Milner, Dan / Irish Pirate Ballads And Other Songs Of The Sea
Album: Irish Pirate Ballads And Other Songs Of The Sea   Collection:General
Artist:Milner, Dan   Added:Mar 2009
Label:Smithsonian/Folkways  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2009-03-29 Pull Date: 2009-05-31
Week Ending: May 3 Apr 19 Apr 12 Apr 5
Airplays: 1 1 2 1

Recent Airplay
1. Nov 02, 2016: At the Cafe Bohemian
Get Up Jack, John, Sit Down / Miss Thornton's
4. Mar 30, 2011: Nick & Noah: The Radio Show
Larry Maher's Big 5-Gallon Jar
2. Mar 17, 2016: Melange
Ten Thousand Miles Away
5. Jan 31, 2010: "In Your Ear ..." with Bug, good morning and rest well
Ten Thousand Miles Away
3. Apr 22, 2011: Wee Animalcules
Larry Maher's Big 5-Gallon Jar
6. Apr 12, 2009: The Twlight Zone
Larry Maher's Big 5-Gallon Jar

Album Review
Adam Pearson
Reviewed 2009-03-19
Irish Pirate Ballads and other Songs of the Sea - Dan Milner

The title is pretty self-explanatory; Irish pirate ballads. This is a few days too late! St. Patrick's day was a few days ago; this would have been perfect for it. This is slightly more folky and downtempo than drinking anthems, though. Some of these are minimalistic with only vocals and bouzouki. Check out the song booklet for notes on the origin of songs and lyrics. Lots of these are traditional Irish tales about people getting mixed up 'in the taverns and the seven seas.' Some of this blends into 'easy listening' and is the kind of stuff they play at Sea World. Not enough swashbuckling or drunken sing-a-longs for me. No FCC's noted.

*1. Folky guitar over Irish crooning vocals. Sings about his true love 10,000 miles away. The pirate imagery is abound, along with Irish references like Liffey River and such.(3:36)
2. More celtic-y, backup vocals, some sort of woodwind refrain, fiddle is here too. Outro is very sweet. (3:53)
3. More minimalistic, just vocals and bouzouki. Vocal line repeats, interesting storytelling. (4:12)
4. Subdued guitar ballad, fluttering flutes give it the feel of some jazz fusion new age easy listening or something, accordion is a nice touch.(5:36)
5. More urgent guitar part, about catching a fox in a trap?(3:47)
*6. Piano jingle, catchy in a traditional way, almost ragtimey, fuller orchestration on this track than most of these, banjo outro.(4:28)
7. Only Milner's voice. 6 minutes. This bored me.(6:25)
*8. More shanty, mandolin, concertina, banjo add nice texture to group vocals. One of the better Irish drinking pirate shanties on here.(3:13)
9. Not very different from the rest of the fare on here. Tremelo picking on one of the stringed instruments.(4:39)
10. I think the CD skipped near the beginning here, a good ol' drinking song with whores, beer, tobacco, gin, mandolin and concertina round out the sound.(3:53)
11. Melancholy on this one, slow one with strong bouzouki work, CD skipped again...maybe it's this player.(4:55)
*12. Fuller number with richer instrumentation, 'sailin' for the lowlands low.'(4:12)
13. The soft, sad conclusion, equipped with Sea World-esque jazz flute and smooth backing vocals, solid lead vocals.(5:34)


Track Listing
1. Ten Thousand Miles Away   7. The Flying Cloud
2. The Ballad Of O Bruadair / Out On The Ocean   8. Larry Maher's Big 5-Gallon Jar
3. Saucy Ward   9. Bold Mccarthy (The City Of Baltimore)
4. Captain Coulston   10. All For Me Grog / Parnell's March
5. Granuaile   11. Castle Gardens (Sixty Years Ago)
6. Get Up Jack, John, Sit Down / Miss Thornton's   12. The Lowlands Low
  13. The River Lea