Howl On the fourth solo studio album by Bap Kennedy, was released on August 3, 2009 (see 2009 in music) on Kennedy's new label, Lonely Street Discs. Excluding a cover of "Hey Joe", all songs on the album were written by Kennedy. This is the first album he has written and recorded in his native Northern Ireland.[1] This album features songs that were inspired by Kennedy's childhood memories of growing up with the influence of the popular American music rock icons Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix and the country music of Hank Williams. The songs also relate to 1960s American political figures: John F. Kennedy and to events: the 1969 Moon landing and with Kennedy's childhood obsession with the American Dream. Although the worldwide release was August 3, 2009, the album was released in Northern Ireland on July 4, 2009, with Kennedy's appearance at the Black Box in Belfast.
Kennedy's wife, singer-songwriter Brenda Kennedy, performs as backing vocalist on the album.[2]
Songs
Kennedy's inspiration for most of the songs on the album came forty years ago when the American astronauts on Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, when Kennedy was a seven-year-old boy living in Belfast. A month later, Jimi Hendrix's appearance as the final act at the Woodstock Festival with a performance of "Hey Joe" served as further inspiration.[3]
The opening song on the album, "America", reflects on Kennedy's childhood memories dreaming of all things American and when cowboys and the astronauts of the Apollo 11 spacecraft were his heroes.[3]The Skinny comments that "Album opener America is a sentimental look across the ocean with a slow and smooth acoustic-driven beat with laid back vocals that unsurprisingly declare, ‘All I want to do/Is to be like you’.[4]
"Cold War Country Blues" namechecks more of Kennedy's boyhood heroes, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy and Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell. Critic Nic Oliver calls the song, "pure Hank Williams honky-tonk, all toe-tapping melody and acoustic guitar".[5]
The song "Brave Captain" is dedicated to the Apollo 8 crew and on "The Heart of Universal Love", Kennedy imagines the Earth as seen from the view of an astronaut standing on the Moon and looking up at the illuminated planet in the darkness of space.
"The Ballad of Neil Armstrong" celebrates Apollo 11's mission commander Neil Armstrong and the song "Irish Moon" is Kennedy's ode to another of the three astronauts, Michael Collins, who piloted the spacecraft as the other two astronauts landed on the Moon.[3]
"The Blue One" is named for the Earth's image as seen on a photo taken by Voyager 1.[3]
Promotion
A video of "Hey Joe" is a feature on YouTube videos at Kennedy's Official Films: Link on YouTube. This song was previously best known as the debut single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966. Kennedy's 2009 cover was reviewed and given a four and one-half star rating by Leeds Music Scene with the reviewer commenting on Kennedy's cover: "While some of the lead guitar parts are very 'Hendrix-esque' the overall feel of the song is lot more uplifting than it's[sic] well known predecessor.[6]
Kennedy performed on the Acoustic Stage at the Glastonbury Festival on June 27, 2009, featuring songs from the album, with the official launching in Northern Ireland on July 4, 2009, with Bap Kennedy and his band's appearance at the Black Box in Belfast.
Kennedy appeared on the Today with Derek Davis radio show on July 26, 2009, on RTÉ Radio 1.[7]
As a promotion before the album's release, Kennedy's website offered a free download of the title track, "Howl On".[8]
Howl On has been well received by music critics with mostly favourable reviews. MusicOMH calls the album "another object lesson in economic songwriting and solid musicianship."[5]Hot Press rated it four stars and summarizes the album: "Howl On is a lovingly-crafted set of tunes – one giant leap for a talented Belfast man."[9]The List also rated it four stars and refers to the album as "his best so far".[10]
Track listing
All songs and music by Bap Kennedy, except where noted.
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
"Purple Haze" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and released as the second single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on March 17, 1967. The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord and a mix of blues and Eastern modalities, shaped by novel sound processing techniques. Because of ambiguities in the lyrics, listeners often interpret the song as referring to a psychedelic experience, although Hendrix described it as a love song.
Are You Experienced is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in May 1967, the album was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album features Jimi Hendrix's innovative approach to songwriting and electric guitar playing which soon established a new direction in psychedelic and rock music as a whole.
"Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. In 1962, Billy Roberts registered "Hey Joe" for copyright in the United States.
Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix is a compilation album of songs by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix, released in 1997 by MCA and reissued in 2010 by Legacy Recordings. The single compact disc collects 20 songs spanning his career, from his first recordings with the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966 to his last with Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell in 1970.
Martin Christopher Kennedy, known as Bap Kennedy, was a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was noted for his collaborations with Steve Earle, Van Morrison, Shane MacGowan and Mark Knopfler, as well as for writing the song "Moonlight Kiss" which was on the soundtrack for the film Serendipity.
Live at Berkeley is a live album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. It documents his second performance at the Berkeley Community Theatre on May 30, 1970, and was released by MCA Records on September 16, 2003.
Apollo 11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. The 1969 mission's wide effect on popular culture has resulted in numerous portrayals of Apollo 11 and its crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
"Stone Free" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and the second song recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It has been described as a "counterculture anthem, with its lyrics praising the footloose and fancy-free life", which reflected Hendrix's restless lifestyle. Instrumentally, the song has a strong rhythmic drive provided by drummer Mitch Mitchell with harmonic support by bassist Noel Redding. "Stone Free" was issued on December 16, 1966, as the B-side of the Experience's first UK single "Hey Joe" and later included on the Smash Hits compilation album.
Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix is a 1993 album recorded by various artists in tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The artists were drawn from many genres of popular music. Contributors include his classic rock contemporaries Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, blues man Buddy Guy, classical violinist Nigel Kennedy, alternative pop/rock bands Belly and Spin Doctors, hip hop artists P. M. Dawn, among others. According to the liner notes, the "artists were encouraged to not only record one of their own personal favorites but to also place their stamp on Jimi's songs." Several artists recorded radically different interpretations, particularly, P. M. Dawn, The Cure, Nigel Kennedy and Pat Metheny. Some artists, on the other hand, recorded versions that were rather similar to the originals.
Midnight Lightning is a posthumous compilation album by American rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It was released in November 1975 by Reprise Records in the US and Polydor Records in the UK. It was the second to be produced by Alan Douglas and Tony Bongiovi and contains demo-type recordings that were overdubbed with musicians who had never played with Hendrix. Despite including reworkings of the popular live songs "Hear My Train" and "Machine Gun", the album was not as well received as its predecessor, peaking at numbers 43 in the US and 46 in the UK.
"May This Be Love" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix for the Jimi Hendrix Experience debut album Are You Experienced (1967). It is a soft ballad that demonstrates Hendrix's ability to write thoughtful lyrics and subtle melodies.
Cornerstones 1967–1970 is a 1990 compilation album by American guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It features 18 of his greatest hits, including live renditions of "Fire" and "Stone Free" from the Atlanta International Pop Festival, Byron, Georgia, July 4, 1970. It was released on the Polydor label in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. The album entered the UK Albums Chart in November 1990 at No. 5, its highest position during a sixteen-week stay in the chart. All songs were recorded between October 23, 1966, and August 1970. This was the only compact disc release at the time to have the studio version of "The Star Spangled Banner".
The Jimi Hendrix Concerts is a posthumous live album by Jimi Hendrix, released in 1982. The album contains eleven songs from six different concerts between 1968 and 1970.
The Singles Collection is a posthumous compilation album by Jimi Hendrix, released in 2003 by MCA Records. The album is made up of ten discs, each of which contains one single released by Hendrix, including some after his death.
"One Rainy Wish" is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, featured on their 1967 second album Axis: Bold as Love. The song was written by Jimi Hendrix based on a dream that he had in which "the sky was filled with a thousand stars ... and eleven moons played across the rainbows," according to the song's lyrics. Shortly after the release of Axis: Bold as Love, "One Rainy Wish" was featured as the B-side to "Up from the Skies", released in February 1968.
Domestic Blues was the first solo album from Northern Ireland–based singer-songwriter, Bap Kennedy, and was released in 1998. The album was generally well-received, with allmusic calling it "an exceptionally intelligent recording" and Uncut saying that "[Domestic Blues is] a fine collection of songs" and reached number 8 in the billboard Americana chart
"From Hank to Hendrix" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Young has frequently included it in live sets and it has been included on a number of live and compilation albums.
"Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" or simply "Hey Baby" is a song written and recorded by American musician Jimi Hendrix, from his second posthumous album Rainbow Bridge (1971). The song is a slower and more melodic piece, which features the prominent use of chorus- and tremolo-effects on guitar. Hendrix uses an idealized feminine figure that recurs in several of his lyrics. Commentators have seen the song as representative of his post-Band of Gypsys musical direction.
Live in Maui is an album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience documenting their performance outdoors on Maui, Hawaii, on July 30, 1970. It marks the first official release of Hendrix's two full sets recorded during the filming of Rainbow Bridge (1971). The two-CD and three-LP set was released on November 20, 2020, along with a video documentary titled Music, Money, Madness... Jimi Hendrix in Maui.
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