liveIreland CD review February 07
February 07
This month, four more reviews. Lattimer and Evans continue their slave-driving ways at this most popular Irish music website in the world, LiveIreland.com Fascists, we tells ‘ya! (And, thanks for all the kind words and coverage for The Livies, our annual Awards here on the site!)
First up is a huge deal from Compass Records in Nashville. Hands Across The Water. It is a collaboration compendium featuring some VERY heavyweight Irish musicians and American country and western artists. The names pour forth in this stunner—Altan, Jackson Browne, Paul Brady, Rodney Crowell, Michael McGoldrick, Brock-McGuire Band, Sharon Shannon, John Prine, Flook and Alison Brown to name only a smattering of the headliners. A wonderful album, and the profits are being used right! We are not sure of the percentages here, but the vast lion’s share of the profits are going to Tsunami Relief. As all our individual clocks keep ticking, we move on to the latest crisis, and forget that just a short while back, thousands upon thousands died with entire areas laid waste by the tragedy. Each one of us can do very little individually, but we can sure do a lot together, and this album is Compass’ effort to do what it can to help. As you buy one, you are getting some really fabulous music, with the profits going to the very best of places. Leave it to Garry West, Alison Brown and the rest of the Compass gang to put out a great album, while doing a lot of good at the same time. Everybody wins. Shouldn’t be hard to find. This album has been around a while, and shame on us for coming to it late. But, better late…. Rating: Four Harps for the album, and 100,000 Harps for the cause ! 
Island Heart Records and the non-stop Deanna Griffin have sent us Who? by the very gifted, Darren Maloney. A young tenor banjo player out of Ireland, this well-produced gem offers us a new and major figure on the scene. We like to tell you about these artists first—so be aware. Heads up! This is a wonderful musician, and a gifted interpreter of the music. All-instrumental, this album joins Maloney with three other musicians in a delight. Full range of tempos, ambiances and styles. This is a very, very good musician we are meeting here. Maloney is also heard playing a tasty mandolin. These banjo albums can get very boring very quickly, depending on the artist, and his or her taste. Well, this guy’s taste is pretty impeccable, as far as we can hear. We would, however, beg him to shave before the next album cover. It is kind of like Elvis Costello meets the plectrum. But, let us not quibble here. Darren Maloney sounds ready to be put right up with Ireland’s best banjo players, Enda Scahill and Gerry O’Connor. Google the name, or Google Island Heart Artists, or check Cdbaby online. A lot of you love this stuff, and so do we. A new breeze blowing into town, with some wonderful chops. Enda, Gerry! Battlestations!!
Rating: Four Harps for the album, and 100,000 Harps for the cause ! Rating: 3&1/2 harps
The regular reader knows well of our admiration for the group, Danu. These guys really forged a place for themselves, and were—for a long time—the hottest band in trad. Personnel changes have happened, and each of us Danu fans is still considering the impact of those changes. Danu’s fiddle player, Oisin McAuley, is now out on Compass with a new album, Far From The Hills of Donegal. This is a really ambitious album. There are a ton of different styles, and some work better than others. What is not in doubt is McAuley’s prodigious talents on fiddle. Among the guest musicians is Shane McGowan on guitar. Now, some of the tunes, like the opening, Quebec Reels, hit us as derivative. In this case, the playing reminds us a lot of Liz Carroll and John Doyle. It could BE Liz and John, for all that. The sound is not distinct, and it all seems too easy for Oisin in this opener. And, as long as we are being snooty, we’re not partial to Mary’s Waltz, either. Oisin’s liner notes tell us that this waltz was written in a very open fashion as to allow a lot of improvisation. Good enough. But the tempo, certainly 3/4 as a waltz, seems buried in the improvisations and the accent rhythms. We lose it as a waltz, and the whole cut struggles. We want to be able to dance to a waltz. With a special woman! This brings to an end the whining portion of this review. We find the rest of the album wonderful on several levels. Constant throughout the project is McAuley’s musical sense and taste—almost flawless. His bowing style remains redolent of the Irish northwest, as he also adapts other styles and flourishes. Lots and lots of good, wonderful—even great stuff here from an important artist. McAuley is widely admired among the thousands of international Irish fiddle aficionados, and this album will show you why. Taken all in all, it is a terrific showcase for this young man, whose future remains as bright as ever. Being on Compass Records means it is easy to find. Well done! Rating: Three Harps
Few labels guarantee a great album, but Ireland’s Clo-Iar-Chonnacta comes close. Here’s another winner. Marcas O Murchu’s Turas Ceoil is just the best. This flute player has gathered some of the tradition’s great players around him, ranging from Altan’s Ciaran Curran on guitar and Oisin McDiarmada on fiddle to Ben Lennon on fiddle, with the great Seamus Quinn on piano. There are more, but the trad buff gets the drift. This album is really filled with the northwestern style of flute—you know the deal— Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim. Polkas, reels and jigs abound. One complaint. There are only two airs, with one thrown overboard too quickly in favor of adding a hornpipe. We have long argued against recording a gorgeous air, only to have it turn half-way through into an uptempo piece of business. It is as if the musician does not trust the audience to cherish the air, hold it close to the heart, and make it a part of their soul. Rather, it seems to say, ” Okay, we won’t bore you any longer with this. We know what you want, hear comes some faster stuff.” Shame. BUT–that is only nitpicking! This is a great, great album by a master musician. Flute players the world ’round know about, and respect, this brilliant interpreter of the staccato, yet flowing style that marks his geographic style of playing. We are rapidly losing the regionally stylistic features of Irish traditional music for a number of reasons frequently described here. The point is that these styles can still be found, thanks to labels like Clo-Iar-Chonnacta, and true-to-the-bone musicians like Marcas O Murchu. This is a great album. Not very good, mind you. Great.
Rating: Three HarpsRating: Four Harps Are you listening to Blarney on the Air every Monday night from 7-9, Chicago time, on WBCB, 90.9 fm? If not, why not? The best in Irish music, and lots of fun, besides. You can also hear it on www.wdcb.org The rumor is that even David Lattimer, here in Dublin, has stayed up late to hear it live in Ireland!