Customer Reviews

Ain't It Grand Boys

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although these songs have in fact been issued before, the cuts on these disks are some of my favorites. The versions of "Johnson's Motor Car" and "The Irish Rover" are in my personal opinion the best I've ever heard. The sheer enthusiasm with which they plough through "Johnson's Motor Car" complete with the whoops and hollers gets me everytime. I also think this album has some of the most interesting between song banter so typical of the Clancys. And there rollicking version of "The Holy Ground" also ranks among the best I've heard. The highlights of the entire release in my opinion though are "The Royal Canal"... the harmonic cresendo which closes that cut leaves the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up, and "The West's Asleep"...the thunder of the last verse compared to the rest of the somber song is perfectly captured and gives me goosebumps everytime. A few of the cuts are stale I suppose... "The Rising of the Moon" just NEVER sounds any different but overall out of the 16 Clancy CD's I currently own, this is the one which comes with me in the car the most often, if for nothing else than it's sheer variety. Anyway, if you are a new fan... buy it... and if you can appreciate alternate versions of the same songs for their subtle differences... buy it. But if you absolutely HAVE to have something "brand new"... you might need to think about changing tastes. No offense, but traditional songs are traditional because they've ALL been done before.

For twenty years I've been waiting for Columbia/Sony to come out with an anthology of "unisued gems" by the Clancys & Makem. Well, they finally did it, and man did the corporate people at Sony screw it up!

Nearly every track on this CD is to be found in almost the identical format elsewhere in the CB & TM discography... except that the previously issued "gems" that made the original Columbia album cuts are far superior. These unissued gems, even though they are quite good,(how could they be otherwise?)are still the "factory Seconds" that did not make the final album cuts.

Here is where Sony missed the boat. There must be hours and hours of tape from both live concerts and studio sessions with songs never released durring the Columbia years. I have a CB & TM Irish Songbook published in 1969 that has so many songs from their early Tradition Records years that they never got around to releasing for Columbia even though they perfomed them throughout the 60's. Songs like The Croppy Boy, Boulavogue and Bold Thady Quill come to mind. Also in that songbook are some rare songs like The Earl of Morray and The Lough Neagh Fishers that are considered "unreleased". And yet we all know that somewhere in the Sony archives those songs are lurking, hoping some day to see the light of day. I'd gladly volunteer to go through that mountain of material and ferret out the real "undiscovered gems" of the CB & TM.

Instead, if you purchase this huge dissapointment you will get to hear for the thousandth time Roddy McCorley, Rising of the Moon, Isn't It Grand Boys, The Holy Ground and all the other standards merely performed in different settings which you previously have heard them in. Hardly unreleased gems!

There are a few high notes for die hard fans. The American Folk Song Medley that starts the album is wonderful. So is the accapella version of The Old Tringle from the'62 Newport folk Festival. Pat Clancy's Carol of the Birds is especially touching in light of his sad passing last year and the presented version of Portlairge with the boys breaking into the Hebrew folk song Hava-Nagila is most entertaining. Oh yes and Liam's version of An Ould Man Came Courting that was cut from their debut album is truly great.

To sum up, this project was a huge dissapointment. I do hope that Sony gives it another shot and next time releases SONGS that we've never heard before. We know they are out there somewhere. In the meantime, why don't they at least rerelease some of those early Columbia albums like Hearty & Hellish, The Boys Wont Leave The Girls Alone and The First Hurrah on CD instead. That would be far more desireable than this mis-guided project called Ain't It Grand. No, it ain't!

So far, this two-disc package is the closest Song has come to creating a decent retrospective of this glorious quartet. Lots of fun songs and interesting between-song banter, but each disc is less than 50 minutes -- why didn't the person in charge of this project fill up the entire 78 minute capability?

The Clancy Brothers are one of the preeminent Irish bands and this CD purports to be a collection of unreleased "gems." Well the "gems" part is true but if you have read the other reviews you will see the problem with the "unrelesed" part. Still The CD has a number of worthwhile songs and is well-worth a buy if you are a casual fan. For the hard core fan you have these songs already. If there ever was a band that deserved a well-researched box it is the Clancy Brothers. Someday soon I hope.

I just wanted to point out that the only complaint in the negative reviews here is with the use of the word "unissued". "Sure, the songs are great," the negative reviews say, as if that were a minor point.

That's my main point. I do, however, wish to add that "unissued" relates to the recordings, not necessarily the songs; a simple look at the song list on the back of the CD could've quickly removed any of the negative reviewers' delusions that these were songs that were never released before. Furthermore, most of these versions are among the best, if not the best, that I've ever heard from the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and there are several songs that I actually HAVEN'T heard on any of my other dozen or so CB&TM albums.

All in all, this album is simply great.

Just about everything presented in this collection can be found performed better on some other Clancy Brothers release. If you can find this in a bargain bin, get it...but for full price, there are much better values available. I am still waiting for the CD version of the one album the boys did for Audio-Fidelity, "You're Always Welcome at Our House." That was a fine collection of about a dozen tunes. I agree that Columbia/Sony has mishandled the Clancy transfers to CD. Combining two original releases on one disc at a fair price would have been sensible...they have done this with Dylan, except that his first and third albums are in the "two-for-one" instead of his first and second releases. I wonder who makes these choices, and what their problems are? I love the Clancy Brothers, but this particular product does not show them at their best.

I don't understand the reviewers who say that the material has been issued before. That is misleading. Yes, the group did release these songs, but these versions have never been released. The "American Medley" that opens the CD is very humerous, as is Liam's "Jesse James", as he mimicks a country singer. "Gallant Forty Twa" is a great version, and is more lilting and slower than the other version released on the original LP "The First Hurrah!". "arol of the Birds" is a great live track, and it is the only released version with all 4 original members. "The Children's Medley" opens Disc 2. It isn't as complete as the "Live at Carnegie Hall" version, but is still nice. "The Jug of Punch" is a great studio recording, and blows away the "Hearty and Hellish" version (titled 23rd of June). Some of the songs aren't a best effort. "Royal Canal" is a rough a capella version that goes sharp at the end, but it is still an ok version. "The West's Asleep" is very bad, as Tommy Makem sings flat the whole way through the song. Some of the songs have small audio problems; mostly the live tracks, but aren't bad enough to be annoying. The thing that is best is to hear all the stage banter, and the great time that the Clancy's and Makem give to their audiences. This is a must have for all hardcore Makem and Clancy fans.

The title of this CD caught me off guard: I've been searching for a copy of the Isn't It Grand Boys LP. While it wasn't what I expected, this is an excellent collection.

If you're a Clancy and Makem fan, you'll enjoy Rosin the Bow and the Gallant Forty-Twa -- you'll catch some jokes you've heard on other recordings too -- but the addition of Pete Seeger's This Land is Your Land and the rendition of Port Lairge that rolls into US and Israeli folk favourites is a nice surprise. Marie's Wedding -- a tune I've never heard on any other album has become one of my favourites.

A nice combination that's a great gift for any Clancy and Makem fan.

I love these two CDs.

While most of the songs appear on previous albums, it was great to hear new (to me) recordings of the old songs.

The slight variations from the familiar recorded versions as well as the between-song banter that was a trademark of their concerts made me think I was back at one of those great Carnegie Hall concerts of the '60s and early '70s.

It is true you can get most of these songs on other albums. What makes the album different is that most of the songs are live recordings. As someone who was never able to see the original group perform live it is a true gem. There are a few songs you can't get anywhere else, or at least I haven't been able to find them. The recording show what masters the Clancy's and Tommy Makem were, their good humor and stage presence shines on these recordings.