I’ve been listening to this 2-disc set from Gael Linn a lot since I got it, and it strikes me as the perfect album for someone who is interested in getting their feet wet in the music beyond the major commercial recordings. The performances are great, many important and underexposed IMO players/styles are well-represented on this collection.
There is a very nice selection of sean nos singing, as well, even more than the tunes really but there’s so much we instrumentalists could all learn about playing by carefully listening to it.
The recording quality is pretty good compared to most 78rpm collections and it comes with LARGE booklet of notes, photos, bios, lyrics, etc. Overall, I think it’s the best collection I’ve come across.