Spirit Of The Glen

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 12, 2008)
• Original Release Date: November 6, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fontana International
• ASIN: B000WSRPOO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,733 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Music > Miscellaneous > Marches
  #6 in	Music > World Music > Europe > British Isles > Scotland
  #6 in	Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music > Marches

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is Scotland's senior regiment and her only regular cavalry. The band members, as well as being trained musicians, are all Army soldiers who crew tanks and have served two tours of duty in Iraq.

The album, both Scots and classical tunes, is a tribute to the dedication and talent of this group of military pipers. While they are first and foremost soldiers, the music on Spirit of the Glen is a heart-warming and beautiful demonstration of the incredibly powerful and emotive sound of bagpipe music.

Some album highlights: the McCartney popularized #1 single, Mull of Kintyre, Amazing Grace 2007, a reworking of Rod Stewarts `Sailing,' and film themes Dances with Wolves & The Last of the Mohicans.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Scottish music, January 30, 2008

By	Kurt A. Johnson (Marseilles, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was formed in 1971, by the amalgamation of two earlier regiments (the Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards and The Royal Scots Greys). They are a crack armored regiment, equipped with Challenger 2 tanks, which saw action in the 1991 Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the recent invasion of Iraq. All this is to say that this is a real regiment of real soldiers. But, they are also real musicians.

This album is not just a collection of bagpipe tunes, but is instead a wonderful selection of wonderful, modern Scottish musical pieces. All of the tunes include bagpipes, which is considered by many to be THE Scottish musical instrument, but they are backed up by a many other instruments, including the keyboard and guitar.

Overall, I found the effect to be excellent, reminiscent of the more modern Scottish music I have heard at Scottish music festival. It has a more rounded sound that your older pipe-and-drum music, one that is sure to please anyone that likes ethnic music. I must say that I liked the selection of older and newer tunes, including Mull of Kintyre and Dances With Wolves.

I think that this is a great album, and I don't hesitate to recommend it to everyone!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Was Hoping..., January 23, 2008

By	Ron (Jersey) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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I love the bagpipes and drums, so this album was right up my alley. The instruments are played flawlessly. The song choices are a nice mix of what you would expect from the bagpipes along with a few nice surprises. What I didn't enjoy was the vocals accompanying several of the songs. I personally would have proffered this to be an all instrumental album. But that is my own opinion and has nothing to do with the quality of the songs themselves.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cannot Be Faulted - A Perfect Gift, January 23, 2008

By	Mark K. Mcdonough "Mark McDonough" (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I am a casual celtic music fan, not an expert. But here's been my experience with recorded bagpipe music. You always think you want to hear bagpipes and bagpipes alone, but you don't. Live in full power, they're wonderful, but unaccompanied bagpipe music on the stereo will empty a room even faster than my collection of polka records.

What you really want is something like this: beautifully played bagpipes with other elements tastefully blended in. This collection of mostly mournful tunes includes everything from a symphony orchestra to voice to keyboards, but the bagpipes never get lost and the music is never sappy.

This would make a perfect gift for all your relatives who are not hardcore folkie purists, but would love something Scots-flavored to listen to now and then. In fact, I whipped it out of the box, and after 10 minutes my sister wanted a copy and my father said he was going to buy two for his brothers. And if only Grandma McDonough (nee Maxwell) were still with us, I'd get her a copy to enjoy with her Laphroaig.