PADDY GARRIGAN & THE STROLLER PRIESTS – I Jumped Ship (own label)

I Jumped ShipPaddy Garrigan, Darren Leadson and Ben McCabe hail from the north-west. They have been together as The Stroller Priests for a while but I Jumped Ship is their first full-length album.

Their music, all written by Garrigan, mixes a rock-a-billy energy with clever lyrics displaying a mordant sense of humour. The first track, ‘No Way Back’, opens with that rock’n-roll riff used by everybody from Buddy Holly to The Majestics and is, without doubt, a great live favourite. Next is my top track, ‘Where The Dead Go When They Die’, which begins with the question and reaches the conclusion that the singer will wind up having a pint in the pub where the dead go when they die. The song contains two of the best lines on the album – “Is there any entertainment in heaven/Do you have to bring your own?”. I say that’s my top track but then we come to a change of style and mood with ‘Me & The Universe Blues’ which opens as a folky dance tune led by Paddy’s mandolin before diving into a tongue-twisting lyric.

As the album turns for home, we have ‘Sea Monsters’, from which the album gets its title and features Lancaster choir It’s A Man Thing, followed by a savage attack on the ruling classes in ‘I Want More’. It begins gently enough with voice and acoustic guitar but by the end it’s giving you both barrels. Perhaps that’s my top track. The opening of ‘Stoned Freaks’ follows a similar pattern and sound as though it’s going to be ‘Sir Patrick Spens’ but it too winds up with screaming guitars.

There’s an awful lot going on in this album and I really hope that it brings success to Paddy, Darren and Ben.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: www.strollerpriests.com

‘The Way Of The Muse’ – the final track from I Jumped Ship:


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