130 Great Irish Ballads, Book and CD

By Robert Gogan

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0953206831
• ISBN13: 9780953206834
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Feadog
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Valuable songbook

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good handy collection of the classic Irish songs. It has the classics, from "The Minstrel Boy" to "Sally Gardens" and (of course!) "The Wearin' of the Green." Some that vary a lot are found here in particularly good versions--you can find variants of "Bunclody" (under various names) and "Lark in the Morning" anywhere, but not often versions this good. There are also some quite striking items that were new to me--such as "Monto," which will radically change your stereotypes of the Victorian period, and "Home by Bearna," a local song which is achingly beautiful. The book certainly brings home the sad history of Ireland--most of the songs are about emigration, lost loves, and patriot martyrs. There are also useful notes with some new information to me--e.g. that the tune of "Danny Boy" was collected from a Miss J. Ross in 1855, and nothing like it has ever turned up before or since. Bad points: the songs are in no particular order, and the order on the CD is different--it appears to be ordered according to the ways the melodies flow into each other (as in an Irish dance set), and I wish the book had had that order. The CD provides only the 1st verse of each song. The singing on the CD is forthright Irish pub style--not the greatest (as another reviewer indicates) but very much better than mine, so who am I to complain? I bought the book to learn the songs--I have plenty of Irish music CD's already. If you apprenticed with the Chieftains and moved on to the Wolfe Tones, you don't need this book and probably don't want it, but if you are newer to the game and want a fine introduction to Irish songs, this is as good a one-stop place as you'll find. The songs are so beautiful that the collective force of 130 of them together is overwhelming.

Brilliant

I bought this book and the other three books in the series. I love them. They contain all the really necessary "old Irish" songs for every singer's repetoir. The CD is not Album quality, but then I bought a book, with a FREE CD as a bonus and it really helped me learn the songs that I did not know. I am a professional entertainer in Ireland and would recommend this book and 50 Great Irish Fighting, 50 Great Irish Drinking and 50 Great Irish Love songs to anyone! I look forward to the next title if there is one.

A Good Buy, But the CD is Terrible

I'm writing this review mostly as a response to the fact that the only other person to have commented on this book was so harsh. OK, yes, the CD that accompanies this book is really bad, and really not worth your time, but in my experience CDs that come with books of this sort usually are. The songs in the book, however, are what you're after, and this is a very good collection of as wide range of Irish ballads considering the price. This being said, the book is awkward in its presentation (the songs ar ein no particular order, do not corresponfd with the CD, there are no tempo indications), some of the versions of songs that are provided are questionable (but there are so many this is a minor quabble), but the songs themselves deserve at least three stars and I'll throw in an extra one for the inclusion of short histories on the pieces and pronunciation notes to some of the unfamiliar Irish terms. Overall a great buy for any musician wishing to expand their Irish repetoir.