Customer Reviews

Irish Songs of Rebellion, Resistance and Reconciliation

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This is a good collection of songs if you're looking for tunes from the rebellion. However, the versions here are a bit different than others I've heard. I'm not saying they're bad - not by a long shot. But, when you're used to hearing the Chieftans play a song and then you hear the Alias Acoustic Band play their version, well, it's just not the same. Also - these are live recordings...not studio tracks. I listen to this collection when I'm cooking dinner and enjoying a finger or two of 15 year Laphroiag or some cask strength Macallen. It's definitely a collection for those who are already familiar with this type of music.

Ron Kavana is sort of a strange bird. His album Home Fire is one of the finest albums I own, and is an example of what the genre should be. It's practically perfect. He also released several singles for Green Linnet at around the same time that album was released which were fantastic. Then there was all of the Alias Ron Kavana stuff, which despite trying, I simply couldn't get in to.

These tracks are certainly some of the best traditional songs of Irish Rebellion, interspersed with a few Kavana originals, but nearly all of them have been arranged by Kavana in ways most fans of the genre would find unfamiliar. It's not always bad, but it's nearly always different enough to be distracting. For example, he's rearranged the title song of Home Fire - it's still spirited, but it's also been updated in a way more akin to "Alias Ron Kavana" than his earlier Green Linnet work. His arrangement of well known classics is also very strange - if you were raised on The Dubliners or the Clancy Brothers, you'll barely recognize some of these songs.

Add to that, that most songs are arranged down tempo, and what you're left with is an album more suited for listening to by yourself, in a dark room, with a bottle of something strong than something suited for background music when having friends around (ok, maybe that's pushing it, but I put this on at a family gathering recently, and it was quickly replaced by Planxty due to the "um, what?" factor). There are a few exceptions, of course, but in general, this album is more somber than uplifting. Still, it's enjoyable if you're in the right mood, but I doubt I'd replace this copy if it gets lost or broken.