Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Mary Coughlan, Hail Mary Records 2017.
I had the great pleasure of seeing Mary Coughlan perform this album recently and it was a wonderful experience.
Mary is a living legend of Irish music although she isn’t known for singing traditional Irish tunes but rather for her outstanding affinity with jazz and blues.
Mary hails from County Galway and her troubled upbringing features in the lyric content of many of her songs.
She was the eldest of five children and suffered an erratic youth that saw her drinking alcohol and taking drugs, and at 15 years of age she spent time in a mental hospital.
These experiences are detailed in a song on the album which is interestingly titled This Is Not a Song.
Live & Kicking is Mary’s 17th album and the title is particularly poignant. In 2016 Mary became extremely ill and required heart and lung surgery.
Thanks to successful surgical intervention, by 2017 Mary was back on her feet again and in her own words was “in top form.”
She decided to celebrate her brush with mortality by recording this CD live at the Vicar Street in Dublin.
And what a celebration it is.
The album is 15 tracks in length and it is exactly the show I saw.
The only thing missing on the album is the patter between songs, the audience interaction, and more importantly the way she introduces the songs.
She had the audience in fits of laughter but also had them wiping away the tears with the power of her performance.
The album includes many of her big hits plus some wonderful covers.
Mary does fantastic versions of the Nancy Sinatra classic, These Boots Are Made For Walking, and Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale (which is her big audience participation number) but her rendition of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart was outstanding.
She slowed the song down and I heard it anew. In doing so she greatly increased the pathos in Ian Curtis’ lyrics and I felt a lump in my throat.
If you’re into jazz, blues, or soul then I suggest that you seek out this live album or one of her numerous studio albums.
