| BILLBOARD – January 20th 1996 Cry Of A Dreamer U.S. debut album by Irish troubadour Sean Tyrrell sounds like a long-lost gem from the vaults of an Irish folk catalog. In fact, it’s a brand-new album by a current artist who happens to be profoundly steeped I Celtic tradition and untempered by modern musical influences. The release – which was named Irish album of the year by Folk Roots – includes such lovely tunes as "Coast Of Malabar", a traditional lyric with music by Tyrrell; a trilogy of ancient poems that Tyrrell also set to music; and such varied fare as "Isle Of Innisfree", "Mattie", and the title track. Featuring Davy Spillane on Uilleann pipes and low whistle and Mairtin O’Connor on accordion, among others, "Cry Of A Dreamer" is a feast of traditional Irish music. The genuine article.
"Acoustic Guitar"-July 1996 The recording that rounds out this British Isles collection is not centered around guitar, but around Sean Tyrrell’s Gibson mandocello, which he uses for both rhythm and lead work instead of the more commonplace bouzouki or ten-string cittern. This first solo effort from the Irish musician, Cry of a Dreamer, is a terrific entrée into contemporary Irish folk music. Tyrrell has a throaty, exuberant vocal style that is at times upbeat, at times intimate. He’s a good composer, too, and he puts several poems to music on this album. Tyrrell gets great musical backup from Davy Spillane on uilleann pipes and whistle, Tommy Peoples on viola, and Martin O’Connor and Paul Gunning on accordion. Hearty praise should also go to producer P.J. Curtis, whose obvious love of Cajun music and zydeco rhythm flavours several cuts. All of these artists are very talented performers, and the strength of these recent releases should gain them wider recognition on the American side of the Atlantic. Art Edelstein Irish Times l Seán Tyrrell: "Cry Of A Dreamer" Longwalk Music, LMCD 001 (55 mins). In Irish traditional song the poetic voice is dominant. Words and music are interdependent. Seán Tyrrell has long been drawn to the connection between poetry and music; his adaptation of Brian Merriman’s Midnight Court as "traditional opera" made the connection explicit and won considerable critical acclaim. Developing his talents as an arranger and adapter of poetry merely served to complete Seán Tyrrell’s apprenticeship in the bardic skills, for it was as a singer and performer of traditional songs that he first came to prominence. Cry Of A Dreamer displays all those skills. The Coast of Malabar is an old traditional song learned in the time-honoured way from other singers, while Mattie and Blue Green Bangle are well-known contemporary folk songs which speak to the modern human condition. The high points of the album are, not surprisingly, the settings of poems. The John Boyle O’Reilly trilogy is well sustained over three songs; the last one, Only From Day to Day, carries an immediately attractive melody, while Louis MacNiece’s Bagpipe Music to a variant of Pop Goes The Weasel is a natural vehicle for song. Nuala O’Connor Roots Salad John O’Regan introduces a legend who only just made his first CD. Sean Tyrrell, the Galway singer and instrumentalist whose reputation veers nearer to ‘legendary’ status recently issued his first solo album. Cry Of A Dreamer is richly varied work with a selection of material both lyrical and diverse, typical of the man himself. A former teacher, a love of poetry fuelled him to compose a musical version of Brian Merriman’s epic satire of 18th century sexuality, The Midnight Court. This toured the length and breadth of Ireland and did Sean Tyrrell’s name no end of good. For though he is a household name in the West, his notoriety is slowly spreading countrywide. Cry Of A Dreamer will no doubt do the necessary to establish him nationally. How do you describe Sean Tyrrell to anyone who asked the famous question "What is he like?" He is the first of all a singer with a rich vibrant passionate voice capable of great emotion and sincerity. He is also no mean instrumentalist specialising in guitar, mandocello and banjo accompaniments which add a backdrop of extra subtlety to his singing. His material comes from sources such as the written work, the works of Irish poets and writers and songwriters such as the wickedly wonderful Johnny Mulhern and the neglected David Callinan, the caustic words of Irish poet Louis McNiece and Tyrrell’s personal discovery, John Boyle O’Reilly. He even includes a piece from the writings of a 19th century Offaly Presbyterian John Frazier whose call for Irish unity predated political happenings by over 100 years. All the material is shot through with a sense of intimacy and familiarity which are his hallmarks. The album is the work of a career that has spanned over the last twenty years of gathering and arranging material. His collection of songs has been a constant inspiration to audiences and fellow musicians. He has been especially vigilant in bringing the work of Johnny Mulhern to a wider public. Somehow Mulhern’s Twilight Zone-ish tales of the macabre and the just plain weird suit Tyrrell down to the ground. Especially the sinister Demolition Dan is a delightfully ‘noirish’ tale of almost unearthly proportions. The restrained use of slide guitar, eerie fiddle and keyboards and bodhran and Tyrrell’s mandro bass intertwine to bring out the sinister nature of the lyrics dwelling on a terrorist who blows up graveyards. It’s an amazing song; it’s pure surrealism, it has that Twilight Zone element to it. It’s typically Johnny, knowing the man I’m not surprised. Other people might be but I’m not." Another track redolent of Mulhern’s diverse influence is the Cajun style Blue Green Bangle, also featured on Sean Keane’s solo album All Heart No Roses. "His influences were more from blues to rock and roll in the beginning. He’s a great man to play tunes as well, traditional tunes as well as the Cajun stuff. There’s a little piece of Irish in the Cajun stuff, so it’s only coming home to roost. Another Irish songwriter Tyrrell has championed is David Callinan, once part of the Callinan/Flynn duo whose 1972 album Freedom’s Lament now fetches a cool £200-plus a copy on the collector’s market. His House of Delight an eloquent description of the goings-on in a bordello and November Rain, a delicate love song and the road song Fortune For The Finder, are particular favourites. "I travelled for a while with a guy called Terry Smith from Dublin in America and a lot of songs I got form him were David’s. I have a few others which I am working in. He’s written some incredible songs." Two more names from the literacy sources involved in Cry Of A Dreamer are Louis McNiece and John Boyle O’Reilly whose Trilogy the title comes from. Of O’Reilly he is particularly supportive: "I love his poetry and not only that but the whole thing about his life. He was a very romantic character. When I say romantic I mean it in the best sense of the word. I finally got his book The John Boyle O’Reilly and I’m amazed. His words, his message of peace, in particular, is so modern in its approach. The Trilogy of Message of Peace/Cry Of A Dreamer/Only From Day To Day is a thoughtful reflection on how fine the wheels of power can grind and the choices of a person has in response. Message Of Peace was interpreted as a comment on the Reaganite regime by a num visiting from America. Louis McNiece’s Bagpipe Music become No Go, a bongo-driven rap where, welded to a variant of Pop Goes The Weasel, the play on words and nursery rhyme images emerges as a cross on slapstick and black humour. Launched recently in Dublin and Galway with two serious gigs in Whelans and the Roisin Dubh bar, Cry Of A Dreamer had guts and drive aplenty allied to some of the most interesting material to emerge this year. Sean Tyrrell is one of those talents to whom consistent exposure can lead to a serious love for his vision of his music. Rooted in the past yet very relevant to the present and encompassing the wieldy and unwieldy fusions of ethnic and commercial styles. Even so he exists on another time line as a bardic troubadour – a historian poet artist and entertainer. At last with musicians of the class of Davey Spillane, Mairtin O’Connor, Greg Boland and some of the hottest sidemen in Galway, and handled with care by P.J. Curtis in the producer’s seat, Cry Of A Dreamer brings Sean Tyrrell’s coniserable talents into the mainstream. And about time too. Folk Roots-August/September 1994 Cry Of A Dreamer Now here’s something. A man from Galway with a bunch of famous friends, a clear gift for song and the taste and enterprise of one entirely confident in his art. This is a sentimental record, but sentimental in that specifically Irish way, lacing melancholia with the smoky intensity of the bar-room. Coast of Malabar might well be unlistenably kitsch in the hands of almost any other singer the wrong side of Christy Moore, but this five o’clock shadow version brings a tear to the eye. Similarly his gruff treatment of Innisfree virtually re-writes the song. There’s clear evidence of a man in love with the blues, but Sean has the rough-hawn charm of the great storytellers of song from Woody Guthrie to Andy Irvine. He should be classed as a folk singer of vintage stock and be proud of it. He’s evidently worked hard to assemble this first album with both taste and conviction, and the material treads a happy medium between solid gold crowd-pleasers like Demolition Man, the powerful Mattie and the slightly more obscure demands of Connie’s Song. In this successful bid to bridge gaps between popular appeal, free expression and Irish folklore, there are analogies to be made with Christy Moore, though vocally he bears more comparison with the more ragged likes of Vin Garbutt, Mick Hanly, Terry Woods and, dare I say it, Finbar Furey. The whole thing is unmistakeably Irish, but there are enough turns and twists along the way to upgrade it into the highest echelons of Irish acoustic music. Any doubts about his pedigree are blown completely out of the water by the trilogy of Message Of Peace, Cry Of A Dreamer and Only From Day To Day – written in the 19th century by John Boyle O’Reilly – which is both shrewdly conceived and boldly provocative in its simplicity. The man is a powerful and persuasive performer without any extraneous decorations and he’s complemented rather than carried by the supporting cast! Davey Spillane on pipes, Mairtin O’Connor on accordion, Greg Boland on slide guitar, Steve Hands on sax and clarinet, Liam Lewis on fiddle and Tommy Peoples on viola. With Sean himself playing an assortment of instruments and an admirable production job by the redoubtable P.J. Curtis, this serves as one of the year’s most pleasant surprises. Sample it on the cover CD. Colin Irwin The Living Traditiion "Cry Of A Dreamer" Tales of mysterious events on a drunken night, a graveyard terrorist, bodies hidden under beds – their bones used for dumbbells, and the delights of a brothel, are all told by Sean on this fascinating complex recording. The supernatural tales mingle with down to earth stories of lost love, emigration sadness and emotional pleas for peace, giving this recording a depth of emotion that I have rarely come across. "Cry of a Dreamer" slowly seeps into your consciousness as each listening throws up new gems, while confirming those already discovered. The basic rhythm underlying each track varies from folk through country with a little blues thrown in. Yet the album has a very coherent feel due to the easy comforting sound of Sean’s voice. I suspect if Guinness could sing it would sound like Sean – Smooth but with an edge of Bitterness, and of course, a rich Irish brogue. Setting poems to music is not a phenomenon (see one R. Burns) but seldom I have heard it done dramatic effect. Sean Tyrrell’s discovery of "1,000 Years of Irish Poetry" in a Boston "lace curtain Irish music shop" has inspired him to create most memorable songs. The outstanding example of this is the "Peace Trilogy" – "Message of Peace", "Cry of a Dreamer", and "Only From Day to Day", written by the 19th Century Irish poet John Boyle O’Reilly. It is impossible to listen to these dramatic pleas against tyranny, oppression and mans brutality without reflecting on their very poignant relevance to today’s situation in Ireland. The power of John Boyle O’Reilly’s lyrics are reinforced by three changes of tempo which neatly define each of the songs while making each logical step from its predecessor. The other "gem" from "1,000 years of Irish Poetry" is the superbly eclectic "NO GO (Bagpipe Music)" with not a bagpipe in sight. This is one of the most unusual songs I’ve heard in a long time and I love it. The original poem was written by Louis MacNiece and is crazy enough (this is one talking of bodies under the bed) although I doubt he envisaged it being performed with a bongo beat, the Jews Harp and a tenor sax. The result is completely addictive. Reality also takes a back seat in the surreal "Demolition Dan" which talks of a terrorist who blows up graveyards. The tale is wrapped in a marvellously evocative musical arrangement, conjuring pictures of tombstones and ghouls! Those fond of a drink of two should take heed of the story of "Mattie" told in a laid back bluesy way, and his "dark familiar" met on a drunken night out. Perhaps the hardest thing for an artist to attempt is to rediscover the beauty in the songs that have been surrendered to the kitsch brigade. Sean does just that with a sincere version of the "Isle of Inisfree". Sean conveys the pain of emigration with wonderful restraint and a delicate touch so often missing from the "wring every drop of sentiment out" performers (although I cannot hear the word "Inisfree" without thinking of John Wayne!). It is testimony to Sean’s voice and the vibrant lyrics that I have reached this far in the review without even mentioning the arrangements and musicianship on the recording. The arrangements are faultless with each instrument being dovetailed into the others always supporting Sean when he is singing never competing with him. This comes as no surprise when you look at the sleeve notes to see that the supporting cast include Mairtin O’Connor on Accordion, Liam Lewis on Fiddle and the ubiquitous Davy Spillane on low whistle as well as many more top flight musicians. Production by P.J. Curtis ensures the cohesion of the talents on show. In conclusion this is without doubt the best new album I have heard this year and it will take something very special to beat it. "Cry of a Dreamer" works on so many different levels it sometimes overwhelms you but the pleasure of slowly unravelling the mysteries is unparalleled. Take my advice and dip into the Aladdin’s cave that is Sean Tyrrell’s "Cry of a Dreamer" and remember: "A Dreamer he’ll live forever, And a thinker will die in a day" (J.B. O’Reilly) Chris McKenzie HOT PRESS 12th April 1994 "Cry Of A Dreamer" In the middle of the fourteen unsurpassable and frighteningly good tracks on Cry Of A Dreamer there’s a trilogy of poems by John Boyle O’Reilly set to music by Sean Tyrrell. On the inner sleeve there is another short lyric of O’Reilly’s. In many ways it sums up the variety of moods on the fifty-five minutes of this disc which is at once romantic and dreamy, full of loss, longing and desire, yet also scathingly realistic. A potent and innovative amalgamation of an assortment of indigenous musical styles, from Cajun to Fold to Blues to Irish traditional – to everything in between – Cry Of A Dreamer is held together by astoundedly accomplished musicianship that is rooted in the heartfelt traditions of honesty, integrity and a compassion and understanding which can only be discovered by experiencing life openly and at first hand as opposed to reflecting upon in it an ivory tower. The first offering of that triumvirate of poem-songs of O’Reilly’s which centre the album is ‘Message of Peace’. It is one of the most savage and incisive indictments of the hypocrisy of Christian ethics I have ever heard. The second of the three JBO’R numbers, which gives the album its title, contains some powerful writing: "I can feel no pride but pity for/The burden the rich endure/For there’s nothing sweet in the city/Save the patient lives of the poor/The little hands too skilful/And the child’s mind choked with weeks/A daughter’s heart that’s grown wilful/And a father’s heart that bleeds. "Indeed, the entire song is littered with so many heart-rending truths, simply stated, that any number of lines of equally piercing profundity could be quoted without diminishing the overall tendency of the song to cut through the cruel injustices of tolling ruthlessly in the anonymous midst of the cosmopolitan throngs. As a matter of fact all of Cry Of A Dreamer cuts to the bone. Rarely will you hear someone who has penetrated so deeply into the psyche of our sad, happy, and forlorn little island and also managed to articulate so well what he has discovered there in the dark abysses of our collective unconsciousness. Sean Tyrrell is, of course, helped by the quality of people on board like Davy Spillane, Mairtin O’Connor, and P.J. Curtis, who is also the producer of Tyrrell’s masterly interpretative amanuensis. Three songs of David Callinan’s feature too, including ‘House Of Delight’ which was once banned by the BBC, presumably for its account of prostitution, and an indescribably beautiful ‘November Rain’ and ‘Fortune For The Finder’, the latter a roll-along ballad about hopes quashed forever which in spite of its theme is in no way maudlin. Johnny Mulhern likewise gets quite a big say in things. He contributes three tunes and plays acoustic guitar on one of them, ‘Blue-Green Bangle’. Another Mulhern composition, ‘Demolition Dan (States of Decay)’, with shades of Robbie Robertson’s later work, has Tyrrell singing about an amoral terrorist sent down from God to remind us of our mortality by warning us hot to get to attached to the old incendiary sod that is earthly life. Throughout his collection, Sean Tyrrell’s own playing and singing seem to resound with the wisdom of the ages. His vocal style is unmistakably Irish and yet it roams deeper than political or geographical territories to reach a level of artistic truth which many aspire to but only a few achieve. Cry Of A Dreamer is music for people who have love and lost and won; who have taken the wrong and the right road, and every path in between; people who have left home only to return heartbroken then to leave again stronger than ever. It is art for all those who have lived nine lives and feel they deserve a tenth at least. Sean Tyrrell sounds as if he has done and felt all these things. Perhaps, though, it is best to return to that short poem of John Boyle O’Reilly’s quoted on the inner sleeve of Cry Of A Dreamer to give the predominant tone of the kind of rare gem Sean Tyrrell has sculpted. It goes like this: "Life is a certainty/Death is a doubt/ Men may e dead/When they are walking about/Love is as needful/To being as breath/Loving is dreaming/And waking is death." (JBO’R). No doubt Bishop Berkely is turning in his grave: Cry Of A Dreamer should be cherished for the treasure that it is. This show maps the amazing life and incredible work of one of Irelands lesser known heroes. Through the medium of song and story it paints a vivid picture of John Boyle O'Reillys journey from his boyhood in Dowth, enlistment as a Fenian, his imprisonment and great escape from the penal colony in Fremantle. He settled in Boston and became one of the most important Irishmen in America of his day. It’s theater, great songs ranging from Oscar Wilde to John Lennon. Storytelling, history, its now, relevant. Funny, tragic, heroic the life of a majestic visionary soul. A poet, rebel, courage of a freedom fighter and commitment of a civil rights activist.
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