Let's Start Again (LP)

Bap’s album Let’s Start Again is his 6th album of solo material. While Bap usually records in England and America, he wanted to bring together some of the top musicians in his native Northern Ireland to play on Let’s Start Again. The most local of the local talents is bass player and harmony vocalist, Brenda Kennedy, Bap’s wife. Brenda is also a regular member of Bap’s live band, as are two of the album’s other musicians –drummer Rabb Bennett and virtuoso guitarist Gordy McAllister. After the Celtic melancholy of The Sailor’s Revenge, there is a more upbeat roots-y Americana feel to Let’s Start Again. The country-roots style of the record is something that Bap’s co-producer, Mudd Wallace first realised would suit Bap as far back as the early 80’s. At that time, Bap was a Belfast power pop punk and Mudd was producing Bap’s band, as well as the debut album of cult Belfast Americana band The Mighty Shamrocks, entitled Paddy. For the next 30 years, the Shamrocks’ album was to lie in the vaults, until 2012 when Bap and Mudd became involved in its eventual release. This was to be the spark that brought the two old friends back into the studio together to create Let’s Start Again.