtle enough intervention as to be complimentary… and breathe, relax. The repertoire is becoming ever more varied and complex to boot – the drinking foot tappers and the comic songs are still present but so too are poignant pieces which could be labelled as high art. The traditional “Sé Fáth Mo Bhuartha” is a case in point – a beautiful piece which translates as “Reason For My Sorrow”. The poetry is firstly spoken by Ciaran (in gaelic) and then Ronnie (in English), as Ciaran and John’s tin whistle and flute softly blow in a suitably mournful fashion. The album also features a piece which almost represents a singer-songwriters pop song – “Scorn Not His Simplicity”, a song that producer Coulter had composed about his own son, who had Down’s syndrome. This streak of artistic creativity continues with a poem penned by Luke Kelly entitled “For What Died The Sons Of Róisín?” Good old fashioned traits do remain – on “The Captains And The Kings” Brendan Behan’s words of racial irony are sung here by yer man Ronnie Drew – with tongue planted firmly in cheek! “The Button Pusher”, written by Enoch Kent (an exiled Scot from Canada) is sung here by Luke Kelly to hilarious effect. The pointlessness of nuclear war is laid out perfectly… The UK’s EMI edition dropped the song which has a dig at the East-West cold war. What a lame corporation… It’s a small gripe however – “Revolution” took the Dubliners into a new decade with a new sound and it was just grand…

The Jukebox Rebel
12–Mar–2011

A1	[03:27] The Dubliners - Alabama ‘58 (Ewan MacColl) Folk
A2	[03:31] The Dubliners - The Captains And The Kings (Brendan Behan) Folk
A3	[03:18] The Dubliners - School Days Over (Ewan MacColl) Folk
A4	[04:59] The Dubliners - Sé Fáth Mo Bhuartha (Traditional) Folk
A5	[03:38] The Dubliners - Scorn Not His Simplicity (Phil Coulter) Folk
A6	[02:09] The Dubliners - For What Died The Sons Of Roisin? (Luke Kelly) Poetry
A7	[02:58] The Dubliners - Joe Hill (Earl Robinson-Hayes) Folk
B1	[05:04] The Dubliners - Ojos Negros (Traditional) Folk
B2	[03:14] The Dubliners - The Button Pusher (Enoch Kent) Folk
B3	[03:40] The Dubliners - The Bonny Boy (Traditional) Folk
B4	[05:37] The Dubliners - The Battle Of The Somme / Freedom Come All Ye (Hamish Henderson) Folk
B5	[02:12] The Dubliners - Biddy Mulligan (Seamus Kavanagh) Folk
B6	[02:51] The Dubliners - The Peat Bog Soldiers (Johann Esser, Wolfgang Langhoff, Rudi Goguel, Hanns Eisler, Ernst Busch) Folk

ratings by TJR