Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A knockout album, January 5, 1999
By A Customer
The Chieftains' collaborations with other artists have been a mixed bag, but this album is terrific all the way through. Here they take a back seat to their guests, providing support, polish, and an occasional haunting enhancement (e.g., a vocal or flute obbligato) to the main event. The results are always good, and sometimes smashing -- I never thought that old kindergarten staple "My Bonnie" could be memorable, but Laura Smith transforms it into a moving account of loss and memory in a Cape Breton landscape you can almost reach out and touch. The selections by Mary Jane Lamond and Natalie MacMaster are outstanding, Great Big Sea and the Rankins are a kick in the pants, Ashley Mac Isaac gets back to basics, and the final track with La Bottine Souriante will have you out of your armchair and dancing.
While mainland Celtic music has suffered over the centuries from being successively suppressed, Mendelssohn-ized, Victorianized, and now New-Age-synthesized, the isolated Celtic communities in Canada have stayed in touch with the music's home-grown roots. So the young artists coming out of this tradition give the old tunes a gusto and freshness that's often lacking in the cookie-cutter performances of "trad" music -- I was reminded at times of the Bothy Band's first album. This CD does an admirable job of conveying these artists' energy and high spirits, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just for St. Patrick's Day, February 9, 2000
The Chieftains are to Irish/Celtic music what the Rolling Stones are to rock 'n' roll. They both began their recording careers in the mid-sixties and are both innovators and standard-bearers. Fire in the Kitchen--their fifth album of the 90s--is a sheer delight. As uilleann pipes master Paddy Moloney states in his liner notes, they didn't set out to record an album in Canada. "...it gives me no small amount of joy to know that the 'Kitchen Party' is still alive and well. It was in the spirit of these very same wild and unpredictable seesions, not so very removed from our own Irish 'hooleys' that this album was conceived." Fire in the Kitchen features a variety of Candaian artists and the joy of these session clearly shines throughout the entire album. The proceedings start off fairly somber until midway through the opening medley things kick into high gear with the rollocking "Madame Bonaparte/Devli's Dream/Mason's Apron." The Rankins are featured on "An Innis Aigh" with its lovely vocal harmonies. "Lukey/Lukaloney" features Great Big Sea, a song guaranteed to set your feet to dancing. I'd always considered "My Bonnie" to be a happy-go-lucky song, but in Laura Smith's rendition in becomes a song of yearning and heartache. Track after track, whether covering jigs or reels or ballads, the Chieftains show why they are the leading proponent of Irish music, and the intimate sound of these recordings only adds to the traditional appeal of these songs. If, like me, you didn't have the good fortune to be born Irish, you can do the next best thing and play this album over and over again. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hot, Smokin', Explosive Celtic Music ..., May 12, 2003
Paddy Moloney & the Chieftains travelled around Canada jamming & with some of the finest traditional musicians on this side of the planet (N. America). They roamed about Halifax, Nova Scotia; stopped near Toronto, Ontario; did a hop, skip & jump to Montreal, Quebec and even visited Newfoundland, to collaborate and collect wild, raucous, party music *just* for our listening pleasure. They succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations.
Leahy burns the first set of tunes with so much fire and smoke that no one wants to put it out. "Madame Bonaprte/Devil's Dream/Mason's Apron" lights the first fire, with an unmatched medley, played on fiddles, guitar, bass, piano, mandolin and drums. They demonstrate just how they catapulted to center stage & why they will always remain there. The hauntingly beautiful voices of the Rankin sisters will melt the coldest of hearts, truly inspirational ... The clear, crisp voice of Laura Smith with her unique rendition of "My Bonnie" gives off sparks, ready to ignite anything within hearing distance. Ashley McIsaac on fiddle accompanied by guitar leaves nothing standing in her path ... Natalie MacMaster "burns the house down" playing with her inimitable style and step dancing as she does it. "A Mhairi Bhoidheach" sung by Mary Jane Lamond will bring smokey tears to anyone's eyes. "La Bottine Souriante" from Quebec, gives us the final searing finishing touch, as they play "Le Lys Vert" on trombone, accordion, fiddles, saxophone, trumpet, mandolin, and piano. This CD keeps exploding with so much fire and smoke you just don't want the music to stop! It is one of the best complilations of Canadian Celtic music that money can buy! Erika Borsos (erikab93)
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