The Dubliners - 25 Years Celebration (1994)

I first heard the songs in this wonderful album about 15 years ago and until recently had only a dodgy cassette recording of it to keep me company!! The clever mix of traditional and contemporary styles, something the Dubliners have been skilfully exploiting for over 40 years now, appeals not only to the generation that grew up with them, but also to a whole new breed of what I call "real music" fans. There's surely nothing better than listening to amazingly skilled musicians play their hearts out, reminding us that there is much more to life than the top ten!! A wonderful album with soft ballads that would make the hardest of people weep, and energetic reels and jigs to get even the the most lead laiden toes tapping in tune. A must purchace album for anyone interested in timeless tradition, fabulous emotion and a drop of pure irish genius.

Drew spent some time in Spain in his younger years where he learned to play Flamenco guitar, and he accompanied his songs on a Spanish guitar. His grave voice has been compared to a cement mixer and the sound of coke (fuel) being crushed under a door, it is instantly recognizable. Drew left the band in 1974 to spend more time with his family, to be replaced by Jim McCann. He returned to the Dubliners five years later, but left the group again in 1995. Paddy Reilly took his place this time around. Some of his most significant contributions to the band are the hit single "Seven Drunken Nights", his rendition of "Finnegan's Wake", and "McAlpine's Fusiliers".

Luke Kelly was more of a balladeer than Drew, and he played chords on the five-string banjo. Kelly sang many defining versions of beautiful songs: traditionals like "The Black Velvet Band", "Whiskey in the Jar", "Home Boys Home"; but also Phil Coulter's "The Town I Loved So Well", Ewan McColl's "Dirty Old Town" and "Raglan Road", written by the famous Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. Kavanagh met Kelly in a pub, and asked him to sing the song.

In 1980, Luke Kelly was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Though first the chemotherapy seemed to work, after a while things started getting worse again. Knowing his time would not be long, the band took on a replacement in 1982, Sean Cannon. Sometimes Kelly was too ill to sing, sometimes he joined the band for a few songs, and sometimes he collapsed on stage, but he didn't stop touring with the band until 2 months before his death. One of the last concerts he took part in was recorded and released: Live in Carrй (Amsterdam, Holland), released in 1983. John Sheahan introduces him when he comes on, and explains that he went for a walk and got lost, but obviously that wasn't the real reason he was late. In November 2004, the Dublin city council voted unanimously to erect a bronze statue of Luke Kelly. Kelly is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.