The Chieftains 4

The Chieftains

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The Early Peak of an Irish Powerhouse

Well before the Chieftains began organizing recording endeavors around guest pop stars, the Irish sextet was the world's most dependably rousing purveyor of Irish jigs and reels. Nothing against the commercially successful later stuff—it's occasionally super-inspired (see Mick Jagger's version of "The Long Black Veil" on the album of the same name) and often beautiful, with the delicate instrumentation making pop vocalists feel comfortable.

But the first cluster of Chieftains titles—made from roughly 1965 until the late 1970s—exhibit a pure delight, and a spry rhythmic sense, that eluded the group as it tried to cross over. You could listen to fifty recordings of Irish traditional music and never hear a more delirious, masterfully synchronized reel than the "Drowsy Maggie" that opens Chieftains 4. Uilleann pipe master Paddy Maloney and his crew play it with an audible smirk and a pubgoing rowdiness. The ensemble, which gained a serious textural dimension with the addition of harpist Derek Bell just before this was recorded, is the star throughout: Listen for the way Peadar Mercier (tenor bodhrán) and Sean Potts (bass bodhrán) spin off each other on the picturesque "The Morning Dew."

There are, though, spotlight numbers. One is the fascinating multipart suite "The Battle of Aughrim," which finds Maloney using the pipes to "describe" via music a battle. Maloney renders it with a storyteller's patience. As he moves from one theme to the next, his playing evokes the tense buildup as forces gather, then the braying chaos of the battle itself, and finally the desolation and grief felt by those who survive. This final "Lament" section finds Maloney playing an eerie, heart-heavy theme, as though he's the last living soul on the battlefield, and it's all he can do to send his comrades to their eternal rest.

Genre: World, Celtic
Released: 1973, Atlantic
Key Tracks: "Drowsy Maggie," "The Battle of Aughrim," "Cherish the Ladies," "The Morning Dew"
Catalog Choice: Another Country; The Long Black Veil; Irish Heartbeat
Next Stop: Clannad: Macalla
After That: Van Morrison: Hymns to the Silence
Book Page: 165

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#1 from carneham, Spain - 03/21/2009 3:55

Timeless, this one of these records for a desert island (or Ireland).
“Carrickfergus” bring me tears,“Morgan Magan” with the harp of Derek Bell, “Mná na h Éireann”, “The Morning Dew”.....¡uff! jigs, airs, march are absolutely wonderful. And any doubt here is the best line-up of The Chieftains with Fay, Potts, Tubridy, Keane, Mercier, Bell and, of course, Moloney.

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