Sharon Shannon and Friends
Libertango
Independent Records IRL001; 62 minutes;
2003
Liner notes
are like Oscar-acceptance speeches, a sure-fire means of telling whether someone
still follows the storyline or has completely lost the plot. So when the notes
for Sharon Shannon’s fifth studio album, Libertango, include thanks to
her accountants, hairdresser and dog, you should rightly worry. 
Indeed, it’s
a pity that there isn’t a picture of the dog’s breakfast for that would be more
fitting, considering the hotchpotch of styles and unimaginative arrangements
that bedevil Libertango. Sharon has long toyed with other musical genres
– collaborating on 1994’s Out the Gap with reggae producer Denis Bovell,
while 2000’s The Diamond Mountain Sessions saw her duetting with
Galician piper Carlos Nuñez. – but, for every successful alliance, there’ve
been appalling taste lapses such as her rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s Never
Going Back Again or her employment of the corncrake-larynxed singer Dessie O’Halloran.
Libertango’s opening track, The Whitestrand Sting
encapsulates all those frustrations, its intro tantalisingly mixing Sharon’s
accordion and a Latin-style brass section before embarking on a tune more
plodding than a clapped-out carthorse, while her version of Peter Green’s Albatross
is so leaden it’s a wonder the poor bird ever managed flight. As for the songs,
well, the title track (featuring the late Kirsty MacColl) was originally
released on 1996’s Each Little Thing. Pauline Scanlon is decidedly
off-key on All the Ways You Wander while Sinéad O’Connor is simply
herself on a couple of appearances. The two oddest, however, are Róisín
Elsafty’s rendition of An Phailístin, a Gaelic/Egyptian-language song
recounting the suffering of the Palestinian people, but getting a far too jolly
accompaniment, and the closing What You Make It (da da da da) which
reprises the opening track with the added gloss of the London rapper Marvel
(watch out for the undoubted forthcoming single release!).
Sharon’s
accountants, dog and hairdresser might be happy, but you’d be well advised to
seek alternative entertainment. Indeed, it is highly possible that the first-named
may become somewhat less than euphoric if the accordionist continues on a
career path which sees her increasingly becoming a session-player on her own
albums.
A slightly shorter version of this review by
Geoff Wallis first appeared in Songlines – www.songlines.co.uk.
For more information about Sharon
Shannon visit www.independentrecordsltd.com.