Saturday, August 03, 2013

Tir na nOg
"A Tear and a Smile" (Vinyl)

This album was in a stack I uncovered in a random thrift shop in St. Louis. Many of the records are obscure Canadian albums from the 1970's and 80's.

Released in 1972, this was Tir na nOg's first international release.  The Irish duo formed in 1969 and disbanded in 1974, but were together long enough to put out three LP albums.

The songwriting on this album is notable for it's forward-looking acoustic folk styling. Close vocal harmonies and beautiful acoustic guitar playing make this a very easy to listen to album.  After a few minutes you realize that their song construction is much more interesting than what we usually hear from this vein.

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