Essential Chieftains

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Essential Chieftains
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  1. Audio CD: Release Date 2006-02-21
  2. Publisher: RCA
  3. Artist: Chieftains
  4. Format: Original recording remastered
  5. Sales Rank in Music: #14355

Product Review

Import only 37-track collection, part of Sony/BMG's 'Essential' line.

Amazon.com

More than 40 years on, the Chieftains are still the world's nonpareil Irish acoustic instrumental outfit. While celebrated for the international dissemination of their national mother lode they have actually promoted music from all six Celtic Nations; beginning with Ireland (Eire) but also honoring ancient folkways from Scotland (Alba), the Isle of Mann (Ellan Vannin), Brittany (Breizh), Wales (Cymru), and Cornwall (Kernow.) Furthermore, they have sought out musicians from other Celtic enclaves, such as Galicia (Northern Spain,) Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia -- one of North America's few Gaelic-speaking regions) and the Southern U.S., where haunting modal tunes imported by mountain-dwelling Scots-Irish immigrants provided the essence of old-timey country and bluegrass music. There have also been pop-star collaborations and a myriad of concept, live-in-concert and tribute albums. The set includes excerpts from the thoroughly traditional "numbered" albums that made the group's reputation but also covers their pan-Celtic explorations, duets with stars of other genres, including Bela Fleck, Nanci Griffith, Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos, plus encounters with notable Irish performers like Sinéad O'Connor, Van Morrison, and The Corrs. It is obviously impossible to encapsulate such a long and varied career, even over the length of two generously-filled disks, but this well-picked program gives an accurate picture of the band's astonishing scope and virtuosity. --Christina Roden
Title Tracks for Essential Chieftains

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Celebrating a remarkable 40-year career, March 11, 2006
Tom Knapp "Rambles.NET editor" (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Chieftains (Audio CD)
It's probably best to just go out and buy every CD the Chieftains have ever released. Barring that -- or in addition to it -- The Essential Chieftains is a amazing two-disc collection spanning four decades of music.

Produced by Jerry Rappaport and band founder Paddy Moloney, the compilation spans the band's history from roots to branches. The first disc boasts 18 tracks from the Chieftains' extensive solo career, while the second provides 17 tracks from their numerous collaborations. Each track has been newly remastered from the original recordings to provide crystal-clear sound.

The very first track of disc 1, "Lots of Drops of Brandy" from the 2000 release Water from the Well, is the Chieftains at their prime. But as tracks progress, from 1977 to 2006, from 1992 to 1978, it quickly becomes clear that the Chieftains were always at the top of their game. Their musicianship is flawless, their arrangements clever and diverse, their devotion to Ireland's native...Read more


12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview of Ireland's most famous band that isn't U2, March 15, 2006
J. Nicholas Dirga "Nik" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Chieftains (Audio CD)
If there's a lack of green in your wardrobe, consider loading The Essential Chieftains on your iPod this St. Patrick's Day to celebrate your Irish side ... and avoid any unwanted pinches. This new two-CD, sprawling anthology features the best of Ireland's leading band. For novices unsure where to begin with the band's approximately 40 albums over the past four decades, "The Essential Chieftains" is the place to start. This compilation focuses on their work from the 1960s to 2003, collecting for the first time together their work on several different record labels. The Essential Chieftains is nicely split into two complementary discs: "The Chieftains' Roots," focusing heavily on more traditional instrumentals, jigs and reels, and Disc 2, "The Chieftains and Friends," which includes collaborations over the years with a cast of all-stars including Sting, Elvis Costello, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Jackson Browne and many more. If you're wanting that classic pipes-heavy, cheery Irish...Read more


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A good collection--but not entirely my definition of essential, January 18, 2007
R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Chieftains (Audio CD)
They've got a lot of the country roots in this collection in addition to a lot of their early work, but I'm particularly missing "Morning has Broken" with Art Garfunkel, "Rocky Road to Dublin" and the multinational chart hit, "Sake in the Jar."

Still this is a very worthwhile collection particularly if you don't have some of the Nashville Chieftains CDs.

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