Keeper Of The Flame

It would seem that inside every successful singer songwriter there’s a covers album struggling to get out. Following George Michael, Annie Lennox et al, the fad now appears to be passing into Irish trad circles, with De Dannan’s ill-advised Hotel Hollywood effort and now Luka Bloom’s first release for two years. As always with these affairs, the temptation is to head for familiar territory and as is frequently the case, the results are a little disconcerting. Bloom is certainly not afraid to tackle material from outside his usual oeuvre, but there’s more than a touch of the Grafton St busker on offer, particularly during a 90-second dash through the Cure’s ‘In Between Days’.

Unsurprisingly, numbers by the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Tim Hardin are more suited to his rather basic sing and strum style, but he even manages to turn ‘Wishing On A Star’ into a plaintive ballad. The only damp squib is ‘Dancing Queen’ purely for the fact that it’s all too obvious – Abba’s back catalogue is such a wealth of poignant gems that this just is a wasted opportunity. An album of Luka originals would probably have been more invigorating but this is not a bad stop gap.