Customer Reviews

70-95 Zoom

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Legend has it that a truly talented harper can play songs that make you laugh, cry, and fall asleep. Alan Stivell can weave songs for all three moods--and mix harp w/rock--and make it work!

I met Alan when Zoom 70-95 came out, and he autographed it for me. I bought Zoom then and there so he'd have something to sign--all my vinyl was home--and I'm not sorry! This is a wonderful collection spanning his career, and it sparked my interest in some of his newer albums (such as "Brian Boru") which I hadn't yet heard. I take this sparkling mix w/me when travelling, to have a bit of everything, but the albums from which these songs are culled are all gems, reminding me of my college days in Brittany, dancing the pourled at a fest-noz.

I first heard Alan Stivell in 1972 on the local Montreal FM station. The album was "Reflets" and I fell in love. Back then Celtic music was virtually unheard of. I had certainly never heard anything like it. I was (and still am) a huge Moody Blues fan and was delighted to read on the album notes (written in French) that Stivell had headlined with the Moodys on some of their concerts. When I bought and played the album for the first time, I was transfixed. I don't think I breathed until the first side had finished. Growing up in a small town in Quebec the music was soothingly familiar...echoes of my childood. Twenty six years later, I still love this man's music.

A friend gave me a copy of Zoom - it is now one of my favorite CDs. Even if you don't speak the languages (as he sings in several), the music says it all.

An earlier reviewer wrote: " Growing up in a small town in Quebec the music was soothingly familiar...echoes of my childood. Twenty six years later, I still love this man's music."

Well - I grew up in the dusty canyons of LA, and in 1973, when a friend brought home from a trip to Quebec, two Stivell LPs
and we were BOTH transfixed... Now almost 30 years later, I still love this man's music. Echoes of my ancestors?"
We were both Celts, though growing up in suburban America, we knew very little about our family backgrounds until Stivell's music stirred something in us both! There was (no... IS) something elemental on a cellular level about Stivell's renditions of traditional Celtic music. He plays this music from the heart... and that's where he makes you feel it!

This CD includes much material from the unavailable (or at least difficult to locate) "Olympia Live" release.
IF you have never heard Alan Stivell and you enjoy honest, traditional, NW European music: pipes and drums, harps and electric guitar - this is a great way to meet him.

AND If you already have other CDs by Stivell - then THIS one will become your favorite. Incredible stuff. - Go Braugh!

Here is a definitive 35-track collection of Alan Stivell's "hits" from
1970-1995. Of all musicians I have heard, Alan Stivell and his crew
sound like they recorded not on Earth but in a misty Celtic Valhalla,
where men are sinewy Heroes, women are tempestuous red-haired Valkyries,
and little forest Sprites cavort beside babbling streams or upon moonlit
leafy branches. Whatever your tastes in music, I think you will be
bowled over by the wonder and beauty of this Celtic harpist and his
array of medieval instruments. His approach ranges from traditional
to mergings with rock, jazz, even funk, that usually are successful.
The magical music of Alan Stivell cannot be overpraised!