The Voice Squad
Album: Concerning Three Young Men
Label: Tara
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.taramusic.com

Those with long(-ish) memories will fondly recall the sturdy a cappella singing of this Irish trio comprising Gerry Cullen, Phil Callery and Fran McPhail, each a renowned traditional singer in his own right). In Irish tradition it's quite unusual to encounter non-solo singing, and The Voice Squad is noted for bringing the close-harmony style of the British folk tradition to repertoire more often associated with Ireland's solo singing tradition.

The Voice Squad first performed together in 1985, and for around a decade and a half they were to score considerable success with their expertly harmonised yet expressively telling, treatments of predominantly Irish traditional repertoire, which audiences found stunning in their impact, especially in the live environment. Early on in the millennium, In spite of the group's continued popularity, its members took a break from group performing for close on ten years, reforming in 2012 initially for just a limited number of concerts then - such was the buzz they got from renewing the shared experience - returning the following year to the recording studio, the result of which endeavour was this new album.

It includes both familiar favourites and material new to the group, in typically well thought-out, precisely managed performances which arrange and showcase the signature sound of three voices entirely at home with each other's company and yet (miraculously, you might think) retain their individuality. Indeed, more so than with their British close-harmony counterparts The Copper Family and Coope Boyes & Simpson, The Voice Squad can very often sound uncannily as one single voice of great inner flexibility - on occasion perhaps a tad too homogenised (that's not necessarily a criticism in the ears of most listeners), but invariably a valuable and satisfying "sum of parts" totality.

There's especially fine renditions here of repertoire classics like The Night Visiting Song, Courting Is A Pleasure, As I Roved Out and the Sacred Harp hymn Wondrous Love, with a beautiful version of Ron Kavana's Reconciliation tucked in for good measure. To me, it seems that in the intervening years since their exceptional 1987 album Many's The Foolish Youth the men's voices have mellowed a touch, and certainly the overall blend is (somehow) smoother and closer in its combined effect - which is arguably more suited to some songs than others, where there's a new sense of almost austerity, even a slight over-control, that at times underplays the evident passion and understanding in their conveying of the songs' messages. But I stress this is only a comparative observation, probably more influenced by the fact that I've treasured the earlier album for rather a long time and have come to appreciate the slight edginess in the performances therein. And maybe too by dint of the actual selection of songs, wherein the earlier album includes more of my own personal favourites (including some from outwith the purely Irish repertoire) than the latest offering; while a couple of pieces on the new album don't really work - e.g. the rather brisk canter through the processional of The Boar's Head Carol feels unduly dismissive of its intentionally stately demeanour.

Again, though, I stress that these are but minor matters in the context of what has turned out a triumphant return to group-recording for these noted singers. And the disc comes complete with excellent booklet containing full texts and song source notes.

David Kidman