On Saturday, we took our cat Inigo to the vet expecting a routine 'he has a cold' type of diagnosis, and found out that his chest cavity was completely packed with 'something' - a tumour or fluid or something, and that it was rapidly killing him. We then had to wait on pins and needles until Wednesday just to get him in to see a specialist and get an ultrasound. The whole time in between we watched him slowly fade away.
Well, he made it to the appointment, and we found out that against the odds, he doesn't have cancer. He did have a chest full of fluid that was drained. He also has heart disease and they gave him some medicine and if he gets lucky, a shot at living another year or year and a half. Pretty god damned awful, considering he is only 8 years, 7 months old, but better than what I had expected to have to do yesterday afternoon.
I love this cat a lot - he has a gentle and loving soul that you don't find every day, regardless of species. Throughout the week I've been filled with a futile rage at how manifestly unfair the situation is, and frankly, there's still a lot of that in me. He's on some heart pills, and we won't know for a couple weeks how things are going, but it is better than it was 36 hours ago.
Anyway, with a full day of eating and sleeping under my belt, I'm ready to tackle a music review. Inigo is on my lap, purring as I type, and as long as that lasts is a good thing.
Disc 380 is...Fuaim
Year of Release: 1982
What’s Up With The Cover?: Another awful folk album cover. This one utilizes all of the graphic design 1982 had to offer, including (I think) physically cutting an image of the band out and putting it onto some weird orange background. See how the area around their hair looks like a bad collage cut-out from a magazine? Well, in 1982 we called that 'digital imagery' boys and girls.
How I Came To Know It: I last reviewed Clannad way back at Disc 83, where I'm sure you'll recall me mentioning how I had heard them on an HBO series called "Robin of Sherwood." "Fuaim" was me looking for something by them that had songs I didn't get on their 'best of' album, and was a bit older, since 1993's "Banba" hadn't grabbed me.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Clannad albums, one of which is a 'best of' and can't really stack up. Of the two studio albums, "Fuaim" is the better one.
Rating: 2 stars.
This album's listening time was severely impacted by my emotional circumstances over the last five days or so. I've listened to it a lot (at least six times straight through) but this was mostly because I've been in a depressed state and sleepwalking through my life. I couldn't bring myself to write a music review, and so couldn't really move past this album.
At the same time, "Fuaim" was what I needed. It is atmospheric folk music, and many of the songs are in Gaelic. It is light and simple and easy to lose yourself in, and when you're exceptionally sad, it is a good salve.
"Fuaim" is also one of the last Clannad albums to feature Enya, who is the sister of Clannad's lead singer at the time, Maire Brennan (Enya's last name is Brennan). She does mostly back up vocals to Maire on this record, but takes the lead on two, "An Tull" and "Buaireadh an Phósta," neither of which I understand a word of, but you can pick out the more pure tone of Enya's voice as opposed to sister Maire's more traditional sing-songy folk voice.
"Fuaim" is a Gaelic word pronounced "foom" and it means sound. In this case, it is the sound of very traditional Gaelic folk music, mixed with just a hint of early eighties jazz-lounge. If you're wondering if that combination sounds as disjointed and ill-paired as it should, the answer is yes. There is something about Celtic bands that have played together for a while that makes them experiment in these ways, and it doesn't always work out.
The worst track for this is the interminably long "Ni La Na Gaoithe La Na Scoilb?" When I say this song is interminably long I don't just mean the title either, I mean it goes on too long, noodling it's way for over six minutes in an increasingly painful homage to bad eighties AM radio, even to the point of including a cheesy fade out.
At the same time, Clannad are skilled musicians and songwriters, and they make it work in enough places to make the record enjoyable. Also, from a historical perspective it is interesting to hear the early influences to Enya's records. She clearly learns from her experience in Clannad, and tracks like "An Tull" are catchy, up-tempo songs that will have your tongue trying to sing along phonetically, even when you don't know what is being said.
The more traditional songs are also good in places, and I particularly enjoyed "Lish Young Buy-a-Broom" which I think is an English language ditty that I think is about getting drunk and wandering through town seeing what fun might arise.
This is a good album with a mellow mood, but it is not a great album and in places it is almost unlistenable with its strained effort to sound modern. That said, fortune delivered it when I needed it - a little whimsy when my fragile state couldn't have handled anything too harsh.
Best tracks: Na Buachailli Alainn, An Tull, Strayed Away, Lish Young Buy-A-Broom
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