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I'll begin this (with a small detour) by saying that I came across Clannad's music somewhat fortuitously almost twenty years ago, while trying to find out more about Loreena McKennit's "The Mask and Mirror" 1994 album. Incidentally, the previous year Clannad released their (then) new album "Banba" and some critical reviews at the time were quick to point to shared roots between these artistic efforts (and others, such as Enya's) and happily throw them all together in some big bin of Irish/Gaelic folk revival (!?) that according to them was taking place at the time. Well, L. McKennit is in fact Canadian of Scottish descent and while some of her music does indeed explore the Celtic music lore, "The Mask and Mirror" sounds (to me) more Oriental than Celtic. Be that as it may, those reviews made me take notice of Banba and Clannad (and eventually led me to buy my first copy of Macalla on vinyl). Banba was new to me at the time (although I was familiar with most of Enya's work) and it certainly sounded fresh and intriguing, but other, less ignorant folk (than myself) might have looked at it as business-as-usual, considering that Banba's release was, in fact, timed such as to coincide with the celebration of two decades of Clannad [or, more precisely, two decades since the release of their first album (Clannad, 1973)]. Now these or other people might have also argued (and some certainly did and still do hold the opinion) that Clannad had by then (mid '90s) completely reneged on their folk roots and are just out to make a buck with a sirupy rock-pop fare (such as Banba and a host of previous other albums) far removed from the brilliance of their earlier work. While I can understand (and even respect) that opinion, personally I find that I can appreciate some of the earlier Clannad work (e.g. An Diolaim) just as much as I do most of their music (including Anam, Macalla, Magical Ring, the already mentioned Banba, etc., or the later Lore and Landmarks). Thus, I would argue that Clannad's transition to a more "mainstream" sound should not be so summarily discounted for at least two reasons: (1) Without their foray into the mainstream pop culture, many people (myself included, perhaps) would never have known about Clannad, and (2) Making (Irish) folk music (and more generally, the folklore of any country) accessible to those who come from wildly different backgrounds may not be as simple as it sounds nor devoid of originality. [Nevertheless, it is perhaps worth noting that most of the music that was then a part of that "Celtic/Gaelic revival" is now labeled "new-age," so there's that.]
But, to return to Macalla (or "Echo" in English) - this is an album released in 1985, during a period when Clannad was still transitioning to the latter, more "accessible" sound, and is also one of their first albums to garner wider international acclaim. Thus, Macalla's first half is more pop and the second half is more folk but, overall, the album is well produced and manages to come across as a coherent whole with unmistakable Irish/Celtic-folk roots. While (personally) I like all the songs equally well, the album does include the better known Clannad songs "In a Lifetime," a duet between the Clannad lead vocals, Maire Brennan, and Bono (of U2 fame) and "Northern Skyline".
On to the technical - the CD recording I have (and review) here is the 1990 release by RCA (rather than the 2003 re-release: In most cases I find that the later, re-mastered, editions are technically inferior to the original releases and as such I try to get the original editions whenever possible). The album is well recorded, and preserves, to a good degree, the analog feel of the master tape. The use of the available dynamic range is adequate for a tape transfer (the signal peaks on average at 90dB, so there is plenty (6dB) of unused dynamic headroom). There is no clipping, no dynamic range compression and no other recording artifacts, save for some harshness in the upper registers, which is likely due to the anti-aliasing filters used during mastering (this I find quite typical of early '90 analog to digital transfers). This slight harshness in the highs is largely benign for casual listening but may become an issue in critical listening sessions (it certainly is noticeable in A/B comparisons with the 1985 vinyl recording when using headphones). On the S/N front, the noise seems to be well contained to better than -80dB.
Overall, I'd rate Macalla as a very good effort by Clannad and a very worthwhile listen - highly recommended.
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Top reviews from other countries
Vaughan
Decent, but not a Revelation Remastered
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2013Miss L Nicholls
Forgot how great this album is!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2018Simon Francis
Clannad get the mix of folk and atmospheric pop sot on
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2021
