By the way, I’ve read that this was the first solo whistle album ever released commercially.
A lot of those early Outlet recordings are a bit dodgy, but there’s some great music on them. Beware of the tune listings in the liner notes, they don’t always match the tracks. One of my favorite old Outlet re-releases on CD is “Cherish the Ladies,” with Peg McGrath on flute, Kathleen Smythe on fiddle, and Mary Mulholland on piano. The first track is listed as “Jigs: The Callan, The Flowing Bowl,” but in fact they’re reels, the second of which is The Piper’s Despair. I’ve never heard the first reel anywhere else and it’s brilliant–it might be a Josie McDermott tune. I’d love to know the correct name for it.
[ This Message was edited by: bradhurley on 2003-01-08 15:18 ]
Hello
Didn’t Catherine McEvoy get her R&R flute from Tom McHale?
Kathleen Smith is still playing wonderful music in sessions around Dublin but Peg McGrath (like Tom McHale and Micho) died in a car crash.
Cheers
John
Glad you’re happy with the CD. I entirely agree that this is a helpful learning tool, especially given that Tom is less of a speed merchant than some of today’s “uber-whistlers”…no slowdowner software needed here, eh??
It grew on me too!
Thanks to all for your input to this thread-very interesting note from Brad about this being the FIRST commercially available whistle album(the earliest whistle recording I have heard is Peter Guinan playing 'Off to California’and ‘The Liverpool Hornpipe’ recorded in Dublin in 1937,as featured on the various artists album ‘From Galway to Dublin’ I bet someone has heard earlier recordings-if so,please let us know).Shame to hear that Tom was yet another victim of ‘The Road’.I like Adrian’s reference to today’s ‘Uber-whistlers’-very descriptive!(Adrian,I don’t need good luck with my music-I need HARD WORK!)Thanks all!
Er, what I meant was that this was the first commercial LP of Irish music on solo tinwhistle. Of course there were earlier recordings (I have copies of some), but nothing where you could sit for 30 minutes or so and just listen to whistle.
Right Brad!.According to the sleeve notes, Peter Guinan recorded eight sides in 1937/38-some as duets with fiddler Kieran Hynes(‘Hynes march’ appears on Tom’s album-?).The notes go on to say that 'perhaps because the tin whistle often is the instrument of children and beginners,few recordings were made during the 78 era’How often have we whistlers come across this attitude!
The recording first came out on Outlet under the title Tom McHaile All Ireland Champion 1966. [I don’t know about any earlier All Ireland titles that Tom may have won.]
It was the record that introduced me to the whistle and my very first tunes were the Centenary March and The Skylark and Roaring Mary. I still play these and they’re still great tunes.
There’s no doubt that the recording is a wee bit dated but then it was done back in the seventies on a piss poor four track in Mc Burney’s studios in Smithfield in Belfast.
Nevertheless it is a landmark record for Whistle players and it gives you some idea of how far the whistle has progressed since those days.
A kind soul yesterday gave me a copy of a private recording of Tom McHa(i)le which is superb and as different from the album as you can imagine. It consists of Tom playing a “rake of reels” in sets of two or three tunes, complete with admiring (and completely justified) comments and interjections from those present. There is also the occasional lapse of memory, false start and grunt of frustration from Tom, which all add to the charm of the recording, a quality that is totally absent, in my view, from the album. And of course on this recording there is no guitar.
I was immediately struck by the fact that a number the tunes crop up on Mary Bergin’s solo CDs, so much so that I’d have a bet that Tom was a considerable influence on her. The most notable example is the pairing of “Miss Johnson’s” with the reel that Mary calls “Micho Russell’s”.
Anyway it’s truly lovely playing. And as a bonus, my benefactor put on some cuts of Lucy Farr, who died this week and who is mentioned in another thread. She is playing with flute player Chris Ferugson, and her playing on this recording is far better than her cassette album (Heart and Home) and on the couple of occasions I heard her play in person.
Some of these cuts are probably going to find their way into our series of transcriptions before too long!
Hi Steve,What interesting news,-I’m sure that some of us out here would be obliged to you if you could furnish us with a transcription or two from that tape!
Reviving an old thread here, but it just came to my attention a couple of hours ago that Tom McHale’s “Outlet” album - the first ever full LP record devoted to solo Irish traditional music played on whistle [ as far as I know ] - is now available in it’s entirety on “iTunes” for the princely sum of £4.49. They are perpetuating the mistaken spelling on the original album, so you need to look for “Tom McHaile”.
I had a quick listen to the home recording and came to the list of titles below, there are a few on the tip of my tongue but can’t get to them right now.
Tom McHale house recording
Lady on the Island
Col Rodgers (McKenna #1) / Happy day of youth (McKenna #2)
They are perpetuating the mistaken spelling on the original album, so you need to look for “Tom McHaile”.