Circus

Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Mary Black

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 17, 1996)
• Original Release Date: October 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Curb Records
• ASIN: B000000DFH
• Also Available in: Hardcover  |  Audio Cassette  |  Textbook Binding
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #189,009 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly lovely exceptional songs, sung in Mary's pure voice., May 18, 1998

By A Customer

For all of you Mary Black fans, this is one of her best. She has picked very intimate, remarkable songs, some of which may move you to tears. Not of sadness, but of tenderness, beauty, understanding. You'll enjoy this one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Single best Mary Black album I know of!, May 24, 2004

By A Customer

I came to Mary Black's music via her concept album "The Holy Ground" in the early '90s. I was captivated by her song-selection, arrangements and, of course, that voice. Haunting, enagaging, mystical allusions abound, yet in "The Circus" I found an even greater fullness, as the songs have more to do with real-life relationships (with the musical arrangements, if possible, even richer in tone). John Gorka's "All that Hammering" and Mary Chapin Carpetner's "The Moon and St Christopher" are high points, as are the title song, "Gabriel" and "Into the Blue." "Donegal Breeze" harks back to her Irish homeland, and the live "Raven in the Storm" shows how exciting she can be outside the studio too. "The Circus" would be my "desert island" choice, had I but one Mary Black cd to choose. Enjoy!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An album I can't get tired of!, November 10, 2005

By	Charles A. Olsen "podvizhnik" (Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Great album all the way through-like good country music, it is soulful, introspective even, but keeps a steady pace and rich texture. I have listened to it almost every day for several months and am not tired of it yet. I can't say that many other albums have survived 100 listens as far as I am concerned.

I came rather warily to this album; for many years, all I ever heard of "Irish music" was either the folk stuff with tin whistle, fiddle, harp, and pipes; or the old-school tenors ala John McCormick and Morton Downey Sr; or else the sleep-inducing New Agey stuff ala Enya. But Mary Black, with The Pogues and a few others, is opening up a new horizon in world music for me. I expect this album to survive another 100 listens and keep going strong.