CHRISTY MOORE - Flying Into Mystery
Sony Music 19439845982
One of the true legends of Irish music, Christy Moore demonstrates here how best to deal with the lockdown – record another keystone album. Some songs are revisits of earlier classics – including a new, jollified version of Van Diemen’s Land (well, compared to the soulful version on his third album), and Dylan’s I Pity The Poor Immigrant, 40 years on from Planxty’s take.
At times, the subject matter is capable of stopping the listener in their tracks – for example the Ricky Lynch song, December 1942, which is a stunning holocaust memo. Christy Moore has always had the knack of choosing material that suits his velvet voice and delicate guitar style perfectly, and subject matter that begs attention. His passion comes across in his delivery, always, whether live, or as in this case, in the studio.
Myra’s Caboose is a revamp of an old song which Christy first encountered as The Gander (via Willie Clancy) and could almost be classed as Americana were it not for the references to Irish places. Greenland is an atmospheric Paul Doran song that conjures up magnificent images of Arctic journeys.
All in all, this is already one of my favourite Christy Moore albums. The only thing I personally have reservations about is having to access the sleeve notes and lyrics via the CM website – but that’s only a personal niggle. Doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a superior collection of songs.
www.christymoore.com
Grem Devlin
This review appeared in Issue 143 of The Living Tradition magazine