Search - Chieftains :: Chieftains 4, The

The Chieftains' fourth album, one of their all-time best, marked a turning point in the band's career. The addition of harper Derek Bell, who appears here as a guest artist but later joined the band as a full-time member, fulfilled Paddy Moloney's original notion of what the Chieftains should sound like. Bell's harp moved the band away from folk to an almost classical sound on occasion, but it also linked them to an instrumental tradition that stretched back more than a thousand years. The Chieftains still play the dance tunes with verve, but on tracks such as "Morgan Magan," "Carrickfergus," which the band later recorded with Van Morrison on Irish Heartbeat, and "The Tip of the Whistle," the band finds a more lyrical mode than on their previous recordings. This 1973 recording also introduced the band to the movie world when filmmaker Stanley Kubrick became entranced by the haunting air "Mna Na Heireann" and used it on the soundtrack for Barry Lyndon. (The Chieftains 4 is also available as part of the box set From the Beginning: The Chieftains 1 to 4.) --Michael Simmons