Songs of Ireland

Artist: Various Artists
Label: Madacy Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Box set
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 3

UPC: 056775871826
EAN: 0056775871826
ASIN: B000000LP0

Release Date: 1995-07-12

Related Categories:

Irish Folk

| Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk

| Folk | Styles | Music

Britain

General

| International | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

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General

| Celtic | International | Styles | Music

Ireland

Tracks:

Take Her Up To Monto
A Nation Once Again
Big Strong Man
The Holy Ground
Spancil Hill
Paddy On The Railway
Merry Ploughboy
Biddy Mulligan
Jug Of Punch
Spanish Lady
Old Maid In The Garret
Bog Down In The Valley
Peggy Gordon
Finnegan's Wake

Tracks:

It's A Great Day For The Irish
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
Irish Washerwoman
Dear Little Shamrock
Dear Old Donegal
Eileen Alannah
Kerry Dance
Mother Macree
If You're Irish Come Into The Parlour
With My Shillelagh Under My Arm
The Rose Of Tralee
Galway Bay
Wearing O'The Green
The Mountains Of Mourne
Cockles And Mussels
Kathleen Marvourneen
Danny Boy

Tracks:

The Wild River
The Wild Colonial Boy
My Wild Irish Rose
Whiskey In The Jar
The Minstrel Boy
The Black Velvet Band
Whistling Gypsy Rover
Could I Have This Dance
Flower Of Sweet Strabane
The Spinning Whell
40 Shades Of Green
Goodnight Irene

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Irish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion

Customer Reviews:

One out of three..........2007-02-28

I came across versions of a couple of these songs by accident and spent some time looking for the CD, or CDs, they might be on. Now that I've got this it's kind of a personal treasure.

I've listened to Discs 2 and 3 of this set once each: overproduced stuffy old...stuff.

The payoff is Disc 1.

It's "kinda-live", with simulated Pub noises and "live-like" shout-outs from band members. We hear clinking glasses a little too regularly. Are they drunk or are they sober? Is there an audience? Who can say?

But this is far from cheesy.

The band rocks. They're tight and the textures are amazing. To my ear they catch bits of magic and mystery in just about every turn of phrase and melody. They exhibit an unusual knack for making every moment memorable.

I enjoy what comes off as a sort of authenticity too. For all the fine musicianship, one suspects that these gentlemen do this on the weekends; that they have day jobs in the village. For people who get a kick out of accents, the brogues on these guys are a riot.

I haven't counted, but vocals are taken up by three? five? members of the same group.

With classic wit, one fella, singing "Bog Down In the Valley", who has come off like a wasted yokel, overcomes amazing feats of articulation, like Horowitz at the piano.

"Peggy Gordon" and "Spanish Lady", ballads sung by the same guy, are just lovely. It takes subtle chemistry to bring a tear to my eye with a line like: "I wish I was in some lonesome valley where woman's kind cannot be found/And the pretty small birds, they change their voices, and every moment a different sound."

Listen to "Jug of Punch"--that`s a characterful voice and attitude. Listen to any sound sample: "Paddy on the Railway". They might be out of "Juno and the Paycock".

That's why I want to party with these guys.

This strikes me as the sort of work that Ezra Pound refers to as being "plucked from a living tradition".

I started off liking a couple of the songs and never having cared for the versions I'd heard of some others. Now I play the whole thing through and I love it all. If you have an appreciation for Ireland and its history, the arts of Irish men and women, a sense of sociology, or just good folk music, you'll appreciate this.

It's a shame that you have to buy a 3-CD set for one great CD. The packaging sucks too. It's criminal that this band--and the bands on the other CDs--go un-credited. No documentation at all aside from the titles of the tracks!--thus my 4.5 STAR rating (rounded up).

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