CD Odyssey Disc 469: Clannad

Some albums aren’t the greatest albums in your collection, but they have enough associated memories that you have a hard time not smiling when you put them on.  This next one is one of those.

Disc 469 is…PastPresent

Artist: Clannad

Year of Release: 1989, with music from 1983-1989

What’s up with the Cover?  Oh, folk artists, you really struggle with the cover art.  The ghostly face of a giant woman haunts a field of some kind of grain (I think).  She looks apprehensive about something – maybe it’s the realization that the foliage is making her look like she has a beard.

How I Came To Know It:  In the eighties, I was a fan of an ITV series on Robin Hood called “Robin of Sherwood” that ran from 1984-1986.  I loved the melodramatic flair of the show, which starred Michael Praed as Robin of Loxley for the first two years.  I thought Praed was the best Robin Hood I’d seen since Errol Flynn, but at the end of Season Two they killed him off.  Spoiler alert – it happens when the Sheriff of Nottingham finally figures out he can track the thieves through Sherwood Forest with dogs – who knew? This awkward plot and the loss of Praed to the series were both genuinely depressing.  When Praed later resurfaced as “Prince Michael” on the insufferable soap opera “Dynasty” I was even more depressed.

Despite that hiccup, “Robin of Sherwood” remains one of my favourite tellings of the Robin Hood legend.  I really dug the theme song “Robin (The Hooded Man)” which I discovered was by the band Clannad.  Although a famous folk band in the UK, I’d never heard of Clannad at the time, but I went in search of the CD featuring the music from the show.  This was in the days before internet shopping, and I didn’t find it, but I did find the compilation album, “PastPresent” that had two of the tracks from the show, “Robin (the Hooded Man)” and “Lady Marian.”

How It Stacks Up:  As long time readers of A Creative Maelstrom will know, I don’t ‘stack up’ compilations because they are not true albums, but just a collection of singles.

Rating:  n/a – ‘best of’ albums aren’t rateable!

“Robin of Sherwood” was a formative series for me – full of melodrama, honour, derring-do and feats of heroism, but “PastPresent” sadly did not deliver the same magic. 

“Robin (the Hooded Man)” was a very cool track, and I still enjoy the odd mix of synthesizer, violins, hints of martial drumming and a chorus singing “Robin, the hooded man,” all breathy and mysterious.  However, it has never recaptured the magic present when I heard it sung over the credits as an impressionable fourteen year old, settling in for an episode of my favourite show.  But I digress…

Back to the album, which despite helping open my eyes to a new kind of music, was overall disappointing.  Clannad had been around since the mid-seventies, but “PastPresent” only covers the period from 1983-1989.  Regrettably, by this time they had drifted quite a ways from traditional Celtic folk and into new age.  In the eighties a lot of Celtic/new age hybrids were infected with the same production values that were wrecking rock and roll at the time, and Clannad did not escape the trend.  The songs are flat and fuzzy in production, and whereas former band member Enya had gone on to show the wonders of layered production sound, Clannad’s efforts at it are a mixed bag.

On up-tempo tracks the sound comes off a bit trite.  I expect it is supposed to be anthemic but songs like “Something to Believe In” and “Stepping Stone” lose their resonance with the inclusion of drum machine beats, and the sing-song voice common to folk vocals doesn’t mesh well with the pop production sounds.  Even the brilliant vocals of Maire Brennan can’t rescue these tracks from the ill-placed saxophone solos.

Also on the gripe list, this record has sixteen songs, which is two too many for almost any album.  Worse, two of those songs are “The Hunter” and “World of Difference,” both songs that are not available anywhere else.  Neither song is particularly good, but beyond that I am infuriated with artists that promote their compilation albums by adding one or two songs that don’t appear anywhere else.  Fine for someone like me (I only have two of Clannad’s studio albums) but a slap in the face of fans that have faithfully bought every release, and are now confronted with buying a bunch of those songs twice just to get the two they’re missing.  At least that’s how it was in the days before singles could be downloaded, which was definitely the case in 1989.  Naughty Clannad!

Despite these disappointing business decisions, on the album’s softer, more introspective songs the music arrangements works surprisingly well.  This is particularly true for the the traditional Gaelic tracks.  My two favourite songs are “Coinleach Ghlas an Fhomhair” and “Buachaill an Eirne” two old folk songs re-imagined in Clannad’s new sound.  The production on both is very new age, but the melodies are so beautiful they can survive almost any level of tomfoolery in the studio.  In fact, counter-intuitively the ambient sound that is out of place on the more modern songs works well with these more traditional numbers.  Brennan’s voice sounds ethereal and otherworldly wise.  I imagine these songs are the sort of thing you’d hear walking through an elven forest like Lothlorien or Mirkwood.

When I was much younger I used to suffer from bad bouts of insomnia, and both these songs were staples in helping me get to sleep.  They filled the room with a calmness that helped quell whatever was going on in my over-active imagination.  For all of this album’s shortcomings, I owe it for that.

I also owe it for being a very early album that put me on the path toward Celtic folk music; a journey I’ve enjoyed now for over twenty years.  This record is far from perfect, but it has its moments, and it has given me a few of my own.

Best tracks:  Theme from “Harry’s Game”, Coinleach Ghlas an Fhomhair, Robin (the Hooded Man), Newgrange, Buachaill an Eirne

CD Odyssey Disc 380: Clannad

My apologies for being away for so long (a whole week, as it happens). It has been a hell of a week.

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

Artist: Clannad

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

CD Odyssey Disc 83: Clannad

OK, this falls into the category of "they can't all be winners, kid. Frankly, I just went on a CD shop and bought seven more albums (yeehaw) and I'm getting tempted to invoke rule #5. I am trying to hold out though, since I prefer to be random.

Disc 83 is...Banba

Artist: Clannad

Year of Release: 1993

How I Came To Know It: I was keen to check out Clannad after I heard they did the theme to "Robin of Sherwood", an old HBO series from the eighties which I really liked. This album was me trying their new album.

How It Stacks Up: Clannad made music for twenty five years, but I've only got three albums, and one of those is a best of. This one is a studio album, and the lesser of the two I have.

Rating: 2 stars - I haven't the heart to give this album a thumb, but at times I wanted to give it the finger.

Clannad is a folk band that is famous in their own right if you are into folk music, but outside of folk music they are known as "that band that Enya used to sometimes sing in".

"Banba" is not one of the albums Enya used to sing on. This album features the singing of Maire and Ciaran Brennan.

I really like Maire Brennan's voice. It is very breathy and soft, but never loses power. I even went out and bought Maire Brennan's solo album back in the day. Man, was I into Celtic folk music.

Anyway, apart from the voice, this album has a lot of flaws. It is way too milquetoast, with boring sleepy arrangements punctuated with annoying saxophone solos that sound like they belong back in the early eighties as some guy croons out "if you get caught between the moon and New York City." Or maybe while you watch Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd make annoying banter on "Moonlighting".

I guess what I am saying is that the saxophones intervention on this album is akin to someone mooning you.

Many of the lyrics are trite as well, like the song "The Other Side" which seems to advocate that everything will be OK if you write it down in your diary:

"When it's gone and you want it so badly
The game of love is a two way street
And from above there comes inspiration
Darkest clouds will disappear.

Take it down and put it in your diary
Come around to the pleasant side
Put it down to another experience
Come around to the other side."

That is just awful - and remembering how I used to find it uplifting fills me with the need to have a shower. I guess I came around to the other side, but over here, those lyrics really blow.

Apart from trying some "new Clannad" I also bought this album for the theme song for "Last of the Mohicans" which was a big movie back in the early nineties starring Daniel Day Lewis as Hawkeye in the adaptation of the famous novel by James Fennimore Cooper.

That movie was pretty good, but I prefer Lewis as Butcher Bill Cutting in Gangs of New York. I mean - if Hawkeye had a clear shot with his bow, sure - Cutting is dead 100 yards away, but if they get in close, I like the Butcher's chances. Also - the Butcher cheats. He'd just wait for Hawkeye to walk down some dark alley and stick a blade in his back. Unless they got along - after all, the Butcher has a thing for "us natives, born rightwise to this fair land" and Hawkeye would qualify.

I just don't think an honourable guy like Hawkeye could do the whole "I'm gonna pretend to like you so I can kill you at your birthday party" trick. And if he did, do you think Bill Cutting is gonna let some guy smuggle a bow into his heavily guarded Chinese restaurant? He didn't even fall for a thrown knife - he's certainly not gonna let Hawkeye go all yeoman on his ass.

Then again - Hawkeye could beat Bill Cutting at his own game by bringing some real Native Americans over for a full on battle for supremacy of NYC. Now that would be irony at its harshest five points!

But I digress.

Back to this album. It is pretty lame for the most part, but I really like the singing, and there are a couple of good tracks - mostly the Gaelic ones where you can't understand the lyrics (The Last of the Mohicans song also features some cool verses in Mohican and Cherokee).

I hope I roll something better next time. Will I sell this album? No - but only because I sometimes need something that sounds like it is sung by elves. Don't ask.

Best tracks: Na Laethe Bhi, I Will Find You (Theme from Last of the Mohicans), Caide Sin Do'n Te Sin.