I’ve always put off buying Chieftains albums since there are so many and I didn’t know where to start. But I’ve always wanted to collect their stuff. I got a best of a few years ago and love it. Can anyone recommend a couple of their albums to get for now?
I’ve got $50 at BestBuy which will probably go toward about 4 CDs. If any one has any other recommendations of great whistle music (that may be available at the oh-so commercial BestBuy), I’d love to hear your input. I could tell you what I have already but I’d rather just hear your recommendations. Chances are that I don’t have it.
Water from the Well, Celtic Harp (With the Belfast Harp Orchestra), An Irish Evening, Long Black Veil, Film Cuts, all great stuff. Also, any of their earlier cuts…like 1-8.
The earlier the Chieftains album the better.
As Brian as suggested 1-8 are all good but the first four albums are superb. They were really into straightforward trad playing in those days but in later years between soundtracks,guest artists and the dreaded “Tone - Poems” they lost the way a wee bit.
If you want to focus on whistle playing then Mary Bergins two solo albums are must haves.
Planxty and the Dubliners both use whistle in very imaginative ways as well and are worth checking out.
The Bothy Band,Altan,Lunasa,Flook and De Dannann are other great bands that should be listened to a lot to develop your sense of rhythm and phrasing.
I have the boxed set Bloomfield mentioned—1 to 4 actually. I like it. I also have Boil the Breakfast Early which I hardly ever listen to. I’ve been told that 5 is good but I’ve never heard it. I’d definitely go for the early ones first and then creep forward if you are still hungry for more after five or six.
If you are a fan of mixed-genre collaborations between famous ‘personalities’ who admire eachother, you might find their more recent efforts enjoyable. I’m not, but neither do I begrudge people who’ve stayed the distance and done as much as they have to bring good traditional music to the broader public a few good paydays and a little broad recognition. I’d prefer it if the broader audience went for pure drop recordings and recordings by innovative bands trying to extend the tradition or at least play creative fusion but that isn’t going to happen any time soon.
5 and 7 are my two favorites, and pretty much got me whistling and piping. I am especially fond of #7 for the following tunes: Tarbolton Reel, Lucy Campbell, Jerry Hoolihan’s, Cuimhne an phiobaire, Repeal The Union and Bimid Ag Ol.
My wife was sent “The Best of the Chieftains” which contains tracks from
7 - 9. I like most of it. Those of you that say 1 - 4 are the best, what
exactly is there about those that make them so much better than the
rest? Also, why do you say that their later work isn’t as good? Not
looking for a fight – just curious is all. I haven’t heard many Chieftains’
tunes that I don’t care for.
In my college days there was a circle of folks (almost everyone, actually)
who laughed at me for liking Bob Dylan and Neil Young. So I guess that
may explain to some people why my musical tastes are odd.
I like the old stuff mostly for the whistle playing of Sean Potts (precious little of it). Also the Claddagh albums (through 8 or 9) read like a session tune list: Having those tunes, Planxty and the Bothies will get you a long way toward a “session repertoire.” I am not saying that anyone should try to build a session repertoire, mind you.
During the early records, esp. 1 through 4 you notice that Chieftains are still experimenting with playing Irish traditional music as a band, which is of course not the way it used to be played (or should be played, depending who you talk to). Sean O’Riarda got that going with the proto-Chieftains in the early sixties. The effect is that you get quite a bit of uncluttered tunes in which the instruments take turns rather than play as an ensemble.
The problem with the later stuff is that it becomes heavily arranged, produced, and intruduces other influences and musicians or singers who are great in their own right but not much in terms of ITM. Some would say it becomes commercial, shallow, and unsatisfying. But of course that’s also when the Chieftains started selling big time, way beyond your ITM circles. I won’t say whether that later Chieftains music is good or bad, everyone can suit themselves on that count. But I will say that it contains much less Irish Traditional Music than the early stuff did.
I gave up on the Chieftains pretty much after Bonaparte’s Retreat (which is no 6). Personally I’ll take Michael Tubridy and Sean Potts over Molloy and Moloney any day, maybe that’s what it is, maybe by the time 7 was new I had broadened the horizons. I don’t agree completely with Bloomfield over the early experimenting, they pretty much took Sean O Riada’s arrangements verbatim into the Chieftains era. It’s whatever tickles your fancy really but I haven’t felt the urge to listen to them at all over the past 20 years. They are part of the staple diet though and you should at least give them a go and know what they are about.
IMHO, if the OP’s going to buy these CD’s with a credit at Best Buy it’s going to be unlikely that they stock the older, more obscure Chieftans albums. A CD that they should have and that I would recommend, although I know I’ll get flamed for doing so, is the album that first turned me on to Irish music: Van Morrison and The Chieftans; “Irish Heartbeat.” Definitely not ITM, but a great album, IMHO.
Ah, yes. There is that lovely bit half-way through track 1 of Chieftains 1 where Trubidy starts Tommin O’Dea (that’s how I want to play when I grow up), and then Moloney comes in on the bloody pipes and you can’t hear half of what the flute is doing anymore. And No 6 is a must because of Dolores, of course.
(Speaking of that, I wish I had Turbidy’s version of Ships in Full Sail, I don’t think that’s on any Chieftains album, guess I should dig them up again.)
I think Moloney is more the problem , not as much the pipes.
Anyway, Sarah Jane Woods sent me a Tubridy tape some 15 years ago (just he Eagle’s whistle lp and some bits and bobs, she was taking lessons off him at the time along with the other young teenagers like Caoimhin) the tune may be on that.
IDAwHOa, tempting offer but I can’t really spend my own money right now. I think I’ve racked up about $600 in whistle purchase for the month. I’m dead if I spend anything else…for now.
Thank you, Bloomfield and Peter for your comments about the early vs.
the later Chieftains. Like you, I think I prefer listening to Potts’ whistle
playing over Molloy’s, but since I’m still new to this stuff, I can’t put my
finger on exactly why. Is Molloy’s not considered true ITM or is it just a
stylistic thing that you don’t care as much for? I’m not trying to drive you
guys crazy about splitting hairs, but reading answers to questions like this
helps clarify what I still have trouble picking up by ear – my still being a
newbie and all. Sometimes when I hear something being played that I
don’t care for, I don’t know if it’s being played properly in a stylistic way
that I don’t care for, or if it’s truly not being played in the correct way. I
hope this doesn’t sound too dumb, but how do you tell the difference?
I respect both of your opinions, and appreciate the time you take to
answer questions like this so that the rest of us have a better
understanding of the music that we listen to.
My take on this is that once you get past the very basics (that is, steady rhythm), it’s very difficult to tell “not in proper style” from “incorrectly.” And what’s proper or not you can only tell in relation to one type of music. So stuff may be “not in proper style” and yet still be perfectly wonderful music (can be utter shyte, too, of course).
The thing about Molloy is that his playing became very technical and very highly ornamented. That took the heart out of it, I think. The prime example is that famous/infamous recording of the Mason’s Apron he did on the Live at the Dublin Opera Chieftain’s CD. It’s like watching a ballerina doing 128 foytes en trournant and staying perfectly in place. Mindbogglingly difficult, but does it actually mean anything?
You know what I wish? I wish there was a button on my cd player or computer that could silence the rest of the chieftains so I could only hear Mick Tubridy… That would be allright.
and you can’t hear half of what the flute is doing anymore. And No 6 is a must because of Dolores, of course. 
I think Moloney is more the problem , not as much the pipes.