Review Summary: Though once in Different Company, we are happy that Seven Nations is here.
The story of Seven Nations, though largely unsung, is one to take notice of. The tale of Seven Nations dates back to lead singer Kirk McLeod’s high school days. During that time, McLeod was trained traditionally in the bagpipes. Later in 1993, McLeod formed Clan Na Gael with his buddies in New York City while working as a bartender. After changing the band’s name to Seven Nations, McLeod’s band began playing shows in earnest, and they released their debut album
Rain And Thunder in 1994. They quickly followed up with
Old Ground in 1995 and
Big Dog in 1996. By this point, people were beginning to take notice of the scruffy-looking band rocking out with bagpipes in the bar down the street. After releasing the highly ambitious
The Factory in 1999, Seven Nations was ready to break into the mainstream. And then, it happened. After the departure of member Neil Anderson and Nick Watson, McLeod decided that the band needed a more mainstream-friendly sound. The result? A self-titled album in 2000 and a follow up called
And Now It’s Come To This in 2002. As much as I like Seven Nations, I am forced to say as an honest critic that these albums were definitely stinkers. And thus, the Seven Nations hype died down. However, they managed to maintain their super-devoted cult fan base. And, throughout all their releases since
And Now It’s Come To This, we have been hanging on to the hope that Seven Nations might pull something drastic out of the hat. And let me say this: Although
Tales From The Eighth Nation didn't live up to all of our expectations, it came close.
First things first: If you would want to listen to Seven Nations at all (which is recommended), listen to it for the music. Between Kirk McLeod’s soaring vocals, Struby’s guitar playing, Will MacMorran’s piping, Victor Gagnon’s fiddling, and Crisco’s drumming, Seven Nations has a line-up of well-trained musicians. The highlights of their albums are often their instrumental pieces, which seldom disappoint.
Tales From The Eighth Nation has two instrumental tracks itself: The Pipe Set and the Fiddle Set. Both of these,
especially the Fiddle Set, are a ton of fun to listen to. Moreover, the instrumentation in the rest of the songs is excellent as well, but it’s hard to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Victor Gagnon when he has the stage to himself. Seven Nations definitely surpasses all expectations in their instrumentation.
Of course, when it comes to Kirk’s song-writing, it’s always hit-or-miss. One of the major downsides of
And Now It’s Come To This was that, along with the lack of instrumentals, the lyrics were cheesy, trite, and shallow. Now, it’s worth taking notice that Seven Nations has come a long way since then, but, ever since 2002, their lyrics have just never been as deep as they once were in the 90s. Unfortunately, you hear reminiscing of that era on this album. Although the afore-mentioned instrumentation is fantastic, it’s just so difficult to get over the sometimes cheesy, Dave Matthews-y lyrics. Now, some of the songs, such as “Allison Street” and “Mexico,” show little to no marks of shallowness. One of the highlights of
Tales is "Go Daddy," a haunting, dark anthem. "Planet" and "Nostradamus" are also pretty darn good, too, especially since they feature the catchiest fiddle/pipe hooks on the record. Unfortunately, a couple of songs are a bit shallow. Some songs, such as“Offsides,” although decent, fail to provoke the thoughts we all wish we had.
Seven Nations is a great band, but it’s hard to overcome that detail in
Tales From The Eighth Nation. Despite that, however,
Tales has some great tunes. Songs like “Happy That You’re Here,” “One Last Cup,” and “Cuts You Up” are just fine tunes. One of the most interesting songs is “Different Company” (which sounds uncannily similar to another song they have called “Big Yellow Bus”). It seems to be, oddly enough, a sort of autobiography. Seven Nations, despite their occasionally shallow songs, was once a truly fantastic band. Those of us who still follow them fervently hope that they might go back to that. Of course, we’re not disappointed with the current Seven Nations, not to say the least. Although Seven Nations didn’t give the performance we were
really hoping for, it’s still pretty good. Also, it’s important to know that Seven Nations can only be fully appreciated when seen live. Their live performances are fantastic! And, since their constantly on tour, it shouldn't be too much a problem to see them.
Although Seven Nations was once in Different Company, they’re not bad now at all. This album is for sure worth a listen.
[Edit: 9/20/14. As you can see, I have changed my opinion on the song "Go Daddy," and included details on other songs. I have found that I have much more to say about this record after listening a while.]
