Customer Reviews

Wild & Beautiful

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How did I miss this band! I thought I knew celtic music. I guess they were a little before my time. These guys are amazing! I have never felt like I heard 'real' celtic folk music until now. This is the real deal.

The first time I heard the Fisherman's Song, I was stunned by its simplicity and poignancy, not to mention the beautiful and organic quality of the poetry. This song showcases the power of Andy Stewart's voice. It also shows his talent at staging a drama that sounds raw and inescapable, yet is somehow made bearable through the use of strikingly telling metaphors.

Other songs on this album are worth their salt: If I Was a Blackbird is a classic of Celtic music and a favorite of mine. I like the rendition here. Hame,Hame,Hame is a wonderful song, followed by a lovely melody (Tha Mi Sgith=I'm tired) that speaks less of green fields than it does of introspection and internal landscapes, as the title suggests.

The other instrumentals are also very good. A little less daring/modern than in 'A Gling of Silver,' but still masterfully executed. A powerful album, just as illustrated by the sun setting on the loch (on the cover) and the name it sports.

I feel like I just heard real Scottish music for the first time. The singer has an incredible voice and when he sings you can't help but feel like this is what the real songs of the highlands sound like. This music isn't overly polished and over produced and is about half instrumentals.

Just listen to the samples "If I Was a Blackbird", "Hame, Hame, Hame/Tha Me Sgith", and "Fisherman's Song/Lament for the Fisherman's Wife" and you will be hooked.

This is real music, of the sort you'd expect to hear on a Saturday evening at a local pub--warm, rousing, and authentic. Silly Wizard's distinctive sound is defined by the deft accordion-playing of Phil Cunningham and the heartfelt, unpretentious vocals of Cunningham and lead singer Andy M. Stewart. Martin Haddin on keyboards and guitars and Gordon Jones on guitar and bodhran round out the core quartet, which is joined on this album by fiddler Dougie MacLean and drummer Roy Ashby. The accordion-led dance sets, tracks 2, 6, 7 and 8, are lively and winning, and Stewart's broguish singing in the slow numbers, such as "If I Was a Blackbird" and "The Fishermen's Song", is so genuine and understatedly heartfelt that it just tugs at my heart every time I hear it. Browsers whose computers will only let them sample the first few tracks should be aware that this album starts out on the slow side but really ends with a bang on the last three sets. Something that both dates and distinguishes the music of Silly Wizard is the use of keyboards such as that featured in "The Pearl", which sound rather like a pedaled, electrified harpsichord. It's a timbre not heard much these days in the instrumentations of newer Celtic groups, but it actually compliments the reedy sound of an accordion and the plucking of guitar strings quite nicely. Good overviews of Silly Wizard's output include "The Best of Silly Wizard" and "Live Wizardry". For contemporaneous work of Phil Cunningham, check out "Gathering Pace" by Relativity, starring Phil and his brother Johnny, along with siblings Triona Ni Domhnaill and Michael O Domhnaill.

I'm just a kid. My dad is a big fan of this kind of music. Recently he has been listening to this celtic CD. Honestly I love them and their music. My dad has one other CD which is their best songs or greatest hits, there is one song on both of those CDs that really stands out which is the fisherman's song. When my dad got this CD I instantly recognized The Fisherman's Song, but another song stands out, If I was a Blackbird. This is a sad song about a sailor whose lover doesn't love him enough to stay with him so she sails away. Although it is sad, it is definatly the best song on there. It is a beautiful song and his voice is comforting. I would buy this CD only for this song. I strongly reccommend this CD for anyone who loves celtic music as much as my dad.

This is my favorite Irish recording. The way he sings is just unbelievable, it's touching and always perfect in tone. There are several instrumental pieces which seem very traditional and evoke almost a Medieval flavor. It's a very relaxing album, not too many fast paced songs. It's good to listen to when you just want to sit back and listen to the stories he sings. They are so timeless in their theme and he makes you believe that they all happened to him.

Very good, but, contrary to the review below, they're Scottish, not Irish