|
 “Ceili”
(say: KAY-lee) is a Gaelic (Irish) word
that means “party,” specifically one with
live musicians, dancing, general merriment,
an all-ages crowd. “Coeli” is a form of
the Latin word for “heaven.” Rain is that
stuff that falls from the sky. Thus, Ceili
Rain is a “downpour of heavenly partiness.”
Ceili Rain follows up their
highly-acclaimed and wildly creative album
“Erasers On Pencils” with another
trip into joyous Celtic rock. If you've
never heard of Ceili Rain, think Iona, if
they threw a great big Irish block party.
The title of
their latest CD is
No You - No Me.
There are twelve songs on the album and
all of them have a Celtic Rock flavor.
Lead singer Bob Halligan calls it, "Celtic
music for a pop/rock palate." This fits
perfectly with the song, “Forty Shades of
Green.” It’s about the conflict in
Ireland. It talks about it
not being wrong to have either English or
Irish pride, but “how about ‘I’m on your
side’.” The song has a mixed sound of
AC/DC and U2. The Celtic pride shines also
in the song “A Hundred Smiles An Hour” as
it opens with bagpipes, drums and it goes
on for about a minute, before this feel
good song take off and gets you into
dancing a jig yourself. “I Love You
Always Works,” is about how reaching out
in love to others can build walls of
support, trust and spiritual connectedness
that last, creating lives and situations
that benefit everyone and please the
Lord. It’s an energetic song to encourage
people of faith and it has an easy rock
beat with a lively Celtic tune, expressive
vocals, with nice harmony. “There's
a buzz across this nation, you can feel it
shake the walls, like Jimmy Stewart when
he yells, Hello,
Bedford Falls! People want
to reach each other, build up trust brick
by brick, the right stones and the right
mortar will make it stick….”
Taking almost a new country sound mixed
with Celtic is “House Not Made With
Hands,” telling us to look forward to
getting to Heaven. The fiddle and guitar
solo are really worth the listen on this
one. The title track “No You – No Me,” is
a haunting song about people being at odds
with each other. Johnny leaves Bridget
only to find God and goes back home to
her. The ballad, “Queen For a Day” is
about not having anything, but an active
imagination to get beyond a young girl’s
hard troubles in her life. With stirring
arrangement of piano, Irish flute, violin,
strings,
interesting Celtic rhythms, she does her
best to keep her chin up, hang onto her
hope, and keep faith in her heart. Bob
Halligan says, "The most important thing
about Ceili Rain is that our music
celebrates life. This music strikes a deep
chord in people because it derives from a
collective yearning people have for God,
for spirituality, for home, for
togetherness. These songs are written to
be inclusive and inviting – anyone who
wants some joy out of life is apt to like
them. We are not here to serve a
particular group of people. The joy,
laughter and sense of fellowship that's
felt at our shows is geared to everyone –
all are welcome in this place.”
No You-No Me
is sure to have 'em dancing in the aisles
with some of Ceili Rain's best-written and
liveliest performances yet.
Reviewed by Jeff Burson for
the Catholic Music Network.
CDs are available from
www.catholicmusicnetwork.com
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