This weekend brings the 10th choice since I started sharing albums that I thought recognized some attention or that I personally enjoy listening to. While I have previously mentioned that I try to stay away from live albums, I also will include them if they have a good sound that represents the band. If a new listener were to listen, they would be able to get the familiar sound from the studio album and the live album.

If you’ve been reading you know I favor punk rock. When you combine punk rock with some old celtic music you get celtic punk with the awesome addition of bagpipes or my favorite instrument, the tinwhistle. Right away many people think of the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, but one band that formed before these were The Tossers.

The Tossers hail from Chicago and formed in 1993. What I love about their music is the distinct sound of the mandolin, banjo, and tinwhistle with the background sound of a violin/fiddle. I personally love to hear one of two brothers, Aaron Duggins (the other is lead singer Tony Duggins), play the tinwhistle and the more the better in my opinion. Also, I like the fact that The Tossers play impromptu sessions in the Chicago area pubs and they truly are a fans band. If you are a fan of traditional Irish music you can find them playing traditional Irish tunes as well.

The album featured was recorded live on St. Patricks Day in 2008 at the Metro in Chicago. If you purchase the CD it also comes with the live show on DVD. The album is titled “Gloatin’ and Showboatin’: Live on St. Patrick’s Day”. Overall The Tossers bring that sound of their instruments to where you can distinctly hear them and the album was recorded quite well with no disrupting sound distortions or with the vocals bleeding the sound of the instruments or vice versa.

Some of my favorites include:
The Crutch
I’ve Pursued Nothing
Altercations (hidden at the end of Teehan’s)
Holy Ground
Crock of Gold

Below is a clip from their live show from the album. The song is “Crock of Gold”. It starts out slow and then they turn it up at the 2:53 mark (love the whistle in this one).