Welcome to the blog's newest feature - No Chords Barred*
Here Your Humble Observer will rant and rave about topics related to music - new album reviews, old songs rediscovered, concert experiences, or other topics from an unabashed musicophile. We will inaugurate the feature with a somewhat topical and timely feature. Sit back and enjoy the harmonious workings of YHO...
Flog & Begorrah
Well as cliche as it may be, this time of year with all the shamrocks and pots o' gold surrounding YHO, I can't help but bring the readership's attention to some old Irish friends of mine. Since about 1999 I've had a sick obsession with the band Flogging Molly. Since the first time I heard the infectious opening riff of "Salty Dog" back in the high school days I have had a brazen love affair with the 7 piece band. While some musical acts don't stand the test of the live show, Flogging Molly is among an elite few who reach beyond the confines of my Dre Beats and rock the shit outta the house... *ahem*...excuse me, that was terribly uncouth. Needless to say, then, that FM is one of the elite Top 5 best acts I've ever had the pleasure to see live. My love affair with the group has not been without its share of turmoil. In fact, there has not been a single FM album release since their sophomore album "Drunken Lullabies" that I haven't listened to the first few tracks, only to throw the album to the wayside and write it off as a weak attempt to reinvent the Blarney Stone. Despite this reaction with that and every release thereafter, I have always been drawn back to the jingle of the mandolin, the cry of the fiddle, the jangling banjo, and the thumping rapid fire kick-snare that sets FM apart from the rest of the poser Irish-rockers. Inevitably I stumble upon one of the songs from the random by some chance encounter and I am given a second chance to give the album a second chance. Lo and behold... it's usually love from that point on.
With Drunken Lullabies it was "What's Left Of The Flag"
With Within A Mile Of Home it was "Seven Deadly Sins"
With Float it was "Punch Drunk Grinning Soul"
And now, almost a year after its release, I have stumble across "So Sail On" from the album Speed Of Darkness, a quiet, unassuming, throw-away 6th track from an album otherwise billed as a dark, thunderous album of rebellion. "Time to take a breath once more..." begins King's vocals accompanied by his acoustic guitar sounding like it's being played from the speakers of a 1979 Cutlass with an 8-track player. "...breath once more..."And so I do. Here's your second chance, Molly dearest. A few seconds in and I'm hooked. The rest of the album will fall into place. I can feel it. Then the hook - "So sail on..." I'm aboard. Take me home.
Take me back. Take me back to the way life used to be.
*A fun play on words in YHO's head. Here's the explanation (and thus, the death) of the joke: Chordae and Holds
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