Galloping up on the inside towards his 70th birthday, Christy Moore has managed – not least by his longevity – to blindside those who would, simplistically, call him a singer-songwriter.
Social and cultural barometer, activist, pot-stirrer, commentator, eagle-eyed observer, satirist, raconteur, sage – the Co Kildare native is all of these and more. He is also a musician, a songwriter and an interpretive singer, but has never been the kind of music industry figure who churns out album after album just because he can.
Where I Come From is a three -CD collection of songs that Moore has been singing for decades (mostly), cherrypicked from different albums, live shows and memory.
It succeeds both as an overview of his work for his long-term fans and as an introduction for those who have only recently heard of him.
Listening to it from start to finish, you're struck by how adept he is at making other people's lyrics his own (Eamon Cowan's The Birmingham Six, Nigel Rolfe's Song For Annie Lovett), and by how many of his own songs have become standards (Delirium Tremens, Lisdoonvarna, Joxer Goes to Stuttgart).
The material highlights the fact that Moore is a unique per former whose identity is writ large across everything he does, yet isn’t overpowering or overbearing.
Moore has rerecorded most of the songs (some are new live recordings), presumably for reasons of sound quality and coherence.
“Best do it while I’m still able,” Moore writes, hopefully wryly, in the extensive explanatory notes.
A statement of continued intent as well as a towering achievement (there is no other Irish musician of his generation still releasing quality solo work), Where I Come From positions Christy Moore on a plinth with the words "National Treasure" chiselled at its base. There'll be a real statue soon and, surely, a song about it. christymoore.com
Download: Delirium Tremens, Lisdoonvarna, Song for Annie Lovett
