A single with a free Snakes & Snakes (no ladders here) board game. Either it is an attempt to charm hordes of reviewers or an innovative marketing ploy to woo feckless record buyers attracted by a snazzy looking, oddball CD. This scribe couldn't give 12 monkeys about the freebie. And as for the public, Dubliners Bell X1 will at least have feckless record buyers attracted by snazzy oddball sleeves stooping to look at it. The question is will they buy it?
Which is where we get to the nub of the situation. Paul Noonan's initial enticing grind is nod-worthy in the way you'd rib that neck joint to the Youngbloods homely country rock around a shared campfire - warm, inviting and totally chilled.
That is until the bridge kicks in and the song turns from deep and dirty, to neo folk morosity. Plucky and happy yet vulnerable to a resonating angst in Noonan's vocal melodies. Worth the dosh, just.
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