Mysts of Time

Aine Minogue | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 6, 1996)
• Original Release Date: July 1, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: North Star
• ASIN: B000003LVD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,588 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #63 in Music > Indie Music > World Music > Europe

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant and Ethereal, April 25, 2001

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bethtexas (United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mysts of Time (Audio CD)

If I had a temple, this album would play in it all day and all night. Layered, elaborate, mystical instrumentation supplementing Aine's ethereal soprano voice make this album sound absolutely holy. It is the kind of angelic music that can make you stop in the middle of a hectic, worldy day and suddenly do nothing but listen ... and then think about higher things. Try playing this softly at a dinner party and watch how many turn away from the punch and ask, "What is this lovely music?" It is as sophisticated as it is ethereal.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well......., March 2, 2002

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S. Schenck "tyrantxii" (Patterson, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mysts of Time (Audio CD)

My first CD from Aine Minouge was 'Between the worlds', and it will forever be one of my favorites, but 'The mysts of time' simply did not live up to expectation. Simply put, its a matter of tastes. If you like your celtic music light and easy, this one's for you; if you prefer more somber, mood driven tunes, turn your attention to 'Between the worlds'.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best New Age Celtic, January 8, 2001

By 

Jim Allan (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mysts of Time (Audio CD)

I purchased this on a whim about in 1995 from a Science Shop in Toronto. The Science Shop chain has vanished but the CD appears still in large quantities in the racks of the Museum Company, and smaller quantities in record stores, indication that it continues to sell and find new listeners.

How not? This is the kind of music that started New Age Celtic, not the later derivitate, imitation Celtic that has given New Age Celtic a bad name. And it has remained one of my favorite CDs.

The sounds are exquisite, delicate, soft, subtle, misty, dreamy, warm and comforting, but not mushy. I think it slightly the best of ker albums that I have heard. (Two earlier ones are unavailable.)

The material is nearly all traditional, but unknown to me before I purchased this CD: a greatly varying mix of genuine Irish (Gaelic lyrics only), little-known Latin church music (a Sarum plainsong and a Benedictine Christmas Carol from the Isle of Wight), and one thobbing Breton song. Only three songs are original compositions by Minogue and Brian P. Myers, but all are excellent; one of them is the album title track, and the most album's most obvisouly exciting piece with its lively "Gloria" chorus.

Minogue sings with a restrained, flowing, unearthly, echoing voice floating in etherial, spiritual purity, sometimes above and sometimes blending within the weaving instrumental harmonies and drones. For this is very much an ensemble album with superb backing and bridging by other musicians on cello, fiddle, mandolin, Irish pipes, whistle, oboe, English horn, keyboards, tabla, and bodhrán. Of course Minogue's bright, neo-Celtic harp rightly takes first place. A male chorus sometimes augments Minogue's singing, and sometimes alternates with it.

The tunes are linked by a spiritual emphasis, but none sound churchy. One, "Mal Bhán Ní Chuilionáin", is in fact a somewhat frivolous song of repentance for all pleasure by a man who has lost his lady love. The liner notes make clear the importance to Minogue of the veneraton of the goddess Brigit and of nature found in some of these songs.

Some tracks, "Anach Cuan" for example, are very close to Goth music, or something the group Enigma might produce. A closer connection is to the Celtic music of Loreena McKennitt or to Enya, though Minogue has a distinct sound of her own. But anyone who likes any these kinds of musics should give this album a listen.

If only the liner notes gave translations and more information instead of John O'Donohue's finely written but unnecessary essay.