Always In Style
There is a familiar expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The Dropkick Murphys very much adhere to this old adage on their seventh studio album, Going Out In Style, a follow-up to 2007’s The Meanest of Times. The Massachusetts septet delivers their usual brand of raucous celtic-fried rock n roll with equal parts Pogues and Sex Pistols. Despite the musical similarity to past work, the band, whose profile has risen in recent years thanks to Martin Scorsese’s use of Shipping Out to Boston on the soundtrack to his Oscar-winning The Departed, attempts their most ambitious work to date; a concept album centering around the character of Cornelius Larkin, whose story is told as if at the Irishman’s wake.
Going Out In Style traces Larkin’s life utilizing key stories from the band’s own personal experiences and family folklore. The liner notes for the record even feature an obituary written by noted Boston author, Michael Patrick MacDonald, perhaps most famous for his memoir, All Souls: A Family Story From Southie. Bassist Ken Casey has been quoted as saying, “Cornelius has passed to the other side, and the album becomes a retrospective of his life.”
In typical Dropkick Murphys fashion, the album begins at a breakneck pace with Hang ‘Em High and hardly ever loses steam. Bagpipes, accordions, guitars, banjos, tin whistles, and the like all blend together in a cacophony of sound with vocals that sound as if they were recorded by a group of mates drinking ‘round the corner at the local pub. As ever, the Murphys are a perfect soundtrack for a night of shenanigans on St. Patrick’s Day or even a Tuesday.
The album closes with a take on the traditional Irish song, The Irish Rover, which while it may not replace what many view as the definitive version by The Pogues and The Dubliners, is still a helluva good time. At their core, that is most certainly what the Dropkick Murphys do best. They give you songs to scream along to while the whiskey is flowing and there are good times to be had. Sometimes, that’s really all you need.
