One of my favorite Irish music recordings from the 1970s is the classic fiddle album by Kathleen Collins; I believe it was the very first LP on the Shanachie label. I don’t have the LP anymore, so I bought the CD a few years ago but, in typical Shanachie fashion, the track listings bear no relation whatsoever to the order of the actual tracks. Does anyone have the correct order? I’ve figured out more than half of them but it’s tedious, and if anyone has the correct order and could post them here it would great.
Think this is right, but I’d need to check the recording:
- Reavys / Jenny’s Welcome To Charlie
- Jug Of Punch / Eddie Kelly’s
- Sean Ryan’s / Father Kelly’s
- Morning Dew / Woman Of The House
- New Century / Sean Ryan’s
- Private Ass And Cart / Jackson’s
- Dowd’s / Star Munster
- Monsignor’s Blessing / Limerick Lasses
- Humours Of Ballyloughlin
- Paddy Ryan’s Dream / Coleman’s Cross
- Rosemary Lane / The Orphan
- Sergeant Early’s Dream / Fahy’s
- Connelly’s / Mullingar Races
Thanks, but that’s the order they’re shown on the CD cover (and in the online Gracenote database), which is wrong. Maybe that was the original order in which the tracks appeared on the LP, but the CD tracks are definitely not in that order…the first track on the CD is Dowds/Star of Munster, for example.
Hi Brad,
what’s the title of that CD? I’d like to get a copy myself. Several of the tunes are ones I’m familiar with and trying to learn (like that’s gonna happen anytime soon).
cheers, Martin
It’s called “Kathleen Collins: Traditional Music of Ireland.”
Shanachie 34010, released on CD in 1995…it was originally released on LP back in the 1970s, around '75 or 76 I think. Her playing was very inspiring and it’s a must-have recording, I even like the slightly out-of-tune piano backup…it makes it sound older somehow. (I say “was” not because she’s dead – I believe she’s still alive – but I’ve heard that she gave up the fiddle and concentrated on dancing instead…she is/was well regarded as a dancing instructor.)
I haven’t listened to the record, but according to the sleeve-notes, the 1st track on Side 1 is “Dowd’s/ Star Of Munster”, and track 7, at the end of Side 1 is “Connelly’s/Mullingar races”. Side 2 of the LP starts with “Reavy’s”…last tune on side 2 of the record is “Jackson’s”, which is a jig.
My guess would be that they kept the track order on the recording, but screwed up on the sleeve-notes. Would not be the first time.
That sounds about right…if you could post the track listing from the album sometime that would be great! Thanks – Brad
Didn’t they just get the sides mixed up? I’ve seen that on Shanachie CDs. That would make it:
\
- Dowd’s / Star Munster
- Monsignor’s Blessing / Limerick Lasses
- Humours Of Ballyloughlin
- Paddy Ryan’s Dream / Coleman’s Cross
- Rosemary Lane / The Orphan
- Sergeant Early’s Dream / Fahy’s
- Connelly’s / Mullingar Races
- Reavys / Jenny’s Welcome To Charlie
- Jug Of Punch / Eddie Kelly’s
- Sean Ryan’s / Father Kelly’s
- Morning Dew / Woman Of The House
- New Century / Sean Ryan’s
- Private Ass And Cart / Jackson’s
Hah, that’s it! I just had a quick listen and those titles all match the sets.
Except the “New Century” is not the New Century at all but the Blackbird. There’s a very different hornpipe called The New Century.
Thanks Bloom!
And I just noticed on the Web that Kathleen Collins is still teaching dancing.
Maybe it’s a New[er] Century?
Old books and records very often have the titles “wrong.” Look at all the alternative titles listed in the back of the Ceol Rince na Eireann books.
Shanachie left out all the liner notes on the cassette reissues, too. Cheapskates. But then, that seemed to be the order of the day in the early 80s.
So many tunes on there I like, I’m going to have to get it. Oddly, all the CDs seem to come from the USA, so I’d be better off ordering to be delivered to the USA. hmmm.
Maybe it was to try to avoid bankruptcy from their extravagances in the 1970s. When you bought a Shanachie LP back then, it came with a full-size insert with biographical essays on the musicians and transcriptions of some of the tunes. Plus Shanachie mailed out an entertaining free monthly catalogue, The Shanachie Newsletter (later a quarterly Shanachie Bulletin), with great cartoons and photographs, along with detailed reviews of the latest Irish and British Isles releases.
I’m looking at their March, 1979 Shanachie Newsletter right now…you could get Shanachie LPs for $4.95 each; the Irish imports were a whopping $7.25.
Hi Brad,
I’m sure I saw an advert recently for her doing a concert down at NYU,
fiddling. It seems to be no longer on the Blarney Star website but in fact I
did find this, dated May 6 of this year:
http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishinamerica/entertainment/egmay4.asp
Irish fiddler Kathleen Collins will perform in concert at NYU’s Glucksman
Ireland House, One Washington Mews. She will be joined by guitarist
Jimmy Coen, keyboard player and step dancer Niall O’Leary and special
guest singer Doris Elena Argoté.
Thanks Lesl! In fact another board member sent me a clip from a recent concert. I’m really glad to hear she’s still playing.
I played (flute) this past weekend with a couple of fiddlers who love Kathleen Colllin’s playing. Then I read Brad Hurley’s post about the tunes. Funny how things coincide. I remember loving the album back in the days when I played fiddle. I retrieved Shanachie #29002 from the shelves to listen to it again and burn in onto a CD.
She is a gorgeous fiddler. She made the original record when she was 32, in 1976, according to Jean Stewart’s liner notes. Big fat tone, relaxed tempo, perfect phrasing. If she did indeed stop playing, age had nothing to do with it. The liner notes themselves, BTW, are extensive-- nearly two sides of an LP case, with small print.
Several of the tunes aren’t very accessible to flute players. She plays Star of Munster in G minor on the first track, which is probably the way fiddlers played it in Sligo years ago. It is a beautiful, dark tune in that key. Does anybody know if Coleman recorded the tune in Gm?
There’s one on for a very good price in LP form. I already have loads of recording I’m not learning from, so I’m saving my cash for Ireland… somebody from here ought to get it though.