What 5 traditional Irish music recordings would you recommend

The Chieftans might be worth a listen.

Irish Traditional Music with an edge,check out
Horslips.
Regards,Trevor.

Thanks guys - any specific CDs you could recommend.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
please don't say Bothy Band as I know they are great, but their music seems to be unobtainable, unless anybody knows different .....

Hi Rotf,

Try Claddagh and Mulligan There are 3 or 4 Bothy albums available.

Claddagh is a shop and record label. They were the original label for the Chieftans.

Both these shops are experts in their fields and would give good suggestions.

I really don't have enough knowledge of Irish music to give any sort of definitive top 5 (I'm actually only a few steps in front of you)

I'd try and include some

• Altan
  
• Dervish
  
• Sharon Shannon
  
• Early Clannad
  
• and the relatively new Grada

This is taking into account that you know of Lunasa, Planxty, Moving Hearts and Christy Moore.



I too would be very interested in anyone elses opinions on Irish Trad and Folk.


Regards

John



SJB

Not trad Irish, but I would recommend:

Jimmy McCarthy
Mary Coughlan
Kieran Goss
Dolores Keane
Elanor McEvoy

Brian Kennedy might appeal

Brad

Horslips albums that spring to mind are;
The Book of Invasions ( A Celtic Symphony )or
The Man who built America,which is not as traditional but still sounds good. Or perhaps
their Greatest Hits,just to give you a general idea of their back catalogue.

Regards,Trevor

Thanks John, Brad and Trevor

I'll hunt out some samples and look to get hold of some CDs by these artists.

John - thanks for the links: they look excellent shops.

All the best, Rotf

Try "PLANXTY"
Collection and Live 2004 would be good starting points,

regards
george

Hi full ahead

I'm a big fan of Planxty - saw them live back in the seventies and bought several albums by them (my favourite is Cold Blow and the Rainy Night), but I haven't got Live 2004 and I definitely should have.

Thanks Rotf

I'd second the recommendations for Dervish and Sharon Shannon and go on to add

Davy Spillane.
Patrick Street. (This is a band, not a person BTW)
Boys Of The Lough.

Regards,
Steve

Always used to like Moving Hearts but they may be a bit too electric to fit the description. They did have Christy Moore, Donal Lunny and Davey Spillane so they can't be too bad.
Triona Domnail is someone I used to remember. The Dubliners could be good on their day. I also seem to remember the Wolf Tones. Trouble is I haven't listened to this stuff for yonks so my memory is probably faulty. My dad was a big fan when I was a kid and I remember my Irish grandparents had loads of Jimmy Shand records but I'm not sure if he was Irish or Scottish.

Sweeney's Men

Clancy Brothers

...in addition to what everyone else said!

Jonathan

Thanks to all for some excellent recommendations - I've listened to various samples and so far I've gone for

The Legend of Sweeney's Men
Harvest Storm (Altan)
The Landing Step (Grada)

and although it wasn't as traditional Eleanor McEvoy's debut album (surely a snip at £3.99)

I'm also searching for Idir an Da Sholas (Between the Two Lights) by Maighread and Triona Dhomhnaill, the samples were superb.

Boys of Lough sounded very interesting, but they had a vast catalogue and I didn't know where to start - any recommendations.

Horslips sounded good too and the recommended Book of Invasions excellent (it'll be on my next list as I'm sure other artists recommended in this thread will be). Lots of information on the Book around the Internet that was fascinating to read.

I'll come back to the list and explore some more of the artists later.

Once again, thanks

Rotf

For anybody interested, there are some samples of Sweeney's Men on Andy Irvine's web site and also the excellent Patrick Street.

Saw Doctors for a modern folk music slant. Stories mainly set around Galway and Mayo with a "punky" sort off attitude. Great fun live too.

Howard

Much of the above is not true trad as I would define it. For some rather good current trad try either Solas or Lunasa (Kinnity Sessions).

...but Horslips were fab and The man who built america an amusing blend of trad, folk and prog.

HI ROTF
forgot to mention IRISH HEARTBEAT by Van Morrison & the Chieftains the last time i replied.listened to it at the weekend,still think it's one of the best cd's i have.

regards
george

quote:

Originally posted by David Quigley:
Much of the above is not true trad as I would define it. For some rather good current trad try either Solas or Lunasa (Kinnity Sessions).

...but Horslips were fab and The man who built america an amusing blend of trad, folk and prog.

David thanks - I got Lunasa (Kinnity Sessions) after SJB's recomendation and it is absolutely superb. I;ll put Solar on my list too.

quote:

Originally posted by full ahead:
HI ROTF
forgot to mention IRISH HEARTBEAT by Van Morrison & the Chieftains the last time i replied.listened to it at the weekend,still think it's one of the best cd's i have.

regards
george

Thanks George - I'll check out the Chieftans.

I know it's not traditional music but as you raise Van Morriso, I have to confess I haven't got any records by him in my collection, not quite sure why; I've only heard a few tracks by Van (the usual ones). Is Astral Weeks an album I should investigate or is there a better introduction?

Best regards, Rotf

Hi Rotf,

Van like Dylan has had many phases and one can be into one and not others.

For the best introduction and one of the best live albums ever I'd go for



It's too late to stop now.


Van brought an orchestra on the road with him and nearly bankrupted himself, and this superlative album was the result.


Regards

John



SJB

I can't help you with suggestions if you mean the so-called 'celtic' Irish. But for myself I would definitely include Rory Gallagher as standing firmly within and at the same time extending the Irish tradition. For example, he was deeply admired as a musician (and as a person) by the great Ronnie Drew (Dubliners) amongst others.

Clearly most of Rory's best music is blues-related, but with a definite Irish soul, which is one reason why - for me - he extends the blues tradition so much more than, say Eric Clapton.

But he also plays some fine music which stands more clearly in the 'trad Irish' tradition. For a good range of these you might like to listen to the postumous 'unplugged' release : "Wheels Within Wheels".

(To digress, I was in our local musical instrument shop in King's Lynn on Saturday, taking my daughter to see a lovely Telecaster ("Oh yes, you will be mine") and this album was playing. But no - the proprietor told me - it was not the commerical release, but a copy of the original unremastered recordings, which had come to him from Rory's brother Donal through a mutual friend. It had more tracks on. And sounded very interesting compared with the remastered version - in some ways 'more together' even when being played on a typical music shop system.)

Thanks guys - lots to check out.

Another vote for the Wolfe Tones in relation to traditional Irish folk music - although some of the sentiments expressed may be a bit too republican / rebellious for some (album titles such as "Rifles of the IRA" and "Up the Rebels" are probably not to everyone's liking).

Another band worth trying is Stockton's Wing.

As for Boys of the Lough, you could do worse than to start with "The Piper's Broken Finger".

Finally, and moving slightly off-topic, you might like to try some Alain Stivell. He is of celtic origin, albeit Breton, and uses a lot of Irish folk in his music. It is also interesting to see how he blends traditional and modern instruments. His albums "A l'Olympia" and "E Langonned" are particular favourites of mine.

Dan

ROTF(Van Morrison)
Moondance seems to be his most acclaimed album.There is also a very fine BEST OF ,i think a remastered version came out in 1999 on polydor.
george

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
Boys of Lough sounded very interesting, but they had a vast catalogue and I didn't know where to start - any recommendations.

I think I'm only half a step in front of you in exploring their catalogue! I heard them on the radio, but so far I've only been able to source 1 album "Open Road". I enjoyed it enough to recommend the band though.