The Irish Sea Sessions 2010

The inaugural Irish Sea Sessions, of which this is an electrifying live recording from last year’s Liverpool Irish Festival, brought together musicians from both sides of the Irish Sea. Fourteen musicians, singers, and songwriters – from traditional instrumentalists and singers to others who started out in pop, rock or punk, but all ‘inspired by music and song with a sense of place rooted in Liverpool, Ireland or amongst the Irish diaspora’. – came together to celebrate the music and close cultural links shared across the Irish Sea in the upmarket surroundings of Liverpool Philharmonic. Those who were lucky enough to be there still talk of the event in hushed tones. Now everyone else can enjoy the next best thing, thanks, rather splendidly, to the Liverpool Phil themselves.

With double-bass player Bernard O’Neill (whose indisputably diverse CV includes not only Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright but also an ongoing stint as musical director and producer for Rolf Harris!) directing this meeting of minds and musical talent, from singer-songwriters like Ian Prowse and Damien Dempsey to traditional players like Terry Clarke-Coyne and Graham Dunne, this close relative of the Transatlantic Sessions is likewise blessed with the atmosphere and attitude of a session but in a concert hall.

That said, I’m not entirely convinced of the wisdom of effectively expunging from this recording all the spoken intros, outros and general chit-chat, unlike many live albums. A certain sense of time and place is inevitably missing as a result. But that could prove no bad thing in the long run and what might feasibly have been lost in live atmosphere is certainly compensated for by the sheer quality of the musicianship and the joyful camaraderie on display in this enormously enjoyable album.