Tir Na Nog - Tir Na Nog (1971 ireland folk rock with progressive rock touches - APE lossless audio format)

Although they only lasted five years, Tir Na Nog managed to make their brief time in existence count, and fans of ’70s folk still sing their praises warmly.

Formed in Dublin in 1969, the duo of Sonny Condell and Leo O’Kelly were making the right music at the right time.

Although influenced by traditional music, their compositions followed the singer/songwriter bent of the time, and the blend of two voices and two guitars did their material justice, light, airy, and thoroughly engaging, with bits of tabla and exotica.

Tir Na Nog, whose name translates from the Gaelic as “Land of Eternal Youth,” hit a Zeitgeist with their first album.

The pairing of Sonny Condell and Leo O’Kelly caught the same softness as, say, Nick Drake, but more open and engaging, with just enough lilting Celtic influence to offer plenty of charm (although, it must be said, very little of the Irish tradition is evident in their music).

The acoustic duo could be sweetly romantic, as on “Time Is Like a Promise” and “Our Love Will Not Decay,” but they could also offer a crowd-pleaser like the singalong “Aberdeen Angus.” “Picadilly” is especially poignant, a touching tale.

Condell brings a few exotic touches to the disc, adding tabla, Moroccan drum, and jew’s harp, but that hardly turns them into a version of the Incredible String Band — their writing simply isn’t quirky enough.

That’s not to imply there isn’t a strength to it; there is. They can pen a good, memorable tune with an affecting chorus, and the relatively straightforward arrangements, fleshed out by Barry Dransfield’s fiddle and Nick Harrison’s arrangements, are never overdone.

Pleasant without ever being startling, this is ’70s folk-rock, with the emphasis on the folk more than the rock (by AMG).


Time Is Like A Promise:


Track List:
01.Time Is Like A Promise (2:56)
02.Mariner Blues (4:12)
03.Daisy Lady (2:21)
04.Tír Na Nóg (5:20)
05.Aberdeen Angus (1:50)
06.Looking Up (4:51)
07.Boat Song (3:24)
08.Our Love Will Not Decay (3:04)
09.Hey Friend (3:01)
10.Dance Of Years (3:50)
11.Live A Day (3:04)
12.Piccadilly (5:35)
13.Dante (2:56)

Tir Na Nog:
*Sonny Condell / vocals, guitar, moroccan pottery drums, tablas, jews harp
*Leo O'Kelly / vocals, guitar, dulcimer, electric bass, tin whistle

Guests:
*Barry Dransfield / fiddle (4)
*Annie Crozier - psaltery (1)



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Comus - Song To Comus: The Complete Collection (1971-1974 uk folk prog rock including First Utterance and To Keep From Crying albums + bonus - FLAC)

First of all, big kudos to Castle Music/Sanctuary for reissuing these two rarities, or shall we say "oddities", for mass public consumption.

Longtime progressive rock fans will no doubt be aware of the only two releases from Comus, 1971's First Utterance, and 1974's To Keep From Crying, but the more casual fan are probably saying right now "who the hell is Comus?".

Song to Comus-The Complete Collection brings together both albums in one volume, as well as a few bonus tracks which were originally released on their EP for the Dawn label.

This band were an eclectic progressive-folk rock group, whose name came from a John Milton poem about a pagan sorceror called King Comus.

The band's music is pretty hard to describe, mainly acoustic, at times mystical sounding, at other instances almost frightening, but never boring or commercial.

References can me made to King Crimson, The Strawbs, Renaissance, Family, Steeleye Span, Pentangle, and Fairport Convention, but in reality they had a sound all their own.

The main instruments used were acoustic guitars, violin, bongos, electric bass, flute, oboe, percussion, and the occasional electric & slide guitar.

Add in a myriad of odd male and female vocal styles, and you have, especially in the case of First Utterance, a rather unique listening experience.

Just listen to one of the two epics from the debut, "Drip Drip", a manic and almost disturbing journey into violent pagan counterculture, featuring Roger Wootton's maddening vocals, plenty of frantic, almost psychedelic violin and acoustic guitar passages, reeds, and outbursts of frenzied percussion.

As dissonant and disjointed as the music seems upon first listen, there's something almost telepathic that seems to be going on between the musicians after numerous listens.

Check out the wild interplay between bongos, flute, violin, and guitar during "Song to Comus", with the lead vocals almost playing the solo instrument. Needless to say, this is folk music like you have never heard before.

To Keep From Crying, released a few years later after the band had split up and regrouped again, is a much more refined affair, as the band by this time had lost most of the dangerous edge from their debut and resembled a more traditional folk band.

Not nearly as exciting however, but this album does have some merit, as it contains some nice melodies, inspired female vocals, and more lush instrumentation (including the use of keyboards and synthesizers), as opposed to the frantic nature of the arrangements on First Utterance.

This reissue sports improved sound, a great booklet filled with complete history of the band and photos.

Honestly, it's worth picking this up for First Utterance alone, as this album is a must have for fans of avant-garde, folky-progressive rock (Review from SeaOfTranquility.org by Pete Pardo).

Diana:


CD-1:
01.Diana (Pearson) 4:35
02.The Herald (Goring, Hellaby, Wootton) 12:10
03.Drip Drip (Wootton) 10:51
04.Song to Comus (Wootton) 7:29
05.The Bite (Wootton) 5:29
06.Bitten (Hellaby, Pearson) 2:18
07.The Prisoner (Wootton) 6:17
08.Diana (Pearson) 4:24
09.In the Lost Queen's Eyes (Wootton) 2:50
10.Winter Is a Coloured Bird (Wootton) 8:01
11.All the Colours of Darkness (unknown) 7:21

CD-2:
01.Down (Like a Movie Star) (Wootton) 4:06
02.Touch Down (Wootton) 4:45
03.Waves and Caves (Hellaby) 1:33
04.Figure in Your Dreams (Wootton) 3:10
05.Children of the Universe (Wootton) 5:38
06.So Long Supernova (Wootton) 3:21
07.Perpetual Motion (Wootton) 4:07
08.Panophany (Hellaby) 0:30
09.Get Yourself a Man (Hale) 7:08
10.To Keep from Crying (Wootton) 5:39
11.After the Dream (Wootton) 1:00
12.Fiesta Fandango (Wootton) 3:50
13.New Tide (Wootton) 2:59

Members who performed on First Utterance:
*Roger Wootton – acoustic guitar, lead vocals
*Glenn Goring – 6-12 acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide, hand drums, vocals
*Andy Hellaby – fender bass, slide bass, vocals
*Colin Pearson – violin, viola
*Rob Young – flute, oboe, hand drums
*Bobbie Watson – vocals, percussion

Members who performed on To Keep from Crying:
*Roger Wootton – acoustic guitar, lead vocals
*Andy Hellaby – fender bass, slide bass, vocals
*Bobbie Watson – vocals, percussion
*Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, oboe
*Philip Barry – percussion
*Gordon Coxon – drums
*Didier Malherbe – saxophone
*Keith Hale – keyboards
*Tim Kraemer – cello


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Mushroom - Early One Morning (1973 irish folk rock with hard rock, psychedelic and progressive touches - radioactive records edition - FLAC)

This rare album by this obscure early-'70s Irish folk-rock outfit is in some ways quite similar to the brand of British folk-rock pioneered by Fairport Convention in the late '60s and early '70s.

Traditional Celtic folk-flavored melodies are given both delicate and hard-rocking treatments, the standard rock instruments given a British Isles folk tinge with embellishments of violin, electric mandolin, harpsichord, tin whistle, wind chimes, recorder, and bodhran.

The similarity isn't extreme, however, as to start with, the production is far funkier and more homespun -- not a bad thing at all, but a trait that needs to be noted in case you're expecting something on the order of Fairport's Full House.

Just as crucially, there are definitely more influences from pop, psychedelia, and progressive rock in Mushroom's particular spin on the British Isles folk-rock genre.

While at times this is very much in the rapid-fire, lickety-split, ferociously rocked-up reels'n'jigs style that Fairport and such often used in the early '70s, there are also some nearly exquisite passages of melancholy Celtic folk balladry with a mild contemporary rock slant, such as "Tenpenny Piece" and the title track.

Then there's the psychedelic guitar sustain and wah-wah weaving around the violin in "Crying," which otherwise would be a rather standard British late-'60s pop/rock song.

And there's also the almost berserk keyboards of "Johnny the Jumper," where Fairport-style folk-rock meets the distorted roller rink sounds of early-'60s Joe Meek productions.

It's far more naïve a record than Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span ever made, and less vocally and instrumentally accomplished, not to say more rudimentarily produced.

Yet for those very reasons, it's a fairly nifty relic in the genre, if only because it's not just an emulation of obvious influences, but a somewhat odd and original twist on the format (by Richie Unterberger).

The Liothdan:


Track List:
01.Early One Morning 2:34
02.The Liothdan 4:21
03.Cryin 3:56
04.Unborn Child 3:48
05.Johnny the Jumper 3:09
06.Potter's Wheel 2:25
07.Standing Alone 5:36
08.Devil Among the Jailors 2:48
09.Tenpenny Piece 3:24
10.Drowsey Maggie 3:51
11.King of Alba 4:16

Mushroom:
*Aonghus McAnally - guitars, recorder, tin whistle, vocals
*Pat Collins - violin, electric mandolin, vocals
*Michael Power (RIP) - organ, harpsichord, moog, vocals
*Alan Brown - bass, 12-string guitar, vocals
*Colm Lynch - percussion, wind and wood chimes, vocals


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