Punctured, like all of Gary Shannon's albums, is wonderful. If you play the flute you can't afford to miss his three albums: Lose the Head (which is the Shannon Fanily album, and hard to find), Loozin Air, and now Punctured. Punctured is whimsical and playful but still has continual reference to tradtional settings -- unlike Emer Mayock or Davy Spillane, who stray too far from the traditional to appeal to old farts like me. Gary is on the edge but is never as new-agey as Emer or Davy, nor dentist-office-musak, as is Lunasa's latest, Sé. There is a great feeling of joy that infuses the CD. You can feel the fun they had making the music. There's often a bit of over-production, as on the air, Na Maithe Móra. What's wrong with just a single flute on a "simple" air?
Luckily Gary's playing is as strong as the drums and the bass, which aren't needed but which seem to find their way onto some of the tracks on commercially ambitious CDs. I love the CD but it would have received more critical acclaim had it had been a leaner production with more focus on Gary Shannon. Highly recomended.
Great CD - go buy it!
Punctured, like all of Gary Shannon's albums, is wonderful. If you play the flute you can't afford to miss his three albums: Lose the Head (which is the Shannon Fanily album, and hard to find), Loozin Air, and now Punctured. Punctured is whimsical and playful but still has continual reference to tradtional settings -- unlike Emer Mayock or Davy Spillane, who stray too far from the traditional to appeal to old farts like me. Gary is on the edge but is never as new-agey as Emer or Davy, nor dentist-office-musak, as is Lunasa's latest, Sé. There is a great feeling of joy that infuses the CD. You can feel the fun they had making the music. There's often a bit of over-production, as on the air, Na Maithe Móra. What's wrong with just a single flute on a "simple" air?
Luckily Gary's playing is as strong as the drums and the bass, which aren't needed but which seem to find their way onto some of the tracks on commercially ambitious CDs. I love the CD but it would have received more critical acclaim had it had been a leaner production with more focus on Gary Shannon. Highly recomended.
# Posted on September 1st 2006 by cocus
Tigh Raifertaigh
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2087
# Posted on October 25th 2007 by bdh