Kev Boyle
With
A.K.A The Movies Ceili Band
Maggie Boyle: Vocals
Mick Sands: Vocals/Flute/Whistle
Paul Brennan: Vocals/Uilleann pipes/Bodrhan
Brendan McGlinchey: Fiddle
Karen Ryan: Fiddle
Giles Lewin: Fiddle/ Vocals
Michael O'Connell: Accordion
Pick Withers: Drums
Nigel Portman Smith: Bass/Keyboards/Producer
BRASS SECTION
Raul O'Olivera
Steve Gregory: Tenor Sax
Pete Thomas: Trombone
We are delighted to introduce you to this classic recording from 1999, this has been a large part of daily life in Copperplate Towers. Back in the day, Kev surrounded himself with the cream of London's thriving Irish trad scene teamed with session musicians of the highest calibre to create this unique album.
If ever there was a template of how not to release your debut album this is a classic! From the artwork, a head of cabbage! and naming the artist as The Movies Ceili Band? There were many other hurdles Kev managed to knoock over, which meant this album didn't achieve it's full potential.
We see Kev's unuique take on life and his ability to put them to music, reminiscenct of the work of The Incredible String Band, maybe. Like ISB years ahead of it's time posing the questionbanck in 99 "Do You Think we're all connected", years before the internat and the mobile phone, not to mention "fishes lead fishy lives".
I have played with Kev over 30 years, he is the most sympathetic of accompanists, with the unique ability of making everybody sound better.
Kev is a major contributor to London's Irish music scene and long may play and write his brilliantly unique music.
Also by Kev Boyle: Palestine Grove
Audio
Track 1: Bon Cabbage
Track 2: Ride A Wild Pony
Track 3: Number One Sardine
Track 4: Portobello
Track Listing
- Bon Cabbage/Reels
- Ride A Wild Pony
- The Hills of Zanzibar
- Number One Sardine
- The Boy Who Lost His Laugh
- Portobello
- The Twenty Third of June
- The Boys of the Lough
- La La La
- The Sign of Love
Press Reviews
Rock’n’Reel
Bon Cabbage mostly consists of original songs by Kevin Boyle. Kevin has been playing around the London-Irish folk scene for many years, but this is his first recording venture, for which he has gathered a band comprising – as well as his wondrous (and more famous) sister, Maggie, Pentangle’s Nigel Portman-Smith, Pick Withers, (ex Dire Straits drummer), uilleann pier Paul Brennan, whistle/flute player, Mick Sands, champion accordionist Michael O’Connell, n o less that three fiddlers (Karen Ryan, Brendan McGlinchey and Giles Lewin) as well as a three piece brass section.
Kevin’s idiocentric but attractive songs take a wry slant on aspects of London life. Number One Sardine is a singalong paean to London’s traffic congestion. On Portobello the words are superbly matched stylistically by a melting pot of Irish tunes, riffing brass and Caribbean influences that mirrors the area’s vibrant mix of cultures.
Elsewhere too, more than once I was reminded of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Hills of Zanzibar is a strangely catchy piece of Cajun-Ceilidh-Reggae nonsense. The only song, which didn’t really appeal to me, was the closing Sign of Love, where the cabaret-soul-style arrangement And Paul Brennan’s vocal seem at odds with the style of the rest of the album.
The lone instrumental, Boys of the Lough, is packed with showband vitality. Actually, the same spirit of amiable fun pervades the band arrangements throughout, wherein little snatches of tunes are constantly intervening between stanzas, and it’s hard not to respond enthusiastically to Kevin’s worldview. And, let’s face it, how often do you come across the word “diaspora” in a chorus? David Kidman
