CLANNAD 2

1. "An Gabhar B'n" (3:14) a Gaelic lyric sung over the music of a classic Celtic tune. (8.667/10)

2. "Eleanor Plunkett" (2:49) harp intro before guitar, mandola, piano, double bass, and, lastly, flute and, later, pipe join in to support and carry the gentle pastoral melody. Beautiful; almost lullaby-like. (9/10)

3. "Coinleach Glas An Fh'mhair" (5:46) fancy folk guitar play opens this before the plaintive voice of M'ire Brennan and her brother Ciar'n's double bass join in. The Pentangle influence is pronounced. Very solid, professional. I like the supportive background choral vocalise in the second half. (9/10) 4. "Rince Philib a'Cheoil" (1:50) nice traditional-sounding little ditty. (4.25/5)

5. "By Chance It Was" (5:40) a stripped-down palette with only piano and guitars supporting M'ire's vocal until the first instrumental bridge when flute takes a very pretty, airy, extended solo. The verses following this are stripped back even further with just muted guitar strums from two of the guitars providing the rhythmic accompaniment for M'ire's classic folk vocal. Full weave and flute return for the final section/outro and fade out. (8.875/10)

6. "Rince Briot'nach" (3:14) solo harp opens this one--steel string harp! After 30 seconds over which M'ire has established both melody and pace, other acoustic instruments gradually join in--including hand drums, flute, pipes, and even snare. Sounds very much like Alan Stivell's work. (8.75/10)

7. "Dh'anainn S'gradh" (5:38) harp opens this one, but soon the whole ensemble has joined in and male lead and background vocals enter in a kind of call-and-response format. It feels strange to have M'ire's vocal presence so hidden/almost absent, but the males have very nice voices. Distorted electric guitar takes the most dominating solo in the instrumental passage in the middle. This one must have provoked some controversy. (8.75/10)

8. "Gaoth Barra Na dTonn" (2:33) a cappella M'ire. (4.25/5)

9. "Teidhir Abhaile Ri'" (2:48) more traditional sound palettes and group-vocal arrangements. (8.6667/10)

10. "Fairly Shot Of Her" (2:20) nice harp, full strings (guitars, mandola, harpsichord, bass), and flute weave. (4.5/5)

11. "Chuaigh M' Na Rosann" (6:18) M'ire singing in her native tongue over gently-picked guitars. Piano and double bass join in for the second round and then tin whistle solos in the second minute before the next verse. More of the same rotating twice more over the next four minutes. (8.75/10)

Total Time 42:10

The more close-to-traditional arrangements and constructions of the bulk of this album's songs must have been the band (and record label)'s response/reaction to criticism from national purists. It's nice--with very full arrangements-- but I like it more when they stick to their own directional instincts in terms of the more modern stylization of the music they choose to record. Other than the presence of drums on a few songs and one song with saw-like electric guitar, there is less proggyness in the engineering and production of this album than their debut from 1973. For a prog lover like me, this is a step backward for the band.

B/four stars; an excellent collection of more traditionally rendered Celtic folk songs but not quite the proggy touch that the band's debut album seemed to promise--or that would indicate the direction their future would take. I'm rating this down for this website due to its lack of progginess.

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