The High Kings have been balladeering with no small degree of success since 2008. This latest collection is an object lesson in creative bankruptcy.
From their blithely jingoistic cover of Phil Coulter's Hand Me Down My Bible to their steroid-enhanced reading of Ride On, this foursome have filtered every single cover through a saccharine sieve, denuding each one of any of its original spirit.
Travesties abound, but their obliviousness of the poignant sense of loss at the heart of Good Night Irene renders this Lead Belly classic inert.
Even venturing to more contemporary material yields little by way of original thinking. The nadir of this collection is their inclusion of Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town.
At least Phil Lynott isn’t around to suffer that.
