The Shouting End of Life

With or without singer June Tabor, the Oyster Band was impressively consistent in the 1990s. One of the excellent albums that the Oyster Band provided without Tabor was The Shouting End of Life, a fine example of thinking man's rock. Though British folk has been a major influence on the Oyster Band, much of this CD finds them favoring a Celtic-influenced exuberance. Indeed, exuberant is definitely the word to describe such passionate, hot-blooded offerings as "Don't Slit Your Wrists on Me," "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," and "Blood-Red Roses"; all of these draw on both Celtic music and punk and bring to the mind the sort of vitality that characterized the Pogues' finest performances. The title song expresses a very free-spirited outlook: Singer John Jones asserts that while all of us are destined to die, he'll be damned if he's going to go quietly. Some of the songs speak of social and political injustice (including "Jam Tomorrow," "The World Turned Upside Down," and "We'll Be There"), but even so, this is a very uplifting album that has a way of making the listener feel good in the face of life's challenges.