Are We Having Fun? Dan Donnelly
The
title of Dan Donnelly's latest album is rhetorical. Best summed up by
the front cover where the question is captioned in ironically
cheerful writing beneath a tourist couple happily snapping away at an
emerging mushroom cloud.
“Are we having
fun?”
is a line from the opening track: “Time
of Our Lives.”
(No...not
that one. That's Green Day). It kind of reflects much of the material
within. “I
don't Care” is
a tongue-in-cheek protest song about protest. Like most of us,there
isn't much that Dan isn't sick of. He lists them all here.
Politicians and journalists. Elections, Brexit, Austerity and
Recession. The Unemployment,Disaffected Youth and food additives. All
get cheerfully eviscerated:
“Blah
Blah Blah! Flood warning! Something something, Nuclear War: Rhubarb
rhubarb National Debt:Blah blah blah Terrorist Threat,” he
rages. Three minutes of noisy,anarchistic grumbling,passionately
played and so waspishly delivered that he evidently really does
care. ( Me? I rather cared for it. See what I did there?).
Dan
has
an impressive pedigree. He honed his art in Ireland and New York
before settling in Exeter and then moving to Teeside. As well as solo
success he has guested with The Levellers, The Wonder Stuff, Seth
Lakeman and The Oysterband.
Recorded
at Green Dragon Studios in Stockton by Adam Gilbert and mixed at 811
Studios by King Glover, this album has overall a very strong
Country/Greengrass feel to many of the songs. There is impressive
instrumentation on most of the tracks, featuring
drums,fiddle,banjo,bass, accordion and “everything
else.”
( Dan's not kidding either:there's even a mellotron somewhere in
there too!)
Most
songs are original compositions except a cover of Suzanne Vega's
“Gypsy.”
Stripped
of a lot of the production bells and whistles,this reveals a
sensitive vocal,well articulated. By contrast,his other cover version
is of Johnny Mercer's “I'm
an Old Cowhand.”
Once recorded by Bing Crosby, there is much Yippie Yi Yo-Kayah about
it. Barrelhouse piano and a blousy trombone solo add to the good
time feel..
“Docklands.”
is another jolly hootenanny celebration,listing the broad canvas of
erm...“characters”
one might meet on the quaysides or wharves of any disreputable
Seaport Town. Canada Water and Mudchute it ain't: there's not a
briefcase in sight.
When
Dan does get serious, the results are endearing. “Son
On The Horizon”
is a charming homage to impending fatherhood. “Things
are going to change for you and me,”
he
predicts. “What
If?” features
a duet between Dan and Cecillia Donnelly. A daughter I'm guessing who
emerged from that same horizon? It's actually rather nice. ”Keep”
is a modest tempo song greatly enhanced by some sensitive accordion
playing from Gayna Grimshaw.
“Do
It Till You Die”, a
noisy encouragement to excess in all things which restores the rowdy
and defiant hellraising.
“Music is Free”
has an intro redolent of “Money”
by The Flying Lizards. It's a comedic swipe at the perils of
attempting to make a living out of musicianship. Radio Ga Ga meets
Dr.Hook. “Everybody's
getting paid but me,”
he complains.
Dan's
music is innovative,angry in places and sprinkled with one or two
snippets of industrial language that the aspiring Folk Radio Jock
might chose to bleep out. Sometimes bitter,often sarcastic and always
thought-provoking, his songs are quite short,which is a godsend for
radio presenters. His admirable approach seems to be “if
I can't get it said in under 4 minutes it ain't worth saying.”
The
one exception to this is “Happy
Ever After.”
(which is far from happy).It opens with an ominous melange of
distorted radio messages indicating clearly that something untoward
is happening. It is Dan's attempt at storytelling. Not a particularly
comfortable story as it is the reminiscence of a guy who has shot his
partner dead.
Dan's
songs are always interesting and deserve reflection beyond a first
hearing. The album comes as a gatefold CD. I looked in vain for a
song sheet. Not because I did not understand the songs,but because on
subsequent listening I would have liked to have read further and
analysed them a bit more deeply.
