Customer Reviews

Upon A Shamrock Shore: Songs of Ireland and the Irish

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The music of the Irish Rovers is difficult to come by, which is very unfortunate. Last year MCA released the long overdue "The Best Of The Irish Rovers [Remaster]" which contained 16 of the most popular tracks. Now we have this latest collection which pulls together another 15 essential tracks. There are lots of pleasant surprises here for those who are only familiar with the "hits" including the delightful "Bridget Flynn", the marvelous up-beat "Mountain Tay" and "Rovers Fancy", and slightly naughty "Up Among the Heather". This collection comes across as more "traditional" than "Best Of..." and should be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys good Irish music. Again, if you have "Best of..." you owe it to yourself to pick this one up as well.

My only complaint, and you can't hold this against the Rovers themselves, is that MCA is being a bit stingy with the material. There are 15 tracks here, but with many lasting just over 2 minutes the total running time is just over 35 minutes. If MCA really wanted to provide good value they could have utilized the full playing time of the digital format and added almost all these songs to last year's "Best of...". Now THAT would have been a bargain. Or at least added some more numbers like "Goodnight Irene", "Donald Where's Your Trousers", "Farewell to Nova Scotia", "Minstrel of Cranberry Lane", "Wind That Shakes the Corn", and "Coulter's Candy". But maybe they're saving those for next year's release?

The Irish Rovers have sung many different types of song, but this collection brings together some of their recordings of traditional Irish music, as well as contemporary material that sounds as if it could have been traditional.

The set begins with an instrumental, King of the faeries, but is followed by a selection of Irish songs that includes wonderful ballads and story songs as well as upbeat, fun songs.

An interesting aspect of this collection is the sequence of four songs about the Irish people that moved to America because of the potato famine - Shamrock shore, Banks of Newfoundland, Shores of America and Lament for the Molly Maguires.

A glance at the track listing will show that this is not a collection of famous Irish songs - you won't find Danny boy here - but those songs can be found elsewhere. For those who want some Irish music beyond the obvious, this is an excellent collection.

This is a great CD. Reminds me of the days I lived in Maine as a child and watched the Irish Rovers on wintery Saturday nights. Some of the songs have a Riverdance twist to them, while others have the traditional beat of irish pub music. Another winner from the Rovers!

I am SO sick of the Unicorn song and the others that were left off this CD. I bought this for "Up Among the Heather", everything else was a bonus track to me. I had stooped to hooking a turntable to my CDr to burn a scratchy copy of an LP that is older than I am and was glad that I could do that, so I can't rave enough about a clean copy! Whoever chose the tracks for this, thank you!

Some of the Irish Rovers minor hits. Don't expect to find "The Unicorn" in here. But I love all of these songs. There're songs of rebellion (Pat from Mullingar, Lament for the Molly Maguires), songs of parting (the title track, "Shamrock Shore," among others. The Rovers distinctive voices run throughout this whole album, and it is one of the best groups of Irish music that I have ever heard, and believe me, I've heard a few. In fact, I'm listening to it right now!

I consider myself lucky to have The First of the Irish Rovers which used the line I chose for my title. They are that, but they are also serious musicians and certainly helped introduce Americans to Irish folk songs. I did appreciate the lack of more traditional Irish numbers mentioned (The Unicorn and Danny Boy, for instance) and so many involving love for Ireland and ladies. One song that caused me to buy this record was Bonnie Kellswater which I took to be a girl's name, but found it was about the love of a man for "Martha, a true love of mine" that took place in the town of Kellswater which was described as "bonnie." The first track and track 7 allow us to enjoy Irish instruments with little singing which is one reason I also enjoy The Chieftains who feature instruments more than vocals. Still, when you hear the Rovers sing of a young man after a young lass to "hug and kiss her like an Irishman" and is really after her dowry, or tell moonshiners to "gather up the pots and the old tin cans, the mash, the corn, the barley and the bran" before the Excise men come who could help but get caught up with the cheerfulness of this group. Serious numbers such as Upon a Shamrock Shore, To the Shores of Americay and the Molly Maguire song make us reflect on what it must have been to leave their homeland they loved so well and set off for a distant shore. Track 9 relates the unpleasant journey to Newfoundland causing them to think back on life "while on the Shamrock shore." This CD lets listeners enjoy a more serious side of the Rovers, and still enjoy silly stuff such as Pigs Can Fly. If your collection is not yet complete, this CD should compell you to buy more.

As others have already said, this is truly the 'serious' side of the Irish Rovers - all songs recorded in their glory days of the late '60s and early '70s, during the time of their great CBC-TV show. These songs, rather than being the 'drinking songs' & novelty songs they had originally focused on, are focused on themes prevalent among the Irish people for over a century - overcoming hardship, famine, poverty and immigrating to another country ('Shamrock Shore', 'The Shores of Americay'). It also focuses to a small degree on Irish rebellion ('Mountain Tay', 'Lament for the Molly Maguires', 'Pat of Mullingar'). These songs are still presented as only the Irish Rovers could present them - in a fun, lively way that still makes them great fun to hear. Some of these recordings have never been released at all ('The Rovers Street Song Medley'); others have never been released on CD until now ('Up Among The Heather', 'King of the Fairies', 'The Shores of Americay', 'Lament for the Molly Maguires') so it was fantastic to hear these again. Highly recommended.

I liked the cd, but it is average compared to others I have. I recommend it if you don't have other groups, but first I'd compare them by listening samples on Amazon.

I rented this CD from the library and loved it so much I bought 2. I knew my brother would love it as much as I do. It is FUN. And the first song was sung to me by my mother 60 years ago, and I sing it to all (7) of my grandchildren. I didn't even know it was a real song.

THIS IS A GREAT CD FULL OF GREAT IRISH SONGS THAT WE DON'T GET OVER HERE IN AMERICA.