Out Of Ireland (Music Documentary)
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras: D Documentary: B
Producer/director David Hefferman delivers a stunning
documentary on the rise of modern Pop and Rock music in Out Of Ireland,
released in 2000. The subtitle is “from
a whisper to a scream” and another fitting term might be “from imitation to
assimilation” as the programs begins with conformist Rock imitators something
like Pat Boone in some odd way, to all the great artists that followed.
After the imitators, bands like Them (with Van Morrison)
and Taste started to forge an identity for a new wave of Irish music like
nothing since the traditional music the country became associated with. Van Morrison went on to one of the most
remarkable solo careers, as did Rory Gallagher and then came the breakout
success of Thin Lizzy. That was enough
of a foundation with other bands you are less likely to have heard of and a new
generation of Irish talent suddenly arrived.
Gilbert O’Sullivan had a huge international hit with Alone Again
(Naturally), both The Blades and Paul Cleary gave it a shot, then Bob
Geldof’s Boomtown Rats picked up, then Punk arrived and Ireland had their
contenders like The Radiators. Out of
New Wave came U2, The Pogues, and Shane McGowan, then Gay Woods, The
Cranberries, Clannad, Moving Hearts, Paul Brady, Sinead O’Connor, Chris De
Burgh, Mike Scott & The Waterboys, The Coors and Ash afterwards. The only problem is that some of the very
talented bands that decided to reinserted traditional Irish music in their work
brought on enough of a rollback that even Ireland landed up with “boy band”
syndrome, the kind of assimilation none of us need.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 x 1 image varies
throughout as all documentaries do, but the footage mix is better than usual in
this case and more watchable than usual as a result. Newer footage is shot on tape, while older film footage and TV
video is inserted throughout, along with some good stills. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has many cases
of monophonic spurts and there is not much Pro Logic action here, but this
sounds good just the same. Fortunately,
it is loaded with all the classic, key songs without which this particular
program would not be possible. There
are no extras here, but the show runs 158 minutes and it is constantly
impressive and thorough throughout. Out
Of Ireland is one of the best music documentaries on the market and a
must-see for all serious music fans.
- Nicholas Sheffo
