Several tracks are anthemic, the sort of sound that will surely produce foot stomping, fist pounding and the rowdy sing-along. “State of Massachusetts” begins with a pretty banjo riff by Tim Brennan, but shortly launches into an unapologetic look at the realities of life: “…the poison stole your babies/the judges took your rights/you can have your children/or the night.”
“Vices and Virtues”, another hard-driving tune, would sound fun, if it were played on a karaoke machine sans lyrics. But you start to hear the story of “four brothers in the ground” – the effect is jarring: “ …He froze in a South End alley/Behind a gin mill left to die/and another died by the bullet/at the hand’s of a sniper’s gun/in the valley of Nha-Trang for a/war we never won…”
Other tracks on Times are the Murphys’ re-worked versions of traditional Irish tunes. “(F)Lannigan’s Ball” is a special one, particularly because this recording was graced with Spider Spacey from The Pogues and Ronnie Drew from The Dubliners. “Fairmount Hill,” a typical Boston barroom ballad, is an adaptation of Michael Considine’s “Spancil Hill,” but with an updated arrangement and lyrics.
But what gives this album its deepest flavor are the original works like “Rude Awakenings.” The melody line is grim and deliberate and the tempo is quite slow on the first few verses of this song about ‘the morning after.’ But when the beat speeds up, it makes the words even more profound: “I pulled on my clothes still half in a dream/as I struggled with my conscience & a multi-directional stream/…I buried my loneliness with her for the night/then left with new symptoms no anti-depressant could cure."
My only complaint about this CD would be that there are not enough of Scruffy Wallace’s pipes. A girl with the maiden name of O’Dougherty does have a hankering for those sorts of Celtic trappings, luckily for me the tin whistle, accordion and mandolin do find their way throughout the album, along with the earthy vocals. And overall the songwriting is exceptional, the lyric examples given here so far are just a glimpse at the genius of The Meanest of Times.
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1 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.