I recently bought a dvd of sharon with much anticipation as i love her infectiousness and her music...however after parting with my €25 and eagerly opening the wrapping, was I surprised?? well, quite frankly, I was...as well as a bit disgusted and feeling kind of conned. You see, during the summer months I purchased the Solas reunion dvd and thought it to be an excellent expression of solas and their music down through the years. It was varied and dynamic and each member was an equal and encouraged to shine and enjoy themselves...it also contained a cd. Now some of the tracks were common to both, but each had a couple of tracks that the other didn't. On sharons offering, all I recieved was a dvd. It had loads of tracks and loads of musicians but I didn't enjoy it at all!! there's a bunch of top class musicians in a line and then there's sharon dressed in white with a spotlight on her so she is blatantly obvious to the onlooker. My problem with this blatant commercialism is that for the price(overpriced) of the dvd (both solas and bruce springsteins pete seeger sessions had dvd and cd for €20), the only purpose it seemed to serve was elevating sharons status on the back of some incredible musicians. All professional musicians have to work to maintain a steady cash flow but I doubt that any of these had a chance to preview the finished product. You can say that it was probably the work of her manager but ultimately any musician is responsible for a finished product. I was very disappointed with the whole thing, c**p presentation and (seemingly) no real respect for the supporting musicians and (again seemingly) a massive hunger for the limelight. I've no problem with musicians becoming popular and successful because of their talent; this however smacked more of simon cowell than trad.. I would return the dvd if I could get a refund but unfortunately content doesn't count.
Can't comment on the Sharon Shannon disc, but I'd just like to echo the comments about the Solas DVD/CD. Even for those of you (like me) who haven't listened to Solas since their 3rd album or so, there's a lot to like on both the video and the CD.
Saw her at The World Fleadh, and was very disappointed. Her 'band' were all excellent musicians individually, but the whole lot of them together on stage didn't create good music - and it didn't get any better as more 'friends' were introduced.
re: newsharon shannon dvd/cd
re: newsharon shannon dvd/cd
I recently bought a dvd of sharon with much anticipation as i love her infectiousness and her music...however after parting with my €25 and eagerly opening the wrapping, was I surprised?? well, quite frankly, I was...as well as a bit disgusted and feeling kind of conned. You see, during the summer months I purchased the Solas reunion dvd and thought it to be an excellent expression of solas and their music down through the years. It was varied and dynamic and each member was an equal and encouraged to shine and enjoy themselves...it also contained a cd. Now some of the tracks were common to both, but each had a couple of tracks that the other didn't. On sharons offering, all I recieved was a dvd. It had loads of tracks and loads of musicians but I didn't enjoy it at all!! there's a bunch of top class musicians in a line and then there's sharon dressed in white with a spotlight on her so she is blatantly obvious to the onlooker. My problem with this blatant commercialism is that for the price(overpriced) of the dvd (both solas and bruce springsteins pete seeger sessions had dvd and cd for €20), the only purpose it seemed to serve was elevating sharons status on the back of some incredible musicians. All professional musicians have to work to maintain a steady cash flow but I doubt that any of these had a chance to preview the finished product. You can say that it was probably the work of her manager but ultimately any musician is responsible for a finished product. I was very disappointed with the whole thing, c**p presentation and (seemingly) no real respect for the supporting musicians and (again seemingly) a massive hunger for the limelight. I've no problem with musicians becoming popular and successful because of their talent; this however smacked more of simon cowell than trad.. I would return the dvd if I could get a refund but unfortunately content doesn't count.
# Posted on October 13th 2006 by maryp
Re: re: newsharon shannon dvd/cd
Can't comment on the Sharon Shannon disc, but I'd just like to echo the comments about the Solas DVD/CD. Even for those of you (like me) who haven't listened to Solas since their 3rd album or so, there's a lot to like on both the video and the CD.
# Posted on October 13th 2006 by mcdevincabe
Re: re: newsharon shannon dvd/cd
After watching the Solas DVD I went to bed feeling like I had just been to the best concert ever - and great value for money.
# Posted on October 15th 2006 by Donough
Re: re: newsharon shannon dvd/cd
Saw her at The World Fleadh, and was very disappointed. Her 'band' were all excellent musicians individually, but the whole lot of them together on stage didn't create good music - and it didn't get any better as more 'friends' were introduced.
# Posted on October 16th 2006 by wjh