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Want to know
which CD to buy? What's good and what's not?
Here's a short list of "do's and don'ts" when buying Celtic music in
Israel:
The ranking is from 5 dragons (it's damn good and buy it even in the Israeli price)
to one dragon (it sucks and don't listen to it even if they pay you for). We give high
ranking for quality, originality and "Celticness" and low rankings for lameness,
"over-popness" and banal material.
*** If you have a CD review you'd like to share, please send it to us!! ***
| Riverdance and Lord of the Dance soundtracks
are good places to start. the music is lifefull and will drift you deep into the Irish
realms, if you're not there already. Both CD's are great and win 5 dragons!
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| Silly Wizard's "Life Wizardy", is a live CD
of a liveful band! Silly Wizard is a group of 5 men with a lot of talent, cheerful spirit
and storng accent... makes you feel like inside a good old Irish bar! Wonderful CD,
and very special too... 5 dragons!
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| "Her infinite variety", a collection of
Celtic female artist (double CD), is the best collection of Celtic music we've found so
far. It's also very representative to this kind of music, since it contains a lot of
classic Celtic pieces. A great collection that wins 5 dragons also!
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| Another fine feminine mixture: The Chieftains "Tears of
stone" is a collection of great female singers escorting the
Chieftain's Irish music.
You'll find some of the world greatest singeresses in this album, in a divine
Irish wrap. A must for everyone who can appreciate fine singing. Wins 5 dragons plus a
warm recommendation!
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| Loreena McKennitt's "Book of secrets". here's
an album that can tell apart the good from the best. Loreena is considered the singer all
new celtic singers imitate - and for a good reason. This new album of hers is a most
divine piece, containing both excellent celtic ballads and wolrd music, with a strong
medittereanian touch! It's also a very special album, with a strong dramatic tone and long
tracks. (one is 10 min.!)
Listen to "The Highwayman" - the best ballad Vince have heard his entire
life. Wins 5 dragons easily, plus the editorial favorite prize for
last month!
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| New entry: Susan McKeown's "Bushes & Briars".
a fine singer from the school of Loreena McKennith which pushes to the limit her amazing
voice. Great Celtic songs bringing the best of Irish dramatic singing. Touched my heart...
Only one problem: it's a very rare jewel. Wins 5 dragons plus the editorial
favorite prize for this month!
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| The "Feet of flames" soundtrack: Almost as
good as the original, including some outstanding new features - flute (Michael is a damn
good flutter!), Latin monks singing and some mean violin duets. Surprisingly, it does not
include all the tracks, just the new ones, so it isn't a copy of the LOTD soundtrack! The
only drawback is that is, after all, a sequel, and not as original and surprising as the
first - wins 4 dragons easily.
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| Eileen Ivers "Crossing the bridge": The
Riverdance's violinist in an album of her own, combining Celtic and world music with a
jazzish touch. Most of the tracks are excellent, but few are lame - wins 4 dragons.
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| A rare and precious jewel: Mellow Candle - "Swaddling songs".
An almost unknown band with two (!) leading female singers and a very unique
folk/jazzish/rockish style. Excellent, but not for everyone. Available only in
specialized stores. Wins 4 dragons.
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| Clannad's "Landmarks" is a very good album
that even most people will find appealing because of it's popular "Enya-like"
style, but it still keeps a unique Celtic sound for those of us who like it. A good album
to start digging the into soft Celtic music. Wins 4 dragons for good combination of
popularity and uniqueness.
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| Clannad's "Banba", on the other hand, is too
much a drift in the popular "Enya"-ish direction, although it's still fairly
good. One dragon penalty for this, so it wins only 3 dragons.
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| "Legacy of the Scotish Harpers" is very nice
and relaxing, but not very interesting - something to hear as backgroud when you're doing
something else, or going to sleep. 3 dragons.
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| The Corrs' "Talk on corners" is a fine
combination of pop and Irish jig. some people, however, will find the pop too sweet and
"popish" for this kind of music. Wins 3 dragons, although some tracks
definitely ranks 5.
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| The Waterboys' "Room to roam" is a reminder
of this band's folkish era, and a good representative to Scottish folk music, in a soft
rockish wrap. Good, but not outstanding - 3 dragons.
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| "The Best Celtic Collection Ever" is one of
the worst CDs I have ever listened to. How can someone make Celtic music with syntisizer
only?! Bad. one dragon for the try and the only tune (out of 40) I liked.
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DO YOU HAVE A CD REVIEW??? Send
it to Vincent!
We'd like to add here
a speciall "thanks" to the place most of our CDs came from: Horev Records! This
store can be found in Horev Center, which is - how surprising - placed in Horev St., HAIFA.
More detail reviews about Celtic music in the wide world could be found at
The Rambles.
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