"Sweeney's Men/The Tracks Of Sweeney + Bonus Tracks" by SWEENEY'S MEN (September 2017 Beat Goes On 2CD Reissue - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Some Pleasures To See..."

Good gawd man - was it really 50 years ago! In truth it's been nearly four and half decades since I last heard these two Transatlantic Records albums from 1968 and 1969 (picked up on them in the early Seventies) and I'd honestly forgotten how good they are – especially the huge leap forward on their second and last studio platter. Typically too - England’s Beat Goes On has once again delivered a stunning Remaster of both in 2017 - making these Irish Folk artefacts all spangly new again and very much ripe for roots rediscovery. But a little history first because these influential Irish and English boys are absolutely steeped in it...

A forerunner of Planxty, Horslips, The Bothy Band and even Moving Hearts - SWEENEY'S MEN initially consisted of three seriously talented individuals deeply enamoured with Irish, Scottish and English Traditional Folk, Americana tales of woe and murder and the occasional European waxy dargle dalliance - Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine and Terry Woods. Each multi-instrumentalist also had distinctive voices and tones that made for sweet three-part harmonies when they merged (check out "Dicey Riley").

Musically you’re dealing with two radically different recorded beasts here – the first album is pure Trad Folk – while album No. 2 has its Traditional moments too (instrumentals and covers) – it also has a more Incredible String Band Acid-Folk vibe and reflects the emergence of American and British singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake. In fact I’ve always thought the duo should have changed the band name for LP No. 2 such is the difference in sound. With original songs from Terry Wood and some very melodic co-writes with Henry McCullough changing everything – LP 2 feels like a huge leap forward and in 2018 – a bit of an undiscovered masterpiece to my ears.

After the band imploded – they had a huge history especially in the emerging Folk-Rock genre of the Sixties and Seventies. Dubliner Moynihan later joined the ranks of Dr. Strangely Strange for their second album “Heavy Petting” on Vertigo in 1970 (Irvine played on it too as did Skid Row’s Gary Moore), joined Planxty and De Danaan in the early to mid Seventies and The Fleadh Cowboys in the Eighties. Englishman (born of Irish parents) Andy Irvine made a famous self-titled duet album with Paul Brady in 1976 on Mulligan Records (much beloved in the fair city and beyond), joined Planxty too, played with Dick Gaughan, Christy Moore, Patrick Street, Barry Moore (later Luka Bloom), Jimmy Faulkner and just about everybody else on the Irish Folk scene. Terry Woods would split off from Sweeney's Men to form the revered and hugely collectable The Woods Band and thereafter pump out four Folk-Rock albums with his wife as Gay and Terry Woods (she would also later form Auto Da Fe in the Eighties). Woods left after the first Sweeney’s Men album and was replaced by another sessioning English axeman - ex Eire Apparent and future Wings guitarist Henry McCullough who contributed two songwriting co-credits on the second SM album. The original three (Moynihan, Irvine and Woods) are all but Folk and Folk-Rock superstars now in Ireland and beyond. And on it goes.

So let us now appreciate that innocent beginning and get all Pretty Polly on this release (some pleasures to see)...

UK and USA released September 2017 - "Sweeney's Men/The Tracks Of Sweeney + Bonus Tracks" by SWEENEY'S MEN on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1298 (Barcode 5017261212986) offers 2LPs from 1968 and 1969 Remastered onto 2CDs with Four Bonus Tracks (the A&B-sides of two non-album 7" singles from 1967 and 1968) and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (40:51 minutes):

1. Rattlin' Roarin' Willy [Side 1]

2. Sullivan's John

3. Sally Brown

4. My Dearest Dear

5. The Exile's Jig

6. The Handsome Cabin Boy

7. Dicey Riley [Side 2]

8. Tom Dooley

9. Willy O' Winsbury

10. Dance To Your Daddy

11. The House Carpenter

12. Johnston

13. Reynard The Fox

Tracks 1 to 13 are their debut album "Sweeney's Men" - released 1968 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 170 (produced by BILL LEADER)

Disc 2 (45:21 minutes):

1. Dreams For Me [Side 1]

2. The Pipe On The Hob

3. Brain Jam

4. Pretty Polly

5. Standing On The Shore

6. A Mistake No Doubt [Side 2]

7. Go By Brooks

8. When you Don't Care For Me

9. Afterthoughts

10. Hiram Hubbard

11. Hall Of Mirrors

Tracks 1 to 11 are their second and last studio album "The Tracks Of Sweeney" - released 1969 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 200 (produced by BILL LEADER).

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Old Maid In A Garret

13. The Derby Ram

Tracks 12 and 13 are the non-album A&B-sides of a UK 7" single on Pye Records 7N 17312 released 24 April 1967

14. Waxies Dargle

15. Old Woman In Cotton

Tracks 14 and 15 are the non-album A&B-sides of a UK 7" single on Pye Records 7N 17459 released 30 January 1968

The card slipcase and 24-page booklet add this Beat Goes On 2CD Reissue (BGO) a feeling of class. JOHN O'REGAN does his usual first-rate job of disseminating the tangled history of the band and especially the musical legacy of the core trio of players - Moynihan, Irvine and Woods. You get repros of the original artwork and pages of detailed history - very impressively done. But again the big news is new 2017 ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters that are wonderfully clear and warm - full of acoustic instruments and Bill Leader's complimentary production. These really are beautiful sounding discs...

Apparently recorded in one booze-laden 36-hour session - the debut album "Sweeney's Men" (the band's name is from a Flann O'Brien character in "At Swim-Two-Birds") is traditional Irish and English Folk with an Americana murder ballads twist. The three alternate solo vocals - so Moynihan leads off the first two songs accompanied by his Bouzouki on "Rattlin' Roarin' Willy" - a slip reel with words reputedly by Robbie Burns - while he reaches for the tin whistle on "Sullivan's John" - a travelling tinker song bolstered up by lovely Harmonica from Irvine. "Sally Brown" is the first with Irvine on Lead Vocals - a wey-hey tarry-sailor song where he recalls a one-legged captain in Virginia and a Liverpool liner where he met the lovely Sally (the concertina by Woods gives the air a wonderful wistful feel - similar in fact to tracks on Horslips' debut album "Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part" in 1973).

Terry Woods gets his turn with "My Dearest Dear" - a tune he'd written to lyrics given him by Peggy Seeger. "Dicey Riley" shows their combined talent - all three going at it Acapella. Speaking of that format - Kate Bush fans will know she did a truly gorgeous virtually voice-only version of "The Handsome Cabin Boy" as one of the non-album B-sides to the 12" single for "Hounds Of Love" in February 1986. Here Johnny Moynihan fills his "Handsome Cabin Boy" with harmonica and you can't help thinking that our Kate was listening to the Sweeney's Men as a child.

The second album is the real jewel here for me. Terry Woods penned four originals for the album – the gorgeous strummed Folk-Rock opener “Dreams For Me” as well as “Brain Jam”, “When You Don’t Care Me” and “Afterthoughts”. He also co-penned “A Mistake No Doubt” and “Hall Of Mirrors” with Henry McCullough and Johnny Moynihan and arranged the Traditional Song covers “Pretty Polly”, “Standing On The Shore” and “Hiram Hubbard” with Moynihan. The other Traditional on here is the instrumental “The Pipe On The Hob” – the most straight up Folk song on the LP. But the album’s singer-songwriter heart truly lies with the acoustic-Dylan vibe surrounding “Pretty Polly” – a pleasures you can see tale of American doomed love – over the mountains and the valleys they did go until he slept on her grave all night. In fact you can so hear where Natalie Merchant and Willie Watson got that back-to-basics Americana sound – songs dripping with the ghosts of the past.

Echoes of Nick Drake and his acoustic lonesomeness appear in the lovely “Standing On The Shore” – a seaman recounting faces from the past that are now gone (nothing standing clear). Tom Rush circa "Circle Game" and Joni Mitchell circa "Song For A Seagull" all collide in the gorgeous "A Mistake No Doubt" where high-stringed guitars, strummed zitars and penny whistles all combine to give a gorgeous Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance feel. Taking Leonard Cohen’s poem "Go By Brooks" – Terry Woods give it some mumbler sorrow in a very quiet Acoustic number – rivers and eels and my love walking there. Better is a double of acoustic love songs - "When You Don't Care For Me" (so Nick Drake) and "Afterthoughts" – lone gut-string notes and gently flicked finger-cymbals giving it something of an Incredible String Band and Dr. Strangely Strange feel. This great album ends of two more winners – the not guilty Traditional "Hiram Hubbard" and the second of McCullough's impressive contributions "Hall Of Mirrors" – echoed strums and a recorder once again making your hear the influence of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. The four impossible-to-find single sides are pure diddly-idle Irish Folk with a witty twist – a man wooing his lack of marriage prospects and so on.

Both original LPs are listed at £90 in the Rare Record Price Guide of 2018 – but try actually finding copies. They must have sold squat at the time because from experience I can recall only seeing either sporadically across the decades that I ran the Rarities Dept. in Reckless Records in London – a busy, busy store for stock. Transatlantic began a reissue campaign in 1977 and put out “The Tracks Of...” LP in different coloured artwork - but minus the “Afterthoughts” song on Side 2. Even that’s listed too as a rarity.

So – two hard-to-find but worth it records (one being an undiscovered gem in my books) – and four uber-rare single sides – and all of it in gorgeous audio and proper presentation kudos – I'm giving it five stars. More importantly I'd urge you to check these out and don't feel they’re just 'Folk' per say – that last studio platter is so much more than that. At Swim Two CDs...