I admire their early work (as I know many do on this board) but find little interest in their most recent CD “The Edge of Silence.”
For Christmas I got their live DVD, which is wonderful, so I sez to meself I sez, what if they still do some of that great trad in their live gigs? Because they are coming to a venue in my area.
So…has any one heard this group live recently? What is the percentage of worthwhile trad in the gig? Yes or no? Buy ticket or stay home?
Buy me a ticket and I’ll let you know. Oh yeah, and I’ll need a plane ticket, rental car, and hotel room please.
I heard some of their latest stuff and was very disappointed. It’s their right, of course, to play whatever they feel like playing, but it’s also my right to think it sucks.
Let me put it this way: Solas plays one night; Celtic Fiddle Festival the next (that’s Kevin Burke of Bothy Band and Patrick Street fame, with friends).
Both are nice local venues.
Which would you choose?
Celtic Fiddle Festival in a second.
If they were both playing both nights, I’d probably go see the Fiddle Festival twice.
I too would chose to go to the Celtic Fiddle Festival.
But Solas is coming to our town again in February after already been through last April.
The trad stuff they did was fun to listen to and I wished they would have done an entire concert of that. But they’re starting to emphasize their departure music (covers of everyone from Arlo Guthrie to you-name-it). And each bandmember that writes tunes got one of their tunes played. All I can say is some write more interesting stuff than others. Luckily they ordered the tunes such that the more wierd stuff was interspersed between the trad sets so if you could make it through, there was something good coming down the road. And when you’re watching them live, you can really admire the musicianship. Just hope that the sound man has it more together than when they were here. The one who ran our concert had the mikes on the fiddle and whistle too hot so for instance, it was difficult for Winnie to play a soft passage quiet enough so her tone sounded scratchy and wavery. And when Seamus went up for the high notes, the sound got distorted.
Morgan, if the ticket price isn’t too much, I’d go see them. You might not like all their stuff but they can still rip a reel. Just take what you can away from the experience.
What’s their current singer like? I can’t quite imagine Solas without Karan Casey.
Redwolf
She’s different, with a darker sound than Karan Casey, lovely voice though. I know it’s not everyone’s taste, but I loved the harmonies when she sang with Mick whatever his name is, the box player. I saw them a couple of years ago, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again, to be honest. Liz Carroll and a local guitarist, Jim Dewan, opened for them, and for my money they were the hit of the show.
Carol
I refuse to attend anything with “Celtic” in the title…
I would describe her voice as Maddy Prior with a smidgen of Natalie Merchant mixed in.
What has Karen C been doing since she left Solas?
I believe there have been some solo CDs,
but I haven’t heard them. What do you’all
think of them?
I thought her work with Solas was simply
stunning. I suppose this is what most
think.
Even if it’s Kevin Burke, Christian LeMaitre, and Johnny Cunningham? (Although normally I’d agree with you.)
Susan
You would prefer they called themselves the “Irish, Breton, Used-to-be-Scottish-but-now-it’s-Quebecois Fiddle Festival”? Or would you rather they came up with an obscure unspellable, unpronouncable Gaelic word to call themselves?
Seriously, the Celtic Fiddle Festival is the best “big name” (sales-wise, not place-in-the-tradition-wise) mostly-pure-drop group out there. In most of the places they play, odds are they are your only chance in a month (or a year) of hearing pure-drop playing in at least one of the styles they play. They’re not my favorite group, but they deserve a lot of respect.
Speaking of that, I wonder who replaced Johnny Cunningham after his death, about a year ago. They were just about to go on tour as I recall.
Not Johnny Cunningham any more, alas, due to his untimely death 13 months ago.
When we last saw them, the third member was Andre Brunet, an exciting fiddler from Quebec.
Oh my gosh, I’d completely forgotten - and I knew that! Sorry.
I have “Songlines” (one of her solo CDs), which is lovely. I like her best when she sings sean-nos style, though, and in Irish, and a lot of her newer stuff seems to be departing from that.
Redwolf
I have three solo CDs by Karan: Songlines (1997), The Winds Begin To Sing (2001), and Distant Shore (2003). I thoroughly enjoy all of them. (I should probably qualify this by saying that what I liked best about Solas was Karan’s singing. I just don’t enjoy her replacement in the Solas lineup as much, though she does have a very nice voice.)
An interesting children’s music CD released in 2000 is called Seal Maiden: A Celtic Musical, by Karan Casey & Friends. On it, Karan uses narration and song to tell a story about a Silkie. It’s quite charming. The “Friends” are Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (Altan), Iarla O Lionaird (Afro Celt Sound System), Niall Vallely (Nomos), Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill.
Cheers,
John
Ged Foley told me recently that, while they are obviously very sad about Johnny’s passing, the group is quite excited about their new fiddler.
Tommy Kochel
www.tommyswirled.com
www.gladlyplaye.com
www.knotwork.info