Search - Dubliners :: Definitive Transatlantic Collection

Pleasing mix of vocals and instrumentals, circa 1965...

William E. Adams | Midland, Texas USA | 01/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation features two dozen tracks culled from three LPs the famous group issued between 1964 and '66. While in those years, I was solely a fan of the Clancy Brothers, paying only the scantest attention to rivals such as The Dubliners or The Irish Rovers, I think this collection is a treat. Due to my years of collecting the various Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem records, I am pretty familiar with Irish lyrics, but several of these songs were new to me. The Dubliners got started in Ireland, while the Clancys hit it big first in the USA, and perhaps this accounts for some of the differences between the groups. Both were vigorous and fun, with the Clancys dipping into a larger sampling of the tragic songs from Ireland's troubled history. I notice that Amazon lists more than 100 Dubliners' CD's, so a fan of Irish folk music unfamiliar with the group's long-history and shifting members, (like meself, I mean) could have a problem picking just one to get started. Since this compilation borrows from the first three LP's the group recorded, I nominate it as the best starting point. Most of this is just plain joyous, and while I will still rate the original Clancys with Tommy Makem as a hair better in the vocal department, many might disagree with me and be none the worse for it."

Making Joyful Irish Music

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 02/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have mentioned in this space more times than one is reasonably allowed that in my youth in the early 1960's I listened to a local folk music radio program on Sunday nights. That program played, along with highlighting the then current up and coming folk revivalists like Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk, much American traditional music including things like the "Child Ballads". In short, music derived from parts of the "British" homeland. What I have not previously mentioned is that directly after that program I used to listen on that same radio station to the "Irish National Hour", a show devoted to all the old more traditional and unknown Irish ballads and songs. And, by the way, attempted to instill a respect for Irish culture, Irish heritage and the Irish struggle against the "bloody" British. (That struggle continues in one form or another today but that is a subject for another time.) Of course, today when every other `progressive' radio station (or other technological format) has its obligatory "Keltic Twilight" programs we are inundated with music from the old country so this is no big deal but then it was another question.



All of this is by way of reviewing the music of the Irish Diaspora. Our Irish forebears had the `distinct' opportunity of following the British flag wherever it went, under one set of terms or another. And in those days the sun never set on the British Empire. So there are plenty of far- flung traditions to talk about. But, first comes the old country. Chocky Ar La (roughly translated- "Our Day Will Come")





Making Joyful Irish Music



The Dubliners: The Definitive Transatlantic Collection, Castle Music, 1997



I have mentioned elsewhere that every devotee of the modern Irish folk tradition owes a debt of gratitude for the work of the likes of Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers and the group under review here, The Dubliners, for keeping the tradition alive and for making it popular with the young on both sides of the Atlantic. Not only for the songs, but for the various reel and jig instrumentals from the old days that they have produced. Here The Dubliners produce a veritable what's what of Irish music from the above-mentioned instrumentals to the fighting patriotic songs to the fighting barroom songs to the doggerel. Let's sort it out a little.



For my money their version of the instrumental, "Roisin Dubh", still brings a lump to the throat. On a lighter note "My Love Is In America" is finely done. For the patriotic how about "The Sea Around Us" (to keep those nasty British rulers away-for good). Or a nicely done version of Dominic Behan's "The Patriot's Game". For the beer hall crowd how about "The Leaving Of Liverpool". Or back to a light touch that would make James Joyce proud "The Ragman's Ball" or "Finnegan's Wake" (he probably got his idea for his book from that song, in any case). Or the humorously murderous "The Woman From Wexford". If you are looking for some serious Irish music that goes beyond St. Patty's Day but can still be played then check out this well-done compilation. And you get Luke Kelly as a bonus. Nice, right?



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