Now & In Time to Be

The Cranberries, Sinead Lohan, Various Artists, Nervous, Van Morrison, Mike Scott, Sharon Shannon, The Waterboys, Christy Moore, Richard Harris, Shane MacGowan, World Party | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 1997)
• ASIN: B000008TD0
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,399 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Under Ben Bulben

2. An Irish American Foresees His Death

3. Politics

4. Before the World Was Made

5. A Song of the Rosy-Cross

6. The Fish

7. Gort Na Saileán (Down by the Salley Gardens)

8. The Four Ages of Man

9. The Song of Wandering Aengus

10. He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

11. The Stolen Child

12. Yeat's Grave [Featuring No Second Troy]

13. The Lake Isle of Innisfree

14. Under Ben Bulben [Excerpt]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anthology of W.B.Yeats poetry by modern Irish artists, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Now & In Time to Be (A Musical Celebration Of The Works Of W.B. Yeats) (Audio CD)

Inspired on a trip to Ireland by the many existing Yeats' poems set to music, two journalists compiled this compilation showing the diversity of contemporary Irish music. Yeats poetry has a natural lyricism to it which blends easily to the different styles of the music. For me the highlight is The Waterboys track Stolen Child but none of the songs are wasted. The inclusion of Richard Harris and a recording of the poet himself reading shows what enthusiasm and pure joy went into this enterprise. A unique addition to anybody's music collection.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Marriage of Music & Poetry, August 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Now & In Time to Be (A Musical Celebration Of The Works Of W.B. Yeats) (Audio CD)

As a fan of poetry and of popular music, it has struck me how difficult a successful fusion of the two art forms can be. This new collection of Yeats poems is a wonderful exception; the music is superb, and Yeats' poetry sounds right at home even in pop music arrangements by Van Morrison and others. The deep influence of Yeats on young Irish artists is shown by the ease they demonstrate in putting it to music. Someone should should consider a collection of American singers doing the same with the poetry of our national bard, Walt Whiman.

4.0 out of 5 stars A review of the songs by the artists performing Yeats., February 26, 2012

By 

THowerton "SHowT" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Now & In Time to Be (A Musical Celebration Of The Works Of W.B. Yeats) (Audio CD)

Having enjoyed some excursions into poetry (both reading and writing) in my college days I've always been more open to it than other guys I know. But what actually brought me to this CD was the fantastic Waterboys song "The Stolen Child". Not being familiar with Yeats' work specifically I had hoped that there would be some other songs represented on this disc that came close to the spell that "The Stolen Child" had put on me. Though none but one quite lived up to that (see the World Party song) all songs and spoken pieces on this CD are enjoyable in their own right. The organization of this CD as well allows for a great variety without much repetition in styles (until toward the end). While the music/ songs are good the booklet accompanying the CD is also important as it prints the lyrics/ poems and gives you a brief introduction to Yeats and to why artists reflected him in their work.

1) Richard Harris (excerpt from "Under Ben Bullben"): Harris has a wonderfully rich and seasoned voice. I could listen to an entire poetry reading of his. This first snippet is a call to the Irish poet and a smart start to the CD.
2) Shane MacGowan & Cafe Orchestra ("An Irish Airman Foresees His Death"): dominated by the slightly perturbed, drunken-slurred voice of the Pogues' MacGowan this is a quick, and terse, poem with accompanied music increasing in speed to match the tension of the poem.
3) Karl Wallinger ("Politics"): Wallinger (of ex-Waterboys and World Party fame) brings a Beatlesesque melody and pretty piano line that seems to transform this poem into a love song.
4) Van Morrison ("Before the World Was Made"): Do I hear bells? It could be a xylophone. With Morrison's swaysee singing style and a loungey musical direction this fourth song offers yet another distinctive character to the CD and poetic stylings of Yeats.
5) Mike Scott & Sharon Shannon ("A Song of the Rosy-Cross"): Shannon, a former Waterboy (I did not know that), joins the original Waterboy Mike Scott for this rendition that sets itself to easily identified Irish music (a bit of the reels if I'm not mistaken...but I could be). Scott sing-speaks this poem with both musicians filling in on their instruments (fiddle and whistle).
6) Sinead Lohan ("The Fish"): the dirge-like deep sustained strings woosh and sad, single guitar chord plucks lend the quiet and careful singing of this chanteuse create a melancholy effect that again offered a very different and distinct flavor to this CD. I liked this so much that I have found an album by this artist and placed it in my wishlist. This would be a great song to drift asleep to.
7) Tamalin ("Gort na Sailean" [Down by the Sailey Gardens]): this song vexes me, but in a good way. The music is very familiar, with a lullabye quality though it feels like it belongs to some Christmas song, and I can't place it. The words are sung in Gaelic but are translated into English in the booklet. I am not familiar with Tamalin, apparently a band out of Belfast, Ireland.
8) World Party ("The Four Ages of Man"): perhaps my favorite song on the CD, surpassing that great song "The Stolen Child", World Party (ne Karl Wallinger) offers a gloomy, heavy yet rousing song that incorporates again some traditional Irish music. Wallinger's singing crescnedoes at the end of the song with the refrain "Now his wars on God begin; At stroke of midnight God shall win." At first I had no idea this was Wallinger singing; he only gives himself away at the end of the song.
9) Christy Moore ("The Song of Wondering Aengus"): Christopher Andrew Moore, along with Morrison, is one of the elder artists on this CD and has a lot of CD releases under his own and affiliated band's names. This song is a quiet, acoustic guitar plucked meditation on this poem. One gets a very good sense of the heavy and rounded tongue that is probably used a lot when Yeats' works are spoken.
10) Nervous ("He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven"): I wasn't able to find additional info on who this band is. The singer is male and he has a nice timbre to his voice. The music is soft with what sounds like a plucked steel guitar. Light and enjoyable.
11) The Waterboys with Tomas MacEoin ("The Stolen Child"): there is a dynamic tension in this brilliant song both within the simple repeated musical structure and between Mike Scott's singing of the chorus contrasted with the earthy, pipe-filled spoken-word styling of Tomas MacEoin. There is a beautiful flute that floats and flutters throughout the song. This song, originally found on the Waterboys' album "Fisherman's Blues", was a highlight of that album just as it is here.
12) The Cranberries ("Yeats's Grave" featuring an excerpt from "No Second Troy"): The Cranberries, always distinguished by the unique vocal talents of Dolores O'Riordan, blend Yeats' words with their own if I understand it correctly. A moving, if not standard, working from them. Certainly it is nice to have another female vocal representative on the album.
13) W.B. Yeats ("The Lake Isle of Innisfree"): Yeats himself reciting his own words. The recording is scratchy but his voice comes through clearly.
14) Richard Harris ("Under Ben Bullben" excerpt): beginning and ending the CD Harris briefly concludes with "Cast a cold eye/ On life, on death/ Horseman, pass by!"