Customer Reviews

Iraq

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have had several conversations with people who like Black47 but believe this album has too much of a political bent.
It's my thinking that those opinions are more based on the title and the cover than the actual album itself.
I love the fact that it's a concept album,
that all of the songs tie into one theme but, I am also very glad that the band does not press upon the listener to subscribe to any particular political agenda.
The songs, like all of Black47's songs through the years, are songs about people in a certain place at a certain time.
No matter what your personal thoughts are on the situation 'over there',these songs will connect and resonate.

Iraq is the masterpiece that this band has been building up to for years, not classically "Irish" per se, but classically "human" and highly reccomended.

It's hard not to respect IRAQ. Black 47 is one of the few bands that are unabashedly political, willing to put their beliefs to music and let the chips fall where they may. The biggest problem that faces this CD's acceptance is the idea that this shouldn't be what music is for; forgetting all the great protests from musicians like Guthrie, Dylan, Young and all the others who refused to allow events to go by without comment. IRAQ gives us the story of the Iraq War from a variety of perspectives. The comradeship of men at arms, the confusion over what soldiers are fighting for, Cindy Sheehan's lonely struggle, and even the rampant consumerism of Americans at home while soldiers are fighting so far away are all subjects for Larry Kirwan's pen. While the CD occasionally errs on the side of seriousness, a few bits of levity creep in to lighten the mood and the stays true to its concept from beginning to end. The band writes that this "is an attempt to distill some of their (soldiers) stories and emotions into song." This they successfully do.