Cat Music Blog and Cat Lovers Podcast

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Some albums dazzle you with the depth of lyrics, brilliant instrumental arrangements or sheer diversity of music. This CD is not one of those.

Instead, Marc Gunn (a founding member of the Brobdingnagian Bards) goes with a gimmick. Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers is exactly what it claims to be. The question is, how well does the gimmick stand up?

Pretty well, actually. Let's face it, Celtic music lovers are often somewhat obsessive about the tradition. Cat lovers are notoriously obsessive about their pets. Put them together and ... well, you're going to have a lot of people obsessing over your album. Anyone out there who loves cats and Celtic music might go into apoplectic shock with this one.

The songs are pretty standard Irish fare, the sort of things you'd hear being sung drunkenly in many a pub. But Gunn, clever wordsmith that he be, has rewritten the lyrics to fit his feline theme.

"Wild Rover" becomes "Wild Kitty," "Gypsy Rover" becomes "A Cat Named Rover," "Lord of the Dance" becomes "Lord of the Pounce," and so on. You get the idea. "The Cat Came Back," sung to the familiar tune of "The Moonshiner," tells the infamous tale from the cat's perspective. Just how did he survive all those catastrophes, anyway? Gunn has your answers.

Gunn leads the way on vocals and his ubiquitous autoharp. A variety of musicians (posing as the Dubliners' Tabby Cats) join him, adding fiddles and flutes and meows where needed.

So, Celtic cat lovers, rejoice! Marc Gunn has made an album just for you.

Labels: reviews

Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers

Imagine if "Weird Al" Yankovic produced a parody album where every song was about the same subject. Not just all songs being about food, like his compilation "Food Album" CD, but one specific food item such as egg salad. That will give you an idea on what Marc Gunn has done on his recently released Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

Every track on this disc is a parody of a traditional or Celtic song with new cat related lyrics. Instead of "I've been a Wild Rover" we hear "I've been a Wild Kitty." "Gypsy Rover" turns into "A cat named Rover." "I'll Tell My Ma" changes to "I'll Tell My Cat." You get the idea. One track, a parody of "Bonnie Ship the Diamond," caught my attention by being turned into "The Mining Ship the Red Dwarf," in reference to the Cat character on the British sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf.

Marc is half of the Texas-based music group, The Brobdingnagian Bards. His autoharp and distinct vocal style is heard throughout the album. The addition of extra instrumental accompaniment (flutes, percussion, bass, guitar, piano and so on) give it a fuller sound than a typical Bards album, but fans of the Bards should find the overall sound similar.

There are fifteen tracks included on this disc, all of which include words like "cat," "kitty," or "meow." Cat lovers and fans of Celtic and renaissance festival music (i.e. the non-period correct music typically heard at a renaissance festival) should find something to enjoy on this disc. It is well produced, and is an actual pressed CD with color cover artwork.

This disc may be purchased from CD Baby for $14.97 and bulk orders at a discount are available for those who might want to order 10, 30, or even 100 copies to give as gifts to their cat loving friends. While this may not be the type of album I would normally be into (I'm more of a dog person), it certainly seems to have found a niche audience that will appreciate the efforts.

More information can be obtained at www.catdrinkingsongs.com.

Labels: reviews

Labels: reviews

Labels: reviews

Labels: reviews