by Paul #20

The Irish Rovers "Tall Ships and Salty Dogs" 1979
LP Rip 192-224 VBR

The Irish Rovers were a group of young Irish musicians who in 1963 got together in Canada becoming even more Irish than they had been at home. They played a broad mix of music but there was, in my view, always a reliance on strongly Irish-accented singing voices. This was a highly successful approach resulting in such hits as the comic songs "The Unicorn" (and their failure to make it onto the Ark); and "The Orange and the Green" (telling of the problems of having a dedicated Catholic mum and an equally dedicated Protestant father in Ireland). Their other major hit was "Whiskey on a Sunday" about a poor puppeteer who drinks buttermilk all week but longs for his whiskey on a Sunday.
The Irish Rovers are far from being my favourite singers but I came across the "Tall Ships and Salty Dogs" 1979 LP on the last weekend and was very pleasantly surprised. Mind you, I am a strong fan of shantys (shantees or chanteys if you prefer) and what many refer to as salt water songs. This LP contains 18 tracks including 8 traditionals, two Gordon Bok songs, and 4 originals written by band members. The shantees include the ever-popular "New York Girls", "Blow the Man Down" and "Rio Grande" (Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil).
The LP graphics are included (New Zealand issue). The album has not, to my knowledge, been issued on CD.