Best of Ossian [Import]

Ossian | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Lismor/Celtic
• ASIN: B000024CN5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,425 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the great Scottish folk groups, January 31, 2008

By 

Paul Magnussen (Campbell, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Best of Ossian (Audio CD)

I should make clear at the outset that I don't own this album. I do, however, own all the band's main recordings. The contents are as follows:

01. St Kilda Wedding/Perrie Werrie Reel/Honourable Mrs Moll's Reel
02. S Gann Gunn D'irich Mi Chaoidh
03. The Road To Drumleman
04. The Sound Of Sleat/Aandowin' At The Bow/ The Old Reel
05. Will Ye Go To Flanders?/Lord Lovat's Lament
06. Duncan Johnstone/The Duck/The Curlew
07. Drunk At Night, Dry In The Morning
08. I Will Set My Ship In Order
09. Rory Dall's Sister's Lament
10. Johnny Todd/Far From Home
11. Jamie Raeburn/The Broomielaw
12. Mrs Stewart Of Grantully/Be Sud An'gille Truagh/Calum Johnston's/Harris Dance

Ossian (not to be confused with the Hungarian group of the same name, nor with the likewise-defunct Irish group Oisín) were one of the great bands of the Scottish folk revival of the '70s and '80s, drawing on the tradition as Planxty, the Bothy band and Dé Dannan did around the same time in Ireland. Between 1977 and 1986 they made six albums, and a further one during a reunion in 1997 -- after the 1995 release of the current album, which comprises:

0 tracks from Ossian (1977)
2 tracks from St. Kilda Wedding (1978)
2 tracks from Seal Song (1981)
3 tracks from Dove Across the Water (1982)
2 tracks from Borders (1984)
3 tracks from Light on a Distant Shore (1986)

All the band were skilled multi-instrumentalists, and the sheer variety of the arrangements on these albums is astonishing. Their vocal harmony, especially when combined with the wonderful voice of Tony Cuffe (as it is on "Will Ye Go to Flanders?"), is so perfect as to send shivers down the spine.

If you can get the main albums second-hand, then do so. If you can't, then Best of represents a fair cross-section of their work.

By my computation, the total time is somewhat over 56 minutes, which isn't a great deal for a "Best of" CD; hence the four stars instead of five.

P.S. I have encoded all the names of the main albums as Product Links, so those listed here should show up in blue.