Colm O’Donnell’s Farewell to Evening Dances
I just adore Colm’s flute playing and singing (the whistling isn’t half bad either). Beautiful tone and great flow.
I know, I know, but I had to tell someone.
Second that. The Bodhran Song was a hoot.
Ditto ditto.
I also love the lilted “Frieze Breeches.”
I’ll endorse this too. My copy lives in the workshop - nothing better to settle down with while fitting keys. I find most other flute and dance-music albums too “urgent” - a distraction you don’t need for this precision work. Colm’s album is serene - even the fast tunes - probably because of the level of control he has over the instruments and the lovely rhythm. I find the mix of flute, whistle and singing keeps the palate refreshed. Essential!
Terry
Indeed one of my very favorites as well - such great flow and tone! Only regret from me is the copious reverb on the disc (mentioned by others on the forum as well), which without would be more brilliant still.
Eagerly awaiting more from Colm. I’ve heard good things about the Border Collies who he plays with (along with his daughter as I understand it).
Cheers,
- Ryan
I also like the liner notes/booklet with the nice pictures of Colm and his family and the countryside where he lives.
But I skip the Bodhran song…
M
Actually, I kinda like the reverb on this album. I remember the day it arrived…I stayed home that day from work and the CD arrived and I put it on to play, laid back down on the sofa to relax (since I felt a bit sick if I recall correctly) and I was amazed at the ‘otherworldly’ place that it took me to.
Maybe a 2nd album will be forthcoming!
Actually, Farewell to Evening Dances is his second album. And now he’s got a band, The Border Collies, and they’ve released an album too, Unleashed.
This is one of my favorite albums. This is the third thread about it, since it came out, on this board.
His first album was “The Rocks of Bawn,” recorded in 1998, but that’s all songs, I believe (includes a few of the same songs as on Farewell to Evening Dances).
There are also a few tracks of Colm’s playing on the Mountain Road (Music from South Sligo) CD, including duets with his brother. Great stuff!
And then there’s Colm’s “Heart Strings” CD - love songs.
Kevin Krell
Yeah, that’s why I never bothered getting a copy. 
There are also a few tracks of Colm’s playing on the Mountain Road (Music from South Sligo) CD, including duets with his brother. Great stuff!
This is what I get for not reading the liner notes – I knew he produced the album, but I had no idea he had tracks on it as well. Great album.
In the liner notes Colm tells of how he had music lessons forced on him as a child, and did not appreciate them until later in life. (There is a thread somewhere on this board about children and lessons.)
That’s where I first heard him. Another essential CD, IMO…
You know what I love most about ‘Farewell?’ It’s so, well, unassuming. Just charming and sweet without being cloying or Disneyesque …
Every time I listen to it, I love it more.
One of or maybe the best cd I have. I’m drwan to emotional music and he does it well. Also a very appealing, simplephoto on the cover. I was thinking of putting it on the best ITM cd cover thread.
Colm related to Séamus, flute/sax in At the Racket? Both are Sligo men.
Are you speaking geographically or are you mistaken about their playing styles? 
Ummm… I just found my physical copy of the CD. I’ve gone through the list about three times now, and I only see one track with Colm listed, and that’s playing with Seamus Quinn on piano. Colm’s brother Seamus plays solo on one other track.
Sure you’re not thinking of that other Sligo compilation CD? I lost my copy years ago (before starting to rip everything to MP3, alas) and don’t recall the name, but it had the same sort of design as the Mountain Road CD, think it was the same label. I recall it had some songs thrown in, Colm was definitely on it, and particularly remember two tracks of Seamus Tansey backed by Brian Taheny.
Don’t know if he’s the At the Racket guy or not, but Colm’s brother Seamus plays flute with a lovely Sligo style. Their father Seamus is heard lilting on the next CC (Coleman Centre?) album, The Coleman Archive Vol 1: The Living Tradition.
Actually I mispoke. There are two tunes on the Colm cd that are played in a sligo style.
I’m not at all sure that “The Rocks Of Bawn” was Colm O’Donnell’s first recording, although it may well be his 1st CD recording. I have a solo cassette tape of him, 14 tracks of singing, lilting, as well as playing flute and whistle , titled “The Hills Of Kilmactigue”. I won it as a prize in a raffle on one of the “Comhaltas” tour concerts in Dundee, and I would think that was before 1998. The only information is that it was recorded in “Culturlann na hEireann”. There is no date on the sleeve, and no details of recording company. It looks like a “home-made” effort and probably was never released on CD. A shame, because there’s some nice playing on it.