Just received the double Sharon Shannon CD, Live at Dolan's, from Custys. Huge disappointment IMHO. For a start, there isn't enough of the lady herself. When she is on a track, it's stuff available on other albums. And what's Don't Give Up doing on an ITM album? The singer adds nothing to the Soloman Burke version. The musicianship is of a high standard but ITM it ain't.
Right. If she likes it, why should it bother anyone else? Her first album is all I could ever ask for when it comes to Sharon Shannon up front and center. If she likes what she plays on this, well, go her.
Yes, I agree that Sharon probably does what she does because she's enjoying it. I think it's a difficult call as to whether she would make more money or less by being a little more trad or a little less trad, anyway. No point in criticising her personally for her choices. On the other hand we have every right to say whether we enjoy it or not!!
It will be interesting to see whether she ends up heading back to a more trad approach in another decade or so, as often happens.
I agree with nearly all of the above, watching a talented musician evolve and grow is part of the fun of following their career. As an artist, she will likely play what she loves and as a businesswoman, she will play what she is paid to play.
It can be disappointing when an artist becomes associated with a certain style or tradition and then "suddenly" departs from it. Especially when you just laid out your cash for their latest CD and it sounds more like Ravi Shankar when you thought you were buying Willie Clancy.
She can do as she likes as we all can. If Sharon enjoys deviating from "the tradition", good luck to her.
It's only if she or others attempts to impose this on the rest of us when the problem arises, eg "The future of Irish/Scottish/whatever music is......"
For instance, many Scottish sessions aren't complete without djembes these days and so on....
Notwithstanding the above, Sharon's album might still be very enjoyable in its own way. I don't only listen to Irish and Scottish trad music, after all.
I've always found Sharon Shannon's own playing brilliant and captivating; I've been underwhelmed though by some of the non-ITM acts that have cropped up on her albums. I'm all for the idea of bands and artists trying to give non-ITM material "the treatment" - I just haven't cared for the pieces some TM-ers have actually chosen.
Sharon's just been a guest on her own albums ever since 'The Diamond Mountain Sessions'. The Dolans DVD makes this abundantly clear. At least 'The Diamond Mountain Sessions' had Steve Earle and John Prine, but the Dolans album has the likes of Mundy, Roesy and that second-rate comic John Kenny 'singing' 'The Big Rock Candy Mountain'. And don't get me started on Desi O'Halloran!
It's a woeful contrast to the excellent 'Tunes' album, recorded with Mike McGoldrick and Frankie Gavin.
Basically, she needs better advice from her management - that's you, Mr Dunford, if you're reading this.
Hang on, certainly Sharon can do what she wants, but is being promoted because she is female. There are at least 2,000 better box players that I know personally, so it does come down to commercialism.
Geoff W has hit the nail on the head - a guest on her own albums. Of course, SS has every right to go in whatever musical direction she likes but we the punters should not be taken advantage of. This is not an ITM album.
ss "departing from the tradition" is hardly news. "pure drop" style, this musician has never been. i don't care for the aesthetic of her chosen sound, which to me has always sounded like cheesy, pop-lite world-muzak type stuff for riverdance dipsh*tes, but she is sincere about her artistic path, and most importantly, she is a fantastic musican. i play box, and there might be "oodles" of irish box players whose aesthetic i like better, but in terms of her chops, she is up there with the best. she can arrange, she can improvise, she ornaments like lightning, she is a perceptive stylist who can play credibly in many different genres, and on an instrument that has been one of the last to cede equal gender access in ITM, she can virtuoso many of the boys into the ground. every now and then, i hear an irish male slag her playing in terms that are not just untrue, but really ugly, and really transparently envious. come to think of it, when you consider the cultural milieu she came out of, that she became a phenomenon on the instrument and then proceeded to become an ace arranger and band leader is unique and amazing.
Maybe you know more about the music biz than I, Geoff, but this isn't MGM studios controlling the image and artistic output of some 1940s starlet. I suspect that Sharon is doing largely as she sees fit and as she finds fun. She has never struck me as someone to take much of anything too seriously. If the likes of Mr Dunford (or anybody) can tell Sharon Shannon what to do, I would be a little surprised.
However, I'm not trying to rubbish your statement, and if you have something more to say about this kind of situation between moderately successful folk/trad artists and their management I would find it quite enlightening - without getting too much into individual personalities, of course.
Geoff - "A guest on her own albums" sums it up, as someone else has posted.
I put in something above about ITM (or really any other TM) players giving non-TM material "the treatment", which is different, and to me more interesting when it comes off, as it extends the bounds of the music that TM with its usual range of instruments can prove itself able to annex. De Danaan pulled this off with Handel and Irish-American period pieces, Planxty with Irvine's Balkan numbers.
Has she gone too far?
Has she gone too far?
Just received the double Sharon Shannon CD, Live at Dolan's, from Custys. Huge disappointment IMHO. For a start, there isn't enough of the lady herself. When she is on a track, it's stuff available on other albums. And what's Don't Give Up doing on an ITM album? The singer adds nothing to the Soloman Burke version. The musicianship is of a high standard but ITM it ain't.
# Posted on January 26th 2007 by lukegarry
Re: Has she gone too far?
Sharon has been known to stray in the past, in search of the mighty dollar, pound, or euro.
# Posted on January 26th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Has she gone too far?
Or maybe she's just got broad musical tastes and is just exploring what interests and excites her?
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by TheCurvyFiddle
Re: Has she gone too far?
Right. If she likes it, why should it bother anyone else? Her first album is all I could ever ask for when it comes to Sharon Shannon up front and center. If she likes what she plays on this, well, go her.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by Zazzaliss
Re: Has she gone too far?
Yes, I agree that Sharon probably does what she does because she's enjoying it. I think it's a difficult call as to whether she would make more money or less by being a little more trad or a little less trad, anyway. No point in criticising her personally for her choices. On the other hand we have every right to say whether we enjoy it or not!!
It will be interesting to see whether she ends up heading back to a more trad approach in another decade or so, as often happens.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by kris
Re: Has she gone too far?
I agree with nearly all of the above, watching a talented musician evolve and grow is part of the fun of following their career. As an artist, she will likely play what she loves and as a businesswoman, she will play what she is paid to play.
It can be disappointing when an artist becomes associated with a certain style or tradition and then "suddenly" departs from it. Especially when you just laid out your cash for their latest CD and it sounds more like Ravi Shankar when you thought you were buying Willie Clancy.
Cheers.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by Rook
Re: Has she gone too far?
She can do as she likes as we all can. If Sharon enjoys deviating from "the tradition", good luck to her.
It's only if she or others attempts to impose this on the rest of us when the problem arises, eg "The future of Irish/Scottish/whatever music is......"
For instance, many Scottish sessions aren't complete without djembes these days
and so on....
Notwithstanding the above, Sharon's album might still be very enjoyable in its own way. I don't only listen to Irish and Scottish trad music, after all.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by Johannes J
Re: Has she gone too far?
I've always found Sharon Shannon's own playing brilliant and captivating; I've been underwhelmed though by some of the non-ITM acts that have cropped up on her albums. I'm all for the idea of bands and artists trying to give non-ITM material "the treatment" - I just haven't cared for the pieces some TM-ers have actually chosen.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by nicholas
Re: Has she gone too far?
Sharon's just been a guest on her own albums ever since 'The Diamond Mountain Sessions'. The Dolans DVD makes this abundantly clear. At least 'The Diamond Mountain Sessions' had Steve Earle and John Prine, but the Dolans album has the likes of Mundy, Roesy and that second-rate comic John Kenny 'singing' 'The Big Rock Candy Mountain'. And don't get me started on Desi O'Halloran!
It's a woeful contrast to the excellent 'Tunes' album, recorded with Mike McGoldrick and Frankie Gavin.
Basically, she needs better advice from her management - that's you, Mr Dunford, if you're reading this.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by Floss the Tethers
Re: Has she gone too far?
Hang on, certainly Sharon can do what she wants, but is being promoted because she is female. There are at least 2,000 better box players that I know personally, so it does come down to commercialism.
# Posted on January 27th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Has she gone too far?
Geoff W has hit the nail on the head - a guest on her own albums. Of course, SS has every right to go in whatever musical direction she likes but we the punters should not be taken advantage of. This is not an ITM album.
# Posted on January 28th 2007 by lukegarry
Re: Has she gone too far?
"...The musicianship is of a high standard but ITM it ain't"
In your details you say: "We play mostly Irish, but are increasing our Scottish, Shetland and English repertoire"
Now, have *you* gone too far?
/ Risto
# Posted on January 28th 2007 by Risto
Re: Has she gone too far?
ss "departing from the tradition" is hardly news. "pure drop" style, this musician has never been. i don't care for the aesthetic of her chosen sound, which to me has always sounded like cheesy, pop-lite world-muzak type stuff for riverdance dipsh*tes, but she is sincere about her artistic path, and most importantly, she is a fantastic musican. i play box, and there might be "oodles" of irish box players whose aesthetic i like better, but in terms of her chops, she is up there with the best. she can arrange, she can improvise, she ornaments like lightning, she is a perceptive stylist who can play credibly in many different genres, and on an instrument that has been one of the last to cede equal gender access in ITM, she can virtuoso many of the boys into the ground. every now and then, i hear an irish male slag her playing in terms that are not just untrue, but really ugly, and really transparently envious. come to think of it, when you consider the cultural milieu she came out of, that she became a phenomenon on the instrument and then proceeded to become an ace arranger and band leader is unique and amazing.
# Posted on January 28th 2007 by ceemonster
Re: Has she gone too far?
Maybe you know more about the music biz than I, Geoff, but this isn't MGM studios controlling the image and artistic output of some 1940s starlet. I suspect that Sharon is doing largely as she sees fit and as she finds fun. She has never struck me as someone to take much of anything too seriously. If the likes of Mr Dunford (or anybody) can tell Sharon Shannon what to do, I would be a little surprised.
However, I'm not trying to rubbish your statement, and if you have something more to say about this kind of situation between moderately successful folk/trad artists and their management I would find it quite enlightening - without getting too much into individual personalities, of course.
# Posted on January 28th 2007 by kris
Re: Has she gone too far?
Kris,
You've made the mighty assumption that Sharon makes her own career decisions. She doesn't.
# Posted on January 29th 2007 by Floss the Tethers
Re: Has she gone too far?
Geoff - "A guest on her own albums" sums it up, as someone else has posted.
I put in something above about ITM (or really any other TM) players giving non-TM material "the treatment", which is different, and to me more interesting when it comes off, as it extends the bounds of the music that TM with its usual range of instruments can prove itself able to annex. De Danaan pulled this off with Handel and Irish-American period pieces, Planxty with Irvine's Balkan numbers.
# Posted on January 29th 2007 by nicholas
Re: Has she gone too far?
For Risto: Ouch but give me a break - I do ITM and other TM!
# Posted on February 1st 2007 by lukegarry