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HEAVEN'S BRIGHT SUN

Iona

Prog Folk


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Iona Heaven's Bright Sun album cover
3.40 | 26 ratings | 3 reviews | 15% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Live, released in 1997

Songs / Tracks Listing

Disc 1
1. Turning Tide
2. Treasure
3. Flight of the Wild Goose
4. Today
5. Irish Day
6. Luke - The Calf
7. Inside my Heart
8. Trilogy
9. I Will Give my Love an Apple
10. The Island
Disc 2
11. The Island
12. Iona
13. Columcille
14. Heaven's Bright Sun
15. Chi-Rho
16. Bi-se I Mo Shuil (part 2)
17. Kells Theme
18. Reels
19. When I Survey

Line-up / Musicians

- Dave Bainbridge / electric & acoustic guitars, keyboards and programming
- Joanne Hogg / vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards, shaker
- Terl Bryant / drums, cymbals, bodhran, djembe, mini timbales, gong, zil-bel, pin chimes, wind chimes, waterfalls, tambourines, rainstick, samba bell, jam blocks, agogos, shakers, chick-chock, finger cymbals, casaba
- Phil Barker / fretless and fretted basses
- Mike Haughton / soprano alto tenor saxophones, flute, tin whistle, vocals, tambourine
- Troy Donockley / low whistles, uillean pipes, tin whistle, electric & acoustic guitars, e-bow slide guitar, keyboard, cittern, vocals

Releases information

2CD Alliance Music / Forefront Records FFD5178 (1997)
Barcode: 7 2438-25178-2 5

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Grendelbox for the last updates
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IONA Heaven's Bright Sun ratings distribution


3.40
(26 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(15%)
15%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(54%)
54%
Good, but non-essential (27%)
27%
Collectors/fans only (0%)
0%
Poor. Only for completionists (4%)
4%

IONA Heaven's Bright Sun reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 3.5 stars. It's unusual to see a live album rated so low because for the most part it's the band's loyal fans who buy the live records. So I think that means this may not be the best place to start if you want to check out IONA.This live record features songs from their first four studio records. I would describe their sound as very atmospheric with a Celtic flavour.The female vocals and guitar playing really stand out.

Highlights for me are "Treasure" which is an amazing song with sax, flute, guitar and drums providing the gorgeous melody for Joanne's beautiful vocals."Inside My Heart" opens with acoustic guitars and it gently flows as a prayer to God.The guitar solo seems to go on forever, and is worth the price of admission alone."Trilogy" features a lot of sax and synths to begin with, that are taken over by a flute and drum melody, and this continues as synths, sax and guitar lead the way.

On disc 2 I really like "Columcille" a very atmospheric song with flute and synths. I believe uilleann pipes are featured here as well. "Kell's Theme" is a powerful song that is all about the lyrics."When I Survey" is very spacey and atmospheric to begin with before we hear some of the greatest words penned by man, and Joanne's vocals couldn't be better.

This is an extremely talented band that seem to be getting better and better.Check out some of their studio releases I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Review by ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars The more albums from "Iona" I listen to, the more I like this band.

I was really not keen on their offering with their first two albums but I noticed a more pleasant sound and better compositions with "Beyond These Shores" and even more while discovering ""ourney Into The Morn".

Even if none were masterpieces, they were quite nice to listen to. And a good chunk of the songs featured here do belong to these two albums (definitely when the timing of these is concerned). So, no wonder, this is a good live album.

It is amazing to discover how this band could have influenced "Mostly Autumn" or "Karnataka". Even if I prefer these two bands compared to the source of inspiration. Of course, "MA" will deeply dig into the Floydian repertoire but they certainly owe a big deal to this band.

This is not a long album. It is a very long double one. Almost two hours of enjoyable music with lots of truly folk parts (which can not be found in the two other band's offering).

I really suggest you to start with this double CD set to discover the repertoire of "Iona". Just listen to the fantastic version of the track "Iona" and embark into this live set. You shouldn't regret it.

It is a nice musical moment, with little highlights indeed but weak moments are scarce as well. Three stars and recommended.

Latest members reviews

4 stars At long last, after months of anticipation, the Iona double live album, Heaven's Bright Sun (ALD 092), has surfaced and as soon as you press 'play' on the first disc you know immediately that the wait has been worthwhile. There's obviously no need for me to introduce you to Iona's music, but any ... (read more)

Report this review (#16094) | Posted by Andy Long | Monday, January 31, 2005 | Review Permanlink

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