just a quick poll.
got the two albums: otherworld and merry sisters of fate. both excellent, but I fancy otherworld more than m.s.o.f. what do you guys think?
aMaR
I like Otherworld better too… although I really like the title song on MSOF, and love Inion Ni Scannlain.
My two pence,
Andrea ~*~
My vote is in this order:
Lunasa (“Live” album), Otherworld, Merry Sisters
Yeah, I suppose I like Otherworld better two, but only slightly. Actually, I just wish they had mixed the pipes a little farther back in the mix on Merry Sisters…it drowns Crawford’s playing out completely at times, he might as well have been out having a pint somewhere during half the recording.
I hardly ever listen to the first CD, I’m surprised you like it so much Chris. (Check your hotmail account by the way dude)
Loren
Well… frankly I think the lads from Lunasa are getting bored and the result is that there is less excitement and vibrancy in their playing.
Listen to track 6 (Meaitheamh) of their self titled CD. If that doesn’t get your blood going I don’t know what will.
The thing I love so much about that CD is when they made it the Lunasa sound and concept was something new, fresh and exciting… the energy and excitement is about to explode.
As the albums have progressed they’ve become more and more polished, but something has been lost… the urgency and excitement of forging new ground. Perhaps it’s the recording and engineering that’s to blame, but my guess is that the guys are about ready for something new. I saw them perform in Amsterdam not long ago and they didn’t seem nearly as enthused as all the other times I’ve seen them (that may have had something to do with it being 2 in the morning :roll: ) . I just remember seeing them the first time they came to the US, just after Otherworld was released, and they had so much energy and so much fun that it just floored me and the rest of the audience. I want that magic back.
Best,
Chris
P.S. - Loren, I checked my e-mail and responded.
By the way, I really, really dig Otherworld as well, and love the tunes on Merry Sisters… I just think the energy is decreasing.
Kind of related, I just picked up the new CD from Niall and Cillian Valley, as I liked Lunasa’s early music and I love Cillian’s piping style. The pipes are very prominent in the mix of this cd. Anyhow, it’s really wonderful, totally smooth playing thats filled with the intracacies Lunasa’s style of playing, but without the major produced accompaniment. Track 4 jig set is so unbeliveable I had to stay up 4 hours last night to learn it. lol Lunasa came to Santa Monica this year and I really enjoyed them live, there was really alot of energy to the music and the venue was so small (maybe 200 seats max) that it was probably more accoustic than the cd was mixed.
As I sit listening to this CD I realise that one of the reasons I like it so much is that the tunes are almost all fairly common session tunes that I know and play. I get a huge kick out of hearing the “Lunasa treatment” on them. It’s like being in a session with Lunasa…
The later albums are cool, but they FEEL like studio albums. I always prefer a live album. I want to feel like I’m there.
Best,
Chris
Hi Folks,
Mike McGoldrick and John McSherry played on “Live” and “Otherworld” but not on M.S.o.F. Cillian Vallely played on M.S.o.F. maybe that’s why they sound different.
Cheers, Mac
I just want to say I’m going to see Lunasa on Dec’ 5th 
Anyone else going from this forum?
On 2002-11-28 14:04, Easily_Deluded_Fool wrote:
I just want to say I’m going to see Lunasa on Dec’ 5th >
Hi, where are they playing?
Mac.
Pontardawe Arts Centre
http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/pontardaweartscentre/
The cabaret seating note is a mistake,
it is standard seating i.e. rows.
I’m in Row b, 2nd row from the stage,
seats 10 & 11.
D’ya think I ought to take me whistle - just in case
Perhaps not! Don’t want to embarrass anybody now.
No whistles were harmed in the transmission of this communication.
[ This Message was edited by: Easily_Deluded_Fool on 2002-11-28 14:29 ]
[quote]
On 2002-11-28 14:26, Easily_Deluded_Fool wrote:
D’ya think I ought to take me whistle - just in case [quote]
Just keep it in your pocket 
I’d like to see them, not possible this time unforunately. Thanks anyway. Let us know how it goes.
Cheers, Mac
I actually prefer Merry Sisters to Otherworld…
On 2002-11-28 13:08, ChrisLaughlin wrote:
Listen to track 6 (Meaitheamh) of their self titled CD. If that doesn’t get your blood going I don’t know what will.
Chris,
I couldn’t agree more, I love that track! It’s not until the cheering at the end that you realise it’s live, the energy in it is fantastic!
I’ve been trying to learn it myself, so I can play along with the CD (after another 5 years practise) though my Ash Plant doesn’t seem to grow like their one, Siobhan O’Donnell’s always throws my timing in the second half (more practise required), and Fleur de Mandragore, well I’m not even close to getting it right.
Oddly, I played this track to a foaf who wasn’t a fan of Irish music, and her reaction was “So, what exactly do you like about that track?” Honestly, if that track doesn’t do it, what will? (Edit: listening to it right now, when they all kick in on Siobhan O’Donnell’s, man it send a shiver up my spine & makes my hair stand on end - it is so energising!)
So I’d have to say I like this album the best, followed by Otherworld, and last MSOF.
The Whistling Defective
[ This Message was edited by: Martin Milner on 2002-12-02 09:29 ]
On 2002-12-02 07:14, Martin Milner wrote:
…I played this track to a foaf…
[/quote]
Okay, what’s a “foaf?” Love the word.
Susan
I really dig track 6 on the first album as well, and also track 3. Outside of that, I don’t listen to that album at all, really.
But track 1, and the last track (original version, the Kerfunten etc) – how can you ignore those? Great stuff.
Still, Otherworld is my favorite. And it took me a long time to get into Merry Sisters, because it sounded sort of subdued compared to the lecture hall recorder tape we made of them playing most of the same sets six months before it came out. But I’ve finally gotten used to the album versions, and listen pretty frequently.
I think it’s McSherry’s piping which makes the biggest difference to the sound of the Live album…my favourite of the three…
Boyd
[ This Message was edited by: boyd on 2002-12-02 16:24 ]
On 2002-12-02 15:41, susnfx wrote:
On 2002-12-02 07:14, Martin Milner wrote:
…I played this track to a foaf…
Okay, what’s a “foaf?” Love the word.
Susan
[/quote]
Hi Susan,
Foaf = friend of a friend. I actually nicked it from the term foaflore, another term for urban myths. Foaflore is a the term for stories you can’t really trace because they came via a foaf.
Martin