Celebrating a half-century on the road this year, the national treasure that is Christy Moore shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, he’s been busier than ever, with an upcoming Cambridge Folk Festival appearance being just one highlight in his busy live itinerary. Coming on the back of Journey, the recent TV documentary on his life and work, Lily features songs from some of Moore’s favourite songwriters.
From the playful ‘The Tuam Beat’ to the exquisite ‘The Gardener’, this Declan Sinnott-produced collection is vintage Christy. The joyful ballad ‘Mandolin Mountain’, written by veteran Galway folk singer Tony Small, is tailormade for the singer and he duly makes it his own, while his inspired take on Declan O’Rourke’s ‘Lightning Bird Wind River Man’ is worth the price of admission alone. However, Christy certainly hasn’t lost his acerbic side: ‘Oblivious’ is a pointed polemic against boom-and-bust economics. Moore takes no prisoners as he sings, “We gave all our treasure away for half nothing, they banished our children to labour on rich foreign shores.”
Elsewhere, the folk standard ‘Green Grows The Laurel’, recorded by Sandy Denny among others, has also been given an imaginative makeover, with guitars, concertina and a nice drone-like texture backdropping the keening melody. Another highlight is the eerie spoken word piece ‘Lost Tribe Of Wicklow Mountain’, about a mysterious band of souls who wander the hills in the dead of night: “They could be rebels who outran the red coats, they could be ravers... cavortin’ in thousand day hoolies.” Lily is pure magic!
Rating: 8/10