“The Mountains Are My Friends” opens with “Live Fast Die Free”, full of sweet, swirling harmonies and organs. And when Cormac Neeson sings “I’ve got nothing to lose and nothing to gain,” he might just have nailed the whole thing.
California Irish is simply just because.
The name is all-important here. This might be a debut, but Neeson has been the singer in The Answer for two decades. He’ll always, to paraphrase Phil Lynott, have the Irish in him, but this is dappled with West Coast sunlight.
Increasingly moving away from their classic rock roots, The Answer’s recent albums have been noticeable for their depth. A few years back – while the main band was on hiatus – Neeson released a solo album that was both heartbreaking and brilliant. It was, essentially, an Americana record. “Old Friends” has loads of that feel, while the quite lovely “Julie Ann” – so calming that Joni Mitchell herself could be singing it – is, you’d imagine, exactly the sort of thing envisioned when this was being planned.
The acoustics of “Side By Side”, the beautiful harmonies of “Something Different” – they’re all a cut above the norm.
A group of old friends, California Irish originally came about when they were working on a Neil Young musical, and the album was recorded in four days using old-style techniques.
That perhaps explains the warmth that bursts forth on “Big Questions”, which wrestles with exactly that as they try to make sense of their past.
Suzy Coyle’s vocals on the brilliant “Can’t Let Go” dovetail perfectly with Neeson’s, and the band behind them is in sensational form.
And as good as The Answer are, you couldn’t imagine them doing many of these. At a push, the tougher guitars of “Sunday Morning” might just work, but credit must go to all of them for pulling off the unexpected. It takes skill to make songs like “Hard We Fall” work – and Neeson’s voice is perfect for them.
Sitting here in the middle of England, you always think of the western US as vast and cinematic. “I Am Free” taps into that wonderfully. A duet between Neeson and Coyle, its chorus rings out: “For the first time in a long time I am free” – but freedom doesn’t explain all of this.
Rather, it’s the last line – “I will carry all that I have lived” – that surely brought us here. And it’s the communal laughter that breaks out at the song’s end that makes this so special.
“The Mountains Are My Friends” is music made simply because everyone wanted to – and it’s a genuine gem.
Rating: 9/10
