Customer Reviews

Tribe

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

 

 

This is the third excellent album in a row from Luka Bloom, following INNOCENCE (2006 -- see my review) and BETWEEN THE MOUNTAIN AND THE MOON (2002 -- see my review).

TRIBE is co-written and produced by Simon O'Reilly, who plays mini moog and keyboards as well as guitars, and O'Reilly gives the album a different sound, more produced and less folk-music oriented than the last two. This is a bit disorienting at first, but once you adjust, it sounds great! The first three songs are very slow and mellow, and then comes "Change," with a strong rhythmic pulse. It hit me on first listen that I hadn't heard this particular sound since Peter Gabriel's albums of the early 1980s.

The message of the title track is much needed, and eloquently expressed. Luka (Irish Catholic, of course) welcomes the provocative annual Protestant parade through Catholic neighborhoods in Belfast, asking "where is my tribe?" He notes that "Joyce lies in Zurich, Beckett lies in France, what anthem has the tune to their dance," and asks "who is my tribe, is it only green or is it in a rainbow of my dreams?" "Peace Rains" continues in this utopian vein, the utopian view that seems like common sense if you don't pay too much attention to how the world seems to work.

"Early Morning" and "Star of Doolin" are beautiful instrumental tracks. "I Am a River" conveys a serene spiritual message -- "I am a river, passing through..." "Homeless," a spoken-word piece, observes that a homeless man is the model urban citizen these days, with zero carbon emissions, as compared to a well-intentioned jet-setting singer (or the purchaser of petrochemically-based CDs by same, I might add).

[My only complaint about TRIBE is that Cooking Vinyl forgot to include a pouch in the cardboard part of the non-jewelbox CD case for the booklet with the lyrics, so it just falls out.]

Luka Bloom is almost exactly my age, and he seems to be carrying on the vision of peace that I carry around with me, from the days of the Vietnam War, through the nuclear brinksmanship of the 1980s, to today's world of wars for oil and God. Thank you, Luka.

PEACE, SHALOM, SALAM, NAMASTHE

I can't believe I'm about to write this...because I'm a HUGE Luka Bloom fan. I've bought all of his CDs, and love them all, with the exception of WHEN SLEEP COMES. And sorry to say, I'm not thrilled with TRIBE, either. All the songs sound the same--quiet, with no melody, no hook, no typical Luka sound. I listened to this while driving back from Myrtle Beach, and I swear, I almost fell asleep. Seriously! I had to eject it and put in another CD to wake me up so I didn't run off the road!

It's almost impossible for me to believe that this CD was recorded by the same man who gave us beautiful songs like "Sanctuary" and "Fertile Rock"--and all the songs on "Riverside" and "Innocence." Sorry, Luka, but for me, "Tribe" was a snoozefest. I trust (hope, pray) that his new CD, "Storm," brings back the Luka Bloom I know and adore!

Luka Bloom started his musical career playing a fast finger picking banjo with his brother Christy Moore in the Irish folk band Planxty, then he went solo with a fast strum guitar because of carpel tunnel or some physical problem with his fingers. Later in his solo career he slowed down the music, for example "Before Sleep Comes" when his hands needed a rest. Yet all his CD's had a certain tone & skill which keep you listening for Luka Bloom as one of the strongest songsmiths out there. Try the CD's "Acoustic Motorbike" or "Between the Mountain & the Moon" to sample Luka's highest musical art. With this CD, his guitar work is almost lost within a sound effect field. It doesn't sound like Luka Bloom at all, but a copy of some 1980ish rock band, mainly R.E.M. with their CD "Monster".

I wish to know if the change in sound & style was due to his on going phyical problem with his hands or did the new producer Simon O'Reilly come up with this idea?