Paddy In The Smoke: Irish Dance Music From A London Pub

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 21, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Topic Records
• ASIN: B00000591N
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,844 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate Irish fiddle experience, March 28, 2001

By 

Donald P. Ridgway "Delta f" (El Cajon, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paddy In The Smoke: Irish Dance Music From A London Pub (Audio CD)

I've just ordered this CD because my old album, purchased in about 1968, is almost transparent from playing it so many times. This is the real deal: Irish fiddle music recorded in a noisy London pub. You can taste the dark beer and cigarette smoke, and you can't keep still. The fiddle playing is superb, and the one tune with accordian is fantastic (the only thing I've ever liked on accordian).

If you've been lucky enough to stumble onto this review, please trust me: If you like traditional music of any kind, this CD will be one of your all-time favorites.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great recording, June 28, 2005

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J. Hale "johnny negotiable" (Juneau, AK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paddy In The Smoke: Irish Dance Music From A London Pub (Audio CD)

The very first note played on this recording--Martin Byrne's long vibrato on the G string--launches you into an incredible experience. The fiddles, the sounds of the barroom crowd--it all makes music from the concert hall and recording studio seem rather meaningless in contrast. This music, as Ciaran Carson notes, "is about something." Go, listen.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best ever recording of ITM?, March 20, 2006

By 

David Levine (Kilshanny, Co Clare, Ireland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paddy In The Smoke: Irish Dance Music From A London Pub (Audio CD)

I first heard Paddy in the Smoke as a record around 1970. At the time I had just moved to New Hampshire from Berkeley and I was playing the fiddle for New England contra-dances. My interest in Irish music was just developing. I thought the playing on the record was very nice. But it was scratchy fiddling and sometimes the intonation was a bit off. I wore that record out. I now have the CD. I have over 300 CDs of Irish Traditional Music and I play mostly the timber concert flute. I live in Ireland.
I now realize that Paddy in the Smoke is one of the best recordings of Irish music ever made. It is heartbreakingly beautiful, capturing the passion, joy, and despair of Irish musicians living in London in the '60s. It might be the best recording of "live" Irish music ever made-- along with: "Paddy Canny, P J Hayes, Bridie Lafferty & Peadar O'Loughlin -- An Historic Recording of Irish Traditional Music from County Clare and East Galway."
Anybody with even a passing interest in Irish Traditional Music should put this CD at the top of their to-buy list and listen to it until they understand, and are consumed by, the music. Thirty-five years later I am still totally taken by this CD.