Live at Vicar St.

Since their emergence in the late ‘80s, Newry outfit The 4 Of Us have judiciously positioned themselves on the border where classy pop meets rock, and this live album provides a welcome chance to revisit their polished live sound and some of the better Irish pop tunes from our recent past. ‘Maybe It’s You’, ‘Mary’, and ‘She Hits Me’ still retain their vitality despite the passage of time, and benefit here from the impeccable ensemble playing, pristine recording and Brendan Murphy’s spot-on vocals. Indeed, Murphy is in superb form on the delicate ‘Someday Soon’ and ‘Free Spirit’. But the band could loosen up more often, as they do on ‘Drag My Bad Name Down’.
The under-recorded Vicar St. audience only seem to stir themselves towards the end, making much of this album resemble a private rehearsal or an act of worship. But it still serves as a live monument to one of our more revered bands, and proof they can deliver on stage as well as they can in the studio.