Customer Reviews

Delirium

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm new to Celtic/Scottish music. I started out with Capercaillie's _Beautiful Wasteland_, loved it so much I ordered _Delirium_ here on Amazon and thought it was BETTER than _Beautiful Wasteland_. Favourite tracks include: (1) Rann Na Mona, (2) Waiting For The Wheel To Turn, (4) Cape Breton Song, (8) Coisich, A Ruin, and (11) Breisleach. Listen to the samples here and hear for yourself! The difficult part now is to choose my next Capercaillie CD...

BTW, I also ordered Karen Matheson's solo CD, _The Dreaming Sea_. Same beautiful voice, soothing songs...

I was first introduced to this band by way of the Putumayo Women of the World: Celtic CD (also excellent), and Capercaillie's work stood above the rest. As you may have read, Karen Matheson has a gorgeous voice that can be both ethereal and earthly. I had heard Delirium was their best album yet, and I knew several songs on it, so I got it. The first track, "Rann Na Móna" has wonderful energy and is a great start to the album. "Cape Breton Song" has a very mystical quality about it, and "Heart of the Highland" is warm and inviting. The instrumental pieces were good and even if you don't usually like instrumental pieces I think you will like these, especially "Islay Ranter's Reels". It is quick-paced and addictive and of course the fiddle and other instruments are played wonderfully. Of the slower songs, in my opinion "Dean Sàor An Spiórad" is best. It is a pleasant mix of Gaelic and English lyrics, as is the entire album. Perhaps the only song that disappointed me was "Waiting for the Wheel to Turn", as it seemed a bit slow, but that's probably because I first heard a live version of it which was much more energetic and inspiring. Anyway, I'd recommend this to anyone who likes Celtic music and even to those who don't, because it's among the best there is.

What an hugely excellent find for me. I just discovered this jewel (and the band for that matter) a little over a month ago, and this has become one of the biggest addictions in my music collection.

The band (on this album anyway) happens to make a humble amalgamation of Celtic, latin, folk and contemporary pop which is so addictive and irresistable due to it's high-melodic content, catchiness and the sweet, pure and virginal voice of lead singer Karen Matheson. The amalgamation is a nicely impressive and inexcessive blend, since it doesn't seem too extreme in either direction, but rather each form gently deflects off the other in quite a breezy and balanced way. To further enhance my point, it's quite impressive how ethereal, exotic and wispy the music is, but also how grounded, earthy and organic it is at the exact same time. The lyrics are sometimes sung in Gaelic, and others in English.

Overall, the musicianship is highly impressive, and there is literally not one bad track on this album. Also, out of all 48 minutes, there isn't a single one of them that doesn't feature an ear-pleasing melody. The album opens with "Rann Na Móna," which starts out with some breezy synthesizers, which are then fronted by Karen's wispy and soaring vocal. It then kicks into a tasty Celtic-pop fest, featuring one of the most addictive chorus' I've ever heard in music. "Waiting For The Wheel To Turn" is another addictive and melodic number. "Aodann Srath Bhain" is such a romantic beauty to listen to. A slow, mellow and airy song, it's one you can listen to over and over while you're looking out the window on a lonely, foggy morning - assuming your mood is close to that. Let Karen Matheson's voice soothe your soul.

Elsewhere, "You Will Rise Again" is a fine, melodic pop song which is great to sing along to, as it's inspirational as well, while "Kenny MacDonald's Jigs" is an addictive 'jig' with some kicking basslines and some nice accordion and fiddle. "Coisich, a Ruin" features some tasty and addictive Latin rhythms and percussion, fronted by some chantesque vocal harmonies, which give the track a spiritual aura. Excellent stuff. "Heart of The Highland" possibly plays out in a slow, peaceful 6/8 rhythm, while Karen Matheson sings nicely on the verses. The chorus' featuring those airy vocal harmonies, which mostly emulate major triads are so heavenly. One of the strongest tracks on the album. "Breisleach" is an all synthesizer and vocal track. Matheson shows off a bit of her vocal range on this track. Reminds me slightly of Enya. "Islay Ranter's Reels" is just simply a fun and addictive instrumental track, and "Servant To The Slave" is a beautiful contemporary pop song to close out the album. Once again, Karen's vocals on here are blissful.

This is excellent music of the highest order. Now, I have to look into getting more albums from this band. Please, don't pass this up if you like ethereal, organic, melodic and ear-pleasing music. It's quite criminal that this isn't too popular (here anyway.)

"Breisleach" ("Delirium") on track 11, alone, is worth the price of the album. The group's understated musicianship allows Karen Matheson an almost acappella performance of Aonghas MacNeacoll's haunting contemporary poem.

"...I went to the ale-house yesterday / To expel you from my head. / Every glass I raised, / Your beauty overflowed from it. / I went to bed early last night / To escape you in sleep / But you kept me awake / Till I'd make you a song..."

"Coisich a Ruin" ("Come On, My Love") is an updated version of an old Highland work song (variants are sung in my native Nova Scotia to this day) ...the lively beat and deft treatment got this onto the U.K. Top 40, surely the first and only Gaelic song to do so. (Don't worry; if you don't have the Gaelic, the CD booklet includes translations.)

I've given this album as a gift, recommended it to friends, and enjoy my copy immensely.

Do yourself a favor.! ! ..get to know Capercaillie.

The shift in approach and style between previous Capercaillie albums and Delirium is one of the most remarkable transformations in world music. While early recordings showed the band as an interesting but overly predictable and precious traditional celtic group, Delirium hits hard with a delightfully spontaneous blend of the prior elements with pop, funk, world and jazz overtones. For instance, the start of "Rann Na Mona", while stunningly beautiful, does recall Enya or Clannad doing Enya's style, but that quickly dissolves into a swirling skirmish of old and new. "Waiting for the Wheel to Turn" is a welcome statement about one of England's darker moments, that of the Clearances in which Scottish farmers were driven off their land and right out of their country to make way for grazing sheep, "Coisich a Ruin" and "Cape Breton Song" are both resurrected and revitalized works from centuries past. If the lyrics weren't enough, the music and Karen Matheson's voice are even better. The juxtaposition of moods and tempos is near perfect, but the many fine pieces stand well on their own too. There are the cracking instrumentals and wistful ballads as always, but the pop style tunes measure up in every way thanks to thoughtful subject matter and lyrics and strong melodies such as "Heart of the Highland", "You will rise again", and "Dean Saor An Spiorad". Even the closer, "Servant to the Slave", in a plodding almost progressive style that one might want to hate, is a welcome change of mood with which to wind down the project. While some bands take albums and years to break through from humble beginnings, Capercaillie did it all on Delirium, embracing their Scottish roots and then letting them soar.

I really recommend this CD, which is the best ever to appear in any Celtic language. (I do have a knowledge of that particular field). The slow and beautiful songs of "Aodann Srath Bhàin" and "Breisleach" are reasons enough to buy this CD. It also contains lively, engaging song like "Coisich, a Rùin" and "Heart of Highland". If you only buy one Capercaillie CD, make sure it's this one.

Capercaillie is probably the worlds best contemporary Gaelic group. The tracks on this CD show off Karen Matheson's expertise with the Gaelic tongue as well as english. The ballads are sweet and the jigs and reels exhilerating, all with a contemporary flair. You may remember Karen's cameo in the movie Rob Roy where she sings a lamentation called 'Dark Allan' while standing by the fire. If you like Clannad, you'll LOVE Capercaillie!

Capercaillie's music is hard to describe -- the combination of heartfelt, poetic lyrics and sweeping, beautiful music is a rare find in music today. However, they pull it off, and do so consistently throughout the entire CD, whether the lyrics are in English ("You'll wake to a different drum / In a place to call your own / Your world is shaking but a day will come / for a dream to take you home") [from "You Will Rise Again"] or in Gaelic (just look at the title track, "Delirium"). Gaelic folk music is here, as well -- "Cape Breton Song", in various different forms, is still sung by workers in Nova Scotia today, according to an article I read, and is just one of five traditional songs on the album. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys Celtic music, and even to those who don't -- Capercaillie seems to do something that few others cannot, and that is transcend the genre to appeal to a much wider audience.

This is the album I waited for 3 months (don't ask...). But it was worth waiting. Even if I would have been born much earlier and had to wait for Capercaillie to happen, it would have been worth waiting. Since I really enjoy in mouth music, Cape Breton Song became my favourite track. Brazen Donald Shaw is again political in his lyrics for Waiting for the Wheel to Turn, Dean Saor an Spiorad and Heart of the Highland, which makes Capercaillie pop-tracks far more interesting and bearable than those by, say, Clannad. Delirium is one of the best and most traditional albums by Capercaillie. They are, indeed, the heart of the Highlands.

This is one of the first Capercaillie CDs I bought and instantly fell in love with it. It's a wonderful CD to start out with, for it highlights many of the things that makes Capercaillie an amazing band: Karen Matheson's amazing voice and pure talent, the entertaining arrangements of jigs (and, again, talent of the band), and the band's writing ability, too. In comparison to the other CDs, in my opinion it's not the best, but it's still fabulous!!!