One thing about
Beoga's third album -- it's a very good-natured Irish beast. Yes, there's the abject sadness of "Mary Danced with Soldiers" for some variety, but most of the rest of this is upbeat and joyous, beginning with the raucous set of "Lamped." There's plenty of fabulous playing, as on "The Flying Golf Club" and the glorious "Fly Fishing," whose second half is delicious madness, while "The Bellevue Waltz" explodes into a huge swell of sound toward the end. Fiddler and singer Niamh Dunne turns in some sterling vocal performances on covers of
Clifford T. Ward's gentle "The Best Is Yet to Come" (an ideal closer) and an unusual take on "Strange Things," transposing the gospel of
Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Ireland in a far better way than it should. There are plenty of guests, but they never distract from the core, gleeful sound of the band, even when guest vocalist Ciaran Gribbin takes over singing chores on the hilarious "On the Way." They're equally comfortable on jigs, reels, waltzes and songs, complex but never convoluted. There's very little of the tradition on show, but it's all ineffably Irish -- and it all has a smile on its face. ~ Chris Nickson