Album of the Day — October 13
Album of the Day — October 13
Luka Bloom — Acoustic Motorbike
Luka Bloom — Acoustic Motorbike
13.October.2020
Luka Bloom
The Acoustic Motorbike
1992
As a former BMX racer, current motorcycle rider, a guy who enjoys a good bike ride (should I ever get my bike fixed), and a big old’ music nerd, Luka Bloom’s The Acoustic Motorbike is easily one of the best-named albums in music.
A bold statement, to be sure, but those kinds of things are wildly subjective anyway.
Born Kevin Barry Moore in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, he is the younger brother of “Ireland’s greatest living musician,” folk singer Christy Moore.
After 15 years of touring with his brother, fronting a couple of bands, and releasing some albums as Barry Moore, he moved to the United States. Seeking to escape his brother's ever-growing shadow, he adopted a new name — Luka Bloom.
“Luka” taken from the Suzanne Vega and “Bloom” from the main character in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses.
After spending time in Washington D.C., before moving to New York City to record Riverside, Bloom moved back to Dublin to record The Acoustic Motorbike.
If you think that the album’s title indicates that it will be folk-based, you’re not entirely incorrect. Yes, it’s predominantly acoustic, and the songs themselves are introspective, two signifiers of folk music. The album contains a couple of covers; one is Elvis Presley’s “I Can’t Help Falling in Love You” and another song that, in 1992, wasn’t just unheard of, it was downright ballsy.
On The Acoustic Motorbike Luka Bloom covers LL Cool J’s “I Need Love.”
Now you may think it’s counter-intuitive for an Irish folk/folk-rock singer to cover a rap song. Here again, you’re not entirely incorrect. But this works.
Of course, I can’t imagine the same type of cover of NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton,” but transferring a love song like “I Need Love” across genres is a much simpler task. And in less skilled hands than Bloom’s, I doubt it would be so successful.
The chief criticism of The Acoustic Motorbike is Bloom’s lack of depth in his lyrics. It’s a fair criticism, but it’s not like the songs are devoid of depth.
“The Troubles” may have died down, but tensions were still high between Ireland and Britain. It would be two more years before the Provisional IRA announced a “cessation of military operations," and it would be six years before The Belfast Agreement, aka the Good Friday Agreement, would be signed.
But in 1992, things were changing, and Bloom captures that with the album’s opening song, “Mary Watches Everything”:
Mary Watches Everything
Images of innocence
Coming through the prison walls
One fine day in England
Justice calls
Mary watches everything
In her living room alone
Televisions flickering
With the volume down
Everything is changing
In the outside world
There are signs of re-arranging
Softer spoken words
Here men talk in whispers
Of a woman or a girl
Things are only changing
In the outside world
You can’t help but wonder who Mary is …but I don’t think it’s too hard to figure it out.
The title track itself is a celebration on the joy, and arguably the salvation, that Bloom finds from long distance bike riding:
The Acoustic Motorbike
The day began with a rainbow in the sand
As I cycled into Kerry
Cattle grazing on a steep hillside
Looked well fed, well balanced
Close to the edge
CHORUS:
Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on
Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on
I take a break, I close my eyes
And I’m happy as the dolphin
In a quiet spot talking to myself
Talking about the rain
Talking about the rain
All this rain
CHORUS
You see whenever I’m alone
I tend to brood
But when I’m out on my bike
It’s a different mood
I leave my brain at home
Get up on the saddle
No hanging around
I don’t diddle-daddle
Perhaps it’s living in the shadow of his older brother that taints people's ability to recognize Bloom for his own talents?
CRITICS:
William Ruhlmann at AllMusic wrote: “Having made his mark in America and moved back home to Ireland, Luka Bloom attempted to incorporate some of the spirit of the country where he spent four years concentrating on Irish folk-rock, covering LL Cool J’s “I Need Love,” and the Elvis Presley hit “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” But in his own songs, he didn’t go much beyond such surface aspects of the U.S. as Elvis and rap, preferring to devote himself to vague, cliched lyrics of love and longing (some of them not so much rapped as recited), once again set for the most part against his aggressive guitar strumming, various acoustic instruments, and a bottom provided by an Irish bodhran, sometimes played by his brother, Christy Moore.”
Elysa Gardner from Rolling Stone said: “Songs like ‘Mary Watches Everything’ and ‘I Believe in You’ display a lovely, bittersweet lyricism, and Bloom makes effective use throughout of Celtic-flavored orchestration, drawing on fiddles, flutes and bouzoukis. His way with words is generally not as impressive as his musical intuition; at best, his lyrics summon images that are lent substance by the music and by his vibrant delivery.”
Luka Bloom's soothing soft brogue singing style accompanied by his extraordinary guitar playing make The Acoustic Motorbike well worth the ride.