This was a quote from another member in the Chieftains thread.
I think Moloney is more the problem , not as much the pipes.
Apart from the shameless namedropping and celebrity sucking-up, what exactly is wrong with Paddy Moloney? Is it because the Chieftains made more money than anyone in ITM until Bill Whelan and Mick Flatley? Is it the dodgy arrangements and general stiffness? Is it the showbiz razzle-dazzle?
Or is it his playing?
I’ve heard literally dozens of stories over the years of the Chieftains being generous and gracious to other musicians (and wannabes) on their tours, so I don’t suppose it’s a matter of bad attitude.
You left out the laughing smilie that came with that statement, so don’t take it too seriously. It was meant as a bit of a joke following a bit of a joke.
Apart from that it’s the playing, of course. If you listen to great pipers (like Clancy and Ennis) and then to Moloney you hear that their music is much deeper. Matter of taste also, of course. And certainly has nothing to do with character. Rosamunde Pilcher is not as good a writer as Virgina Woolf was, but she sure sells more copies.
Beneath all the crap there lies a magnificent and interesting piper and whistleplayer but, when all restraint and the last bit of good taste goes out the window (which is unfortunately the case a lot of the time), I find it very hard to listen to Moloney without cringing.
This thread gave me the urge to revisit the early Chieftains - I put on Chieftains 1 last night and was pleasantly reminded why I liked them in the first place - not the lushly overproduced tracks of later releases, not the crossovers into other genres, but the underlying skill they can - or could - bring to the music.
Not being a piper I can’t speak to subtleties or the technical difficulty of Paddy’s solo pieces here, but I enjoyed them (and was greatly impressed by his rock-solid timing on pieces I play myself - combining timing and lift are always a work-in-progress for me).
But though I enjoy (sometimes) the later Chieftains work, it doesn’t have the impact that their earlier work does. Perhaps because the earlier stuff sounds like they’re having fun - not a session, exactly, but a hint of that rough around the edges impromptu feeling. The later work is polished, professional, and somehow less compelling.
And Paddy really should lose the hairpiece. Does he really want to look as if a bird’s nesting on his head?
Having been very generously given an airing by Paddy Moloney on the Albert Hall stage during a gig, I can confirm he is an exceptionally generous musician. Some of the stuff he’s done (Ra, ah say Rag, ah say RaRaRaglan ro-oo-ad with Van Morrison, or the whole Chinese debacle) is gruesome. As almost everything I do is gruesome, I am saying nowt about that.
His piping is very fine, but I cannot recall ever hearing him play the regulators. My demigods are, I suppose, Liam O’Flynn (the Da) and Davy Spillane, who I feel sure would confirm that his road was dug and paved by Paddy. Also, if we’re having a go, I have heard recordings by Rowsome Granda which would make your toes curl right up under your shoe-ends.
New Year, new resolution. No, hang it, I can’t change now. When Carolan met Paddy Moloney he rather injudiciously put his hand out at normal height to shake the great piper be the mitt. The negatives of Paddy’s billiard ball scalp overhung by a blind harper apparently clutching a deceased ginger cat by its arse are reputed to be going up on E-Bay next week, and are expected to fetch an absolute fortune.
Having been seated about four feet behind himself at their last show here, I can tell you first hand that Paddy does in fact know how to use a regulator. Three in fact. He was using them all night, but quite heavily (and most impressively) during the encore sets. For those of you who have seen the clip of Mikie Smyth on the Dutch uilleann pipers site you’ll get an idea of about how active that little balding ol’ guy can get with his new Gallagher set when the tune is on him - the amount of action here is very similar. http://www.nvup.nl/sound/mikie.AVI
