Very Best of Kenneth Mckellar [Import]

Kenneth Mckellar (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 10, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Polygram UK
• ASIN: B000026PJL
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,299 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose

2. Sky Boat Song

3. Cockles And Mussels

4. Wi A Hundred Pipers

5. Stranger In Paradise

6. Villikins And His Dinah

7. Ye Banks And Braes

8. Serenade From The Fair Maid Of Perth

9. Danny Boy

10. Island Moon

11. Sweet Lass Of Richmond Hill

12. There Was A Lad Born In Kyle

13. Dance To Your Daddy

14. Twa Corbies

15. Greensleeves

16. The Ball Of Kirriemuir

17. O Waly Waly

18. The Last Rose Of Summer

19. Bonnie Labouring Boy

20. The Rising Of The Lark

Editorial Reviews

1997 compilation for the Scottish folk icon. 20 tracks. Karussell/Polygram.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soul music for romantics, June 25, 2002

By 

Dana Sparling - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of Kenneth Mckellar (Audio CD)

I bought my first Kenneth McKellar album 'Greensleeves' about twenty years ago and quickly wore it out listening to this incredible singer.
I never thought I'd like this sort of music, but McKellar has such a wonderful voice and the songs are so compelling that it's hard to stop listening.
The traditional Scottish songs about love and loss and about hopeless battles fought long ago really take me away.
Be prepared to do some research to discover the text to some songs - traditional Scottish can be hard to understand - You'll find the effort well worth while.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scottish folk singer with operatic voice, March 25, 2004

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Very Best of Kenneth Mckellar (Audio CD)

Kenneth McKellar is something of a paradox, using his operatic tenor voice to sing traditional folk songs although (as his version of Stranger in Paradise shows - this is a duet with an un-credited female singer, possibly Moira Anderson) he was well capable of handling contemporary material.

Another unusual feature of his repertoire is that Kenneth also recorded plenty of English folk songs, represented here by Villikins and his Dinah, Sweet lass of Richmond Hill, Dance to your Daddy, Greensleeves, Last rose of summer and Rising of the lark. Less surprising is the inclusion of the Irish song, Danny boy. Kenneth manages to suppress his natural Scottish accent when singing English songs.

There are plenty of Scottish folk songs here beginning with My love is like a red red rose, for which Robert Burns wrote the words. He also wrote the words to Rantin' ravin' Robin, here re-titled There was a lad was born in Kyle. Another popular Scottish song is Ye banks and braes but by far the most famous traditional Scottish song here is the Skye boat song.

Very little of his music is available as I write this but this compilation provides a reasonable representation. Folk music sung in an operatic tenor takes some getting used to but you certainly won't mistake Kenneth McKellar for anybody else.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to be Scottish., June 14, 2009

By 

Colin Glithero "nedalleyn" (Auburn,WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of Kenneth Mckellar (Audio CD)

This is a superb album by a superb singer. Kenneth McKellar is known to UK audiences as probably the finest singer of popular music ( popular as opposed to pop/rock etc.) of the last forty-odd years. Although the greater part of his repertoire is Scottish traditional music, he ranged much more widely. He made some opera recordings of the highest quality, represented on this CD by the serenade from Bizet's opera The Fair Maid of Perth, which is set in Scotland,appropriately. This collection also includes seven Scottish songs, five English, two Irish, one Welsh(I think), and some which don't fit any of these categories. What they all have in common is his great voice and his musicianship, so that he can find exactly the right emotional tone for each song, whether proudly martial( Wi'A Hundred Pipers), slyly comic( Villikins and his Dinah), romantic(many), and others. My personal favorites? My Love is Like a Red, Red,Rose, probably his most popular song, achingly beautiful, There Was A Lad Was Born In Kyle( a great melody), and two English ones,(sorry),the gracious 18th.century love song, Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill, and the bouncy yet affectionate folksong, Dance To Your Daddy. Perhaps the finest example of his mastery is the spine-chilling performance of the classic horror story, The Twa Corbies. But this whole CD is the record of a great singer and his art.
Kenneth McKellar's music gave,and will continue to give, so
much pleasure to so many people. He died on April 9, 2010.
" So fare thee weel awhile"