Black 47 Fire of Freedom (SBK) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Co-opting the musical tools of political upheaval-punk, rap and reggae-New York City’s Black 47 spews revolution rock with an Irish jig. Expatriate Irishman Larry Kirwan’s off-key vocals bemoan a longing for his homeland (“49 Shades of Blue”), the treacheries of love, and the famine resulting from the 1846 potato crop failure in Ireland-a recurring theme in “Fire of Freedom” (the band takes its name from the worst year of the famine). Saxophonist Geoffrey Blythe (formerly of Dexy’s Midnight Runners, which had a hit a decade ago in “Come On Eileen”) and trombonist Fred Parcells build a wall of sound with brassy E Street Band-style horns, complementing Chris Byrne’s uillean pipes and tin whistle (bass player David Conrad and percussionist Thomas Hamlin round out the band).
The pervasive darkness is tempered by Kirwan’s everyman humor. On “Maria’s Wedding” Kirwan sings of dancing like “Baryshnikov atop the high altar” to wreck an old flame’s wedding ceremony. Black 47’s populism does pose a conundrum in romanticizing union leaders and the proletarian (“James Connolly”) while at the same time extolling the lovable slacker. What else would you expect from six guys who still hold a grudge against Queen Victoria?
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