Wine Dark Sea

Bad Haggis

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 6, 2005)
• Original Release Date: October 6, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: BayView Records
• ASIN: B000BTJVNM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,085 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

BAD HAGGIS featuring ERIC RIGLER Familiar with the movies MILLION DOLLAR BABY, CINDERELLA MAN, LADDER 49, TROY, MASTER AND COMMANDER, THE ROAD TO PERDITION, TITANIC, BRAVEHEART or AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME? or recent CD’s by JOSH GROBAN, PHIL COLLINS, ROD STEWART, RUBÉN BLADES, or TRACY CHAPMAN? Then you’re familiar with the sounds of Eric Rigler. Described as “the most recorded piper of all time” Eric is constantly in demand in studios from Hollywood to Nashville to Abbey Road, bringing the timeless, haunting sonorities of the uilleann pipes, the Great Highland Bagpipe and the low whistle to film, television, and recording audiences around the world. Enter BAD HAGGIS, a band that fuses cutting-edge Celtic with influences of rock, alternative, jazz, pop, groove, world beat, African and Latin influences to produce a hearing-is-believing sonic experience. From the dual leads of the “bagtar” (bagpipe & guitar) by Eric and guitarist Mike Hoffmann, to the deeply grooving rhythms laid down by bassist/vocalist Mick Linden and Brazilian drummer/vocalist Rogerio Jardim & Colombian percussionist Alberto Lopez, BAD HAGGIS employs a new musical vocabulary to create an exciting, hybrid sound. Spreading their music across the world, BAD HAGGIS transcends the boundaries of continents and musical genres with their sonic vision. Based in Los Angeles, the band has toured across the USA as well as Europe where their concerts were recorded, filmed, and aired by the BBC and Spanish TV. In recent years the band has been featured twice on TV’s BLIND DATE, which has aired several times to over 77 million viewers in North America. In 2004 BAD HAGGIS released the DVD, SPAN, nominated the same year for the SURROUND MUSIC AWARDS in two categories, sharing their “Best Additional Features” category with fellow nominees THE GRATEFUL DEAD, THE WHO and THE ROLLING STONES. “...Rigler and his unisonant mates traverse and merge styles as gleefully as kids set loose in a musical Disneyland. Combining Celtic, African, Rock, Jazz, World Beat and nearly any other piping hot genre to toss into its tasty concoction, Bad Haggis is indubitably a kitchen sink of creativity.” --Dirty Linen magazine, April/May 2001

Product Description

Virtuoso piper Eric Rigler and his world music band Bad Haggis have released a long-awaited fourth recording, WINE DARK SEA. WINE DARK SEA with its 11 songs joins Bad Haggis’ previously released ARK and Trip albums and SURROUND MUSIC AWARDS-nominated 2004 DVD SPAN. The disc includes “Cinderella Man,” original end credits music Eric wrote and performed for the 2005 film of the same name starring Russell Crowe. Bad Haggis features Eric, "the world's most recorded piper," whose bagpipes and whistles are featured on more than 50 film soundtracks from Hollywood blockbusters BRAVEHEART and TITANIC to the 2005 Oscar winner MILLION DOLLAR BABY. The band is Eric on Scottish and Irish bagpipes and whistles, Mick Linden on bass guitars & vocals, Mike Hoffmann on lead guitars, Rogerio Jardim on drums & vocals and Alberto Lopez on percussion. All five players wrote and arranged the songs. Fans of Eric’s phenomenal pipe skills will enjoy “The Rocky Road to Dublin” that wraps traditional Irish pipe tunes around his own composition, “Cinderella Man.” Likewise, “Sleepy Maggie” combines traditional Scottish pipe tunes seamlessly with the 1980’s hit song by The Cure, “Hot! Hot! Hot!!!” Three tracks feature vocals in Portuguese or Spanish – “Ventania” (Gale Wind), “Beijo” (Kiss) and “Barcos” (Ships), co-written by Salsa superstar Rubén Blades. “Nimble Attitude” describes an LA traffic jam, complete with screeching brakes, crunching metal and breaking glass. Water imagery is a recurrent theme for Bad Haggis, from the disc’s title, taken from Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, to individual songs and their lyrics such as “Love Carry Water,” “Horizon” and “Prayers.” Bad Haggis uses its own one-of-a-kind musical vocabulary to assemble a number of existing styles and influences, including rock, jazz, pop, alternative, groove, African, Celtic and Latin, into a cutting-edge world-music language.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not pure Celtic, but mighty tasty nonetheless, October 23, 2006

By	calgolf723 - See all my reviews

This CD is like a nine course meal, all of which is mighty tasty! The rhythm section is tight, the vocals and harmonies are tight, the piping is technical and harmonizes exceptionally well with the guitar.
The guys in Bad Haggis take us on a musical journey, fusing several different musical genres together, but each is satisfying in its own right.
The hooks are solid, the melodies are memorable - this is a keeper...my personal favorite is "Sleepy Maggie" with the hook-y "Hey...Hey...Hey....Hot...Hot...Hot" chorus....(and no, not THAT Hot, Hot, Hot, cliche-song)
Wish Amazon made pre-listen samples avaiable, but trust me - this one IS HOT, HOT, HOT....

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a Celtic CD, August 19, 2006

By	Preacher "Sjt. 42d RHR" (Memphis) - See all my reviews

This is the first Bad Haggis CD I've purchased that I bought after hearing the Rocky Road to Dublin cut on an Internet radio station. This cut is intriguing, quirky pipes, just what I like. Eric Rigler is a well-known piper so I figured the rest of the CD would be more of the same: celtic rock with lots of pipes.

Wrong! If you hold your mouth just right, you could claim that there are three, maybe four, Celtic rock cuts. The online description describes the album as "influences of rock, alternative, jazz, pop, groove, world beat, African and Latin" That's pretty accurate, that's what you get, but not much Celtic rock. This CD is in no way similar to Wicked Tinkers, Old Blind Dogs, or Peat Bog Faeries. Nor is it like early Seven Nations.

In sum, if you're looking for "influences of rock, alternative, jazz, pop, groove, world beat, African and Latin" you'll be as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine. However, if you're looking for over the top Celtic Rock, lots of rabid piping, etc. you will be very disappointed with Wine Dark Sea.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I assume this is great, January 22, 2006

By	RiverDitz "Irish Dancer" (IL, USA) - See all my reviews

I would say its great, but Amazon won't put up pre"listens".
all other work by Bad Haggis is great, so why wouldn't this be?
Nimble Attitude is great, that's all i know. It on their site.
If your into Celtic Rock, but want more celtic instrumentals, this is the cd, and the band you want to buy.