Green Linnet 20th Anniversary Collection

Amazon.com
The great Celtic-music revival that coincided with the mid-'70s founding of Green Linnet Records still gathers momentum. It has little in common with the sentimental vaudeville songs of Irish American St. Patrick's Day parties and even differs subtly but crucially from the chamber-music elegance of the Chieftains. This is a looser music, born in the pubs rather than the concert halls and aimed at dancing and singing along rather than respectful applause. The movement includes some of the world's best singers and best improvising instrumentalists. I would especially recommend the bands--Bothy Band, Silly Wizard, the Irish Tradition, Celtic Thunder, Patrick Street, Trian, Altan, and, above all, Relativity--but there's a wealth of acoustic music out there and The Twentieth Anniversary Collection is the best place to start. --Geoffrey Himes

Tracks:

The Rainy Day/First You Must Learn The Grip - Seamus Ennis
Maudabawn Chapel/The Wild Irishman/The Moher Reel - Kevin Burke/Micheal O'Domhnaill
Dans Loudieg - Kornog
Oh Mo Dhuthaich - Capercaillie
Fermanagh Highland/Donegal Highland/John Doherty's/King George IV - Altan
Farrell O'Gara/The Flogging Reel - Joe Derrane
Culloden's Harvest - Deanta
A Farruquina - Milladoiro
On Horseback - Eileen Ivers
Chinese Polka/William Durette's Clog/The Boys Of The Lough - Moving Cloud
The Golden Keyboard/Mayor Harrison's Fedora - Matt Molloy/Sean Keane
Lover's Heart - Silly Wizard
Gray Bob/Cutty's Wedding/Loch Carran/Gray Bob - The Tannahill Weavers
The Humours Of Ballyconnell/Reel Eboulement/Richie Dwyer's - Trian
The Humours Of Whiskey - Tim Lyons
Colonel Fraser - Jerry O'Sullivan
Loftus Jones - The Irish Tradition
Music For A Found Harmonium - Patrick Street
There Was A Lady - Relativity
The Dionne Reel/Mouth Of The Tobique - Kevin Burke/Johnny Cunningham/Christian Lemaitre

Tracks:

The Crooked Road/The Foxhunter's Reel - Martin Hayes
The Cameronian Set: The M'Intinn Raoir/Duke Of Gordon/The Cameronian/Lady Of The House - Cherish The Ladies
The Wishing Tree - Seamus McGuire
Ballavanich: The Boys From Ballavanich/Mrs. Crehan's - Wolfstone
Gort To Texas To Honolulu: Master McDermott's/The Plough And The Stars/Dillon Brown - Reeltime
There Were Roses - Mick Moloney/Jimmy Keane/Robbie O'Connell
Winnie Hayes' Jig/The Lonesome Jig - John Williams
Rigney's/Ambrose Moloney's - Paddy O'Brien/Seamus Connolly
The Two-And-Sixpenny Girl/The Boys Of The Town - Joe Ryan/Eddie Clarke
Bolen's Fancy/The Dunmore Lasses/The Maid Behind The Bar/The Glass Of Beer - Touchstone
No Man's Land/Flowers Of The Forest - June Tabor
Pharaoh - The House Band
Maud Miller/The Sailor's Return/Paddy Murphy's Wife - James Keane
The Celtic Lament - Eugene O'Donnell
Johnny Allen's/Sporting Nell - Billy McComiskey
Song For Ireland - Dick Gaughan
Master Crowley's/The Jug Of Punch - Joe Burke
A Jig And Five Reels: The Leitrim Fancy/Around The World For Sport/Rip The Calico/Martin Wynne's... - The Bothy Band

Amazon.com

The great Celtic-music revival that coincided with the mid-'70s founding of Green Linnet Records still gathers momentum. It has little in common with the sentimental vaudeville songs of Irish American St. Patrick's Day parties and even differs subtly but crucially from the chamber-music elegance of the Chieftains. This is a looser music, born in the pubs rather than the concert halls and aimed at dancing and singing along rather than respectful applause. The movement includes some of the world's best singers and best improvising instrumentalists. I would especially recommend the bands--Bothy Band, Silly Wizard, the Irish Tradition, Celtic Thunder, Patrick Street, Trian, Altan, and, above all, Relativity--but there's a wealth of acoustic music out there and The Twentieth Anniversary Collection is the best place to start. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Sampler.......2005-06-14

This is a great introduction to Irish traditional music, and as well as a sampler for those of us who have loved Irish music most of their lives ;-) You will not be disappointed if you pick up this CD.

A great place to find new bands in the Celic tradition.......2003-11-17

If you've already been enchanted by some of Green Linnet's artists, like Altan or Capercaille, for example, the TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is a great way to find out which artists to search for next.

The compilation opens with "The Rainy Day/First You Must Learn The Grip", a monologue and short piece by Seamus Ennis, whose pipe-playing was one of the first offerings by the label. Highlights of the first disc include De'anta's "Culloden's Harvest", a harrowing song about a decisive Scottish battle, Relativity's lesser-known "There Was A Lady", and Patrick Street's cover of PCO's "Music For a Found Harmonium." I was pleasantly surprised by the Milladoiro tune "A Farruqina", which shows that the music of Galicia is just as infectious as anything from the British isles. Fusion between Irish and world music is shows nicely in Eileen Iver's "On Horseback."

The second disc is, I feel, the strongest. "The Wishing Tree," Seamus McGuire's incredible piece based on the poem by 1995 Nobel laureate Seamus Heany, is one of the most touching pieces of music Green Linnet has released. Wolfstone's "Ballavanich" is one of the most powerful pieces by this "Celtic rock" band, featuring screaming bagpipes among electric guitars in a way suprisingly faithful to tradition. The British folk singer June Tabor contributes "No Man's Land/Flowers Of The Forest", a slow and moving rumination on the savagery of World War I. "Pharoah", a tune by the master songwriter Richard Thompson, is featured here covered by The House Band, who transform the original into a very distinctive form. There are two songs on the second disc, however, which alone make the collection worth getting. The first is Touchstone's "Bolen's Fancy/The Dunmore Lasses/The Maid Behind the Bar/The Glass of Beer." Touchstone, featuring Triona Ni Domhnaill who subsequently joined Relativity and Nightnoise, was a fresh combination of Irish music with traditional music of Appalachia, and deserved much more attention than it received at the time. The album's closer is the other brilliant second, "A Jig and Five Reels" by The Bothy Band (another Triona Ni Domhnaill band), which was the first great group on Green Linnet and the inspiration for many of its artists to come.

The TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION also includes a thick booklet giving the background of each song and brief anecdotes by label founder Wendy Newton about each artist.

Green Linnet has suffered in recent years, with a great deal of its artists becoming discontented with its management and moving elsewhere, but the first twenty years was full of fantastic music. Green Linnet introduced authentic traditional music to a common American audience, when before there were only pop hybrids like Enya and Clannad, and it also showed the world that some American musicians such as Eileen Ivers were capable of taking on traditional music. The TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is the best Green Linnet compilation and worth getting for anyone looking for new horizons in traditional music of the British Isles and elsewhere.

A great retrospective!.......2003-05-25

Beginning with a track from the very first Green Linnet release (a spoken introduction by Seamus Ennis from a cassette called "Forty Years of Irish Piping"), this 2-disc set follows Green Linnet artists old and new through 20 years of fine music production. From lively and spirited to sweet and sad, the selections range from old-time traditional to contemporary "plugged-in" fare, and it's nice to have that variety. The liner notes are a nice touch, providing reminiscences of the Green Linnet producers about their work with each artist. The list of contributing musicians reads like a "Who's Who in Celtic Music": Seamus Ennis, Kevin Burke, Micheal O Domhnaill, Kornog, Capercaillie, Altan, Joe Derrane, Carl Hession, Deanta, Milladoiro, Eileen Ivers, Moving Cloud, Matt Molloy, Sean Keane, Silly Wizard, the Tannahill Weavers, Trian, Tim Lyons, Jerry O'Sullivan, The Irish Tradition, Patrick Street, Relativity, Kevin Burke, Johnny Cunningham, Christian Lemaitre, Martin Hayes, Cherish the Ladies, Seamus McGuire, Wolfstone, Reeltime, Mick Moloney, Jimmy Keane, Robbie O'Connell, Liz Carroll, John Williams, Paddy O'Brien, Seamus Connolly, Joe Ryan, Eddie Clarke, Touchstone, June Tabor, the House Band, James Keane, Eugene O'Donnell, Billy McComiskey, Dick Gaughan, Joe Burke, Charlie Lemon and the Bothy Band. A great value at 2 CDs for the price of one! ...

Toe-tapping, infectious and just plain fun!.......2001-12-04

When I bought this a few years ago, I was unfamiliar with most of the artists but love Celtic traditional music so took a chance. What a great decision! If I had to cull my CD collection to only my favorite 10, this would be #1 (ok, maybe my Star Wars CDs would take 1st place, but this would be next in line).

Green Linnett: The Twentieth Is One Of The Best.......2001-02-24

This is a great Celtic CD. Very well produced music, out of the ordinary, guaranteed to catch your ear and steal your heart. If you enjoy Celtic music, or would like to experience some of the better samplings of this fine style of music, I most heartily recommend adding this CD to your collection. I will play it over and over again, and it won't be one which gathers dust. A good addition for any serious Celtic music fan! Definitely not ordinary...and some of the best examples of the Celts finest musical offerings

~Catherine Wallace, Celtic Music Review

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