1987's A Sense of Freedom is perhaps the Wolfe Tones' most explicitly political album. Recorded at a period when friction between Irish Nationalists and Unionists over the fate of Northern Ireland was at the worst it had been in decades, A Sense of Freedom makes it explicit, in no uncertain terms, where the Wolfe Tones' sympathies lay. A concept album of sorts, A Sense of Freedom juxtaposes traditional ballads celebrating the old Republican heroes ("Michael Collins," "Galtee Mountain Boys") with new material written mostly by Derek Warfield and Brian Warfield; "Admiral William Brown" and "Joe McDonnell" are straightforward story songs using the recent history of IRA hunger strikes and pub bombings as a starting point. As a result, the songs are rawer and more pointed than one expects from most Celtic music, a style wrongly thought of as merely pretty by too many people. A Sense of Freedom is as political and passionate as any protest album from the '60s, both a document of its time and a timeless work of political outrage and sorrow.
Wolfe Tones
A Sense of Freedom
Share on
AllMusic Review by Stewart Mason
Track Listing
| Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
04:18 | ||||
| 2 |
|
02:36 | ||||
| 3 |
|
03:59 | ||||
| 4 |
|
04:38 | ||||
| 5 |
|
03:33 | ||||
| 6 | 04:31 | |||||
| 7 |
|
03:44 | ||||
| 8 |
|
03:59 | ||||
| 9 |
|
02:50 | ||||
| 10 |
|
03:00 | ||||
| 11 |
|
03:00 | ||||
| 12 | 02:50 | |||||
| 13 |
|
07:14 |
