After about thirty listens I've finally decided to review this wonderfully charming third album from Mick Flannery.
Mick Flannery as an artist is a bit of a mystery to me. Yes his vocals are superb and the songs well written but his music rarely inspires me or makes me enthusiastic. 'Red to Blue' was released a good few months back and went to number 1 in the Irish Album charts. His domestic success has been astounding with selling out the Olympia theater, regular radio play and filling up venues around the country. With all this exposure and his obvious talents I still found it difficult to write enthusiastically about his music.
That is until the release of this album 'Red to Blue'. Mick's vocals gives the album it's gritty edge while the music throughout is beautifully composed. What results is a charming album of tracks that blend together to be the perfect album.
Standout tracks are the Springsteen-esque opener 'Gone Forever', the gritty charming title track and the upbeat bluesy 'No Way To Live'. In truth there isn't a bad track on the whole album. Any one song could easily be a single. In fact some songs have had official videos produced for them and added to YouTube such as this one 'Ships in the Night'.
I tip my cap to Mick Flannery for producing an album of songs which is this good. I hope he goes global on this as it's a special album of songs.
Mick Flannery - Red to Blue [11 out of 12]
http://www.mickflannery.com/
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