At last Young Dubliners have come back to their roots and recorded an all Irish album. The songs are all given a distinct rock and roll beat while still respecting their lyrics and melodies. Extended instrumental bridges facilitate the transition and we can enjoy the band's precise yet raucous performance. Some of the transitions were easy. Both, Fall from Grace with God and A Pair of Brown Eyes, are faithful renditions of the songs as written by Shane McGowan. Other songs fall easily into the rock-beat. Listening to traditional favorites like McAlpines Fusiliers, Rocky Road to Dublin and The Leaving of Liverpool, you'd think they were written with a rock beat in mind.

Weila Weile, made famous by the original Dubliners, is another song that easily lends itself to a rock interpretation. Even the famous skipping song, I'll Tell Me Ma, has a history of a rock interpretation by Van Morrison - although he would undoubtly be infuriated by Young Dubliners moving its locale from his native Belfast to Dublin. No such irreverence is shown to Patrick Kavanaugh's Raglan Road, which is given a properly stately performance.

TN 1763 CD $16