If anyone is familiar with Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino, you might remember a reference to Vince Vega being an ‘Elvis Man’. The theory is that there are two kinds of people out there…Elvis people and Beatles people. I myself am a Beatles guy, but I’ve also thought of the same kind of idea with Clancy and Ennis…I think that everyone likes one at least slightly better than the other, or is more influenced by one or the other, so let’s see what y’all say!
I personally don’t think there’s such a big divide between Ennis and Clancy [try Flynn vs Keenan]. I used to be more into Ennis but have a different appreciation of Clancy these days. I appreciate them equally.
What a weird question!
Neither have been very well served by record companies to date, until RTE did the Return from Fingal. There’s some great stuff on 40 years, too. You could put out at least another full CD of Ennis that would complete the picture.
The Minstrel from Clare’s a great record but the audio is a bit harsh on the piping, and the set wasn’t going perfect that day either. The first Pipering CD is the one to buy if you want to hear Clancy at his best, despite some bum bottom Ds. The stuff recorded in the early 70s is fantastic; you may notice that Chief O’Neill’s hornpipe on that record is from an interview of Willie done in 1972, which is available in streaming audio format, the link’s on UilleannObsession. That’s a great one! Willie wasn’t losing his touch at all, then, it’s terrible that he died so young. Like Touhey or Johnny Doran, why couldn’t he have gotten ten more years at least?
I would second that. Years ago, before I was listening to much piping, I bought both volumes of “The pipering of Willie Clancy” and, for me, his music will always be healing and nourishing. It took me awhile to find recordings of Ennis that do him justice, but I stuck with it and am glad I did.
I suspect that a Clancy vinyl LP I bought (or more likely, a tune by him on some collection when I got serious about the tin whistle) was what pushed me over the edge into the desire to own and play that beast.
I had some Chieftains albums, but none had solo pipes, so all I had heard was something wild sounding in the mix. When I heard Clancy solo, I was lost.
I discovered Ennis later, so maybe that’s another reason I voted for Clancy.
Pipering Vol. 2’s second side has lots of Willie playing his Coyne B set with Sean Reid bashing the regs for him non-stop. I’ve a tape of Willie playing a lone Bb chanter - probably the Moloney - it was recorded by Sean, apparently. During the Dark Slender Boy Sean or Willie throw in some hummed bass reg notes…nyuk!
Aaaanyway…I guess I would say I like them both equally. As Peter mentioned, the chasm between the two of them probably wasn’t that huge, although Clancy was probably the better driver of the two. However, I don’t think I have ever heard another piper who got such a variety of tonal colors out of the chanter as Clancy did.
He means that they’re dead, you see. You been living under a rock or something? Search for those names in the archives and you’ll find lots of references to them. Get their CDs, too, great music.
Actually, Willie Clancy recorded under the name Liam Clancy under many of his early commercial recordings. See the discography at the back of “The Dance Music of Willie Clancy”.
Some people also refer to him as Bill or Billy Clancy, just to screw your head up, I guess.
