Customer Reviews

Blackbirds & Thrushes

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Niamh Parsons'BLACKBIRDS AND THRUSHES has become one of my favorite recordings. She breathes new life into the "celtic" music world. While I have read of comparisons with other singers, Ms. Parsons voice reminds me of a not-so-dark June Tabor.While I love and collect Ms. Tabor's recordings, I tend to listen to them in quieter, introspective times. BLACKBIRDS AND THRUSHES seems to transend moods with it spare, beautiful melodies and Niahm Parsons' voice that sings of earth and sky and life.

Of all the celtic albums I've bought recently, this one is by far the best. Ms. Parson has an absolutely lovely voice, and it is much, much more expressive than average. Just as important, she's done a good job of choosing her songs--all of them traditional, but with a fresh feeling to them. "The Water is Wide" is almost always beautiful no matter who's performing it, but who'd have predicted that Parsons' singing could render the Irish "Fear a Bhata" (Man of the Boat)so haunting and filled with longing that it need not be translated for the meaning to come through? An excellent recording.

Niamh Parsons has a rich, mellow voice which was made to sing traditional irish folk. Some songs are very lilting and melodious and others are meditative. The Maid on the Shore creates a very vivid picture to the listener. If you like irish folk, Niamh Parsons would fit very well in your collection.

"The Irish Make Saints Out Of Singers Like Niamh Parsons" Edmonton Sun ~

THIS VOICE is extraordinary. Vastly, enormously, satisfying. Settle in and have a listen ~ what a voice ~ with a storyteller's gift.

I was very disappointed in this cd. The quality is very uneven from song to song with too many of them at too high a key for Ms. Parsons voice. Her newer cd is much better and has already been listened to 10 times more often than this one.