Buy it now from Amazon

Sunny Spells & Scattered Showers

Solas

Shanachie

• List price: $17.98
• Lowest new price: $10.89
• Lowest used price: $3.93

1. The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Song)
2. The Big Reel Of Ballynacally
   The High Hill
   Flash Away The Pressing Gang (Reels)
3. Aililiu Na Gamhna (Song)
4. Tom Busby's
   James O'Byrne's
   The Four Posts Of The Bed (Jigs)
5. Paddy Taylors
   McFadden's Handsome Daughter
   The Narrowback
   Franks Reel
   Esther's Reel (Reels)
6. The Unquiet Grave (Song)
7. The Maid On The Shore (Song)
8. Song Of The Kelpie (Air)
9. Mom's Jig
   Bill Nicholson's 67th (Jigs)
10. The Primrose Lass
    Molly From Longford
    The Four Kisses (Reels)
11. Vanished Like The Snow (Song)
12. The Kilnamona Barndance
    Give The Girl Her Fourpence
    My Maryanne (Barndance, Reels)
13. Adieu Lovely Nancy (Song)

Average customer rating:

Excellent and worthy followup album to self-titled debut

Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers is more of the same that can be found on their self-titled debut, but the band has obviously matured. John Williams, Winifred Horan, and Seamus Egan are all in top form. John Doyle's guitar has become more refined and he truly shines on this album, his playing transcending mere backup. Karan Casey is a delight to hear, especially on the track "Aililiu Na Gamhna".

I highly recommend this album to anyone who likes Irish traditional music. You won't be disappointed!

I agree with the reviewer in Buffalo......

(except where s/he proposes there be any reason at ALL that one should listen to Barry Manilow!!!)

I'm afraid I can't recommend this CD or this band, with Karan or without. The songs and tunes DO have a dreary sameness and predictability about them. Mind you, if that one sound happens to be one you LIKE, perhaps this is just the ticket. Karan Casey does have a beautiful voice, but it's better served on her solo efforts. What I find about Solas is that they take all the lilt and joy out of the trad Irish tunes, which are primarily dance tunes and ought to sound more HAPPY. At times frenetic, at times grinding, full of perhaps nervous energy--- this is music by which to pack for a month's vacation when your plane leaves in an hour. If you want some really lilting, cheery, irresistably DANCEABLE traditional music, have a listen to Danu. If you like the heavy-on-the-strings sound, Bohola does it much better. I can also recommend both bands our friend in Buffalo mentioned, Tempest and Horslips, with the caveat that they are Celtic *rock* bands

A Good Companion Audio CD to go with the "Solas" DVD.

Failte! (Greetings!) This is one of my favorite Solas CD's, but I watch and listen to these songs on the "Solas" DVD more often now. The DVD has up close and personal interviews with band membmers with Karen Casey still in the group. There many distinctive qualities to the old Solas Crew. Karen Casey was is lead, excellent voice with both English and Gaelic lyrics. When she left in later years, the group lost itself for awhile. Seamus Eagan sings, plays excellent flute, plays excellent tenor banjo and excellent octave mandolin. John Doyle is the guitar back up you want if you are interested in ripping through reels, hornpipes and jigs. Horan Winifred is an all Ireland Fiddle champion. Together, they represent a 1990's era of Irish traditional music as much as Altan, the Chieftains and the Bothy Band can be given credit for eras of this unique music. Don't miss the Solas recent efforts with Liz Carroll in "Lake Effect."

Solas' second near-masterpiece--don't miss it

As with the review of Solas' debut CD, "music fan" from Buffalo could not be more off the mark. Again (this is repeating some of the review of that debut), the criticisms sound more like a criticism of the entire genre, from someone who doesn't know the genre enough to hear the distinctions and thus thinks it all sounds the same. And to describe guitarist John Doyle's playing as "the same two chords" is just mind-bogglingly inept. Ask somebody who plays guitar for an Irish band, as I do, whether Doyle is in fact playing "two chords," or whether we have a guitarist of immense subtlety and expertise, comping the melody players with interplay that is at times truly jaw-dropping, upbeating and backbeating the rhythms, inventing progressions with twists and suspensions and various inversions that make you want to go try them yourself, if you're a player. This guy is as good as it gets in this business.

As for the allegation that Solas sounds pretty much the same as lots of other traditional bands (albeit with "a little more energy"), well...again, ask some local Irish musicians you know to listen to some of the better tracks here. Try them out on "Tom Busby's et al." or "Paddy Taylor's et al." (Actually, if you want the real clincher, let 'em hear the #8 track--"Dougie MacDonald's et al"--on Solas' debut CD. That'll do it.) This is pure virtuosity.

I mean, what Solas did with "Wind that Shakes the Barley" (the first track) is worth half the price of the CD. There you have a ballad that in its original form (e.g., the Clancys' version), love its tradition as we all do, still is not the kind of thing that would draw anyone outside Irish music to an appreciation of the genre. Along comes Solas and redoes the thing entirely by reworking the melody and giving the whole thing a Galician flavor. This is a perfect example of how the early Solas was able to breathe new life into an old standard while still working within traditional lines.

As for the carping about "soft schlocky ballads": There's probably a grain of truth here for someone _outside_ the genre, because Irish and Scottish traditional songs do tend to get repetitive (lots of verses-in-a-row kinda thing). And if you're not listening to (or not interested in) the words to something like "Unquiet Grave"--if you're waiting for something "exciting" to grab you--it's really not. (On the other hand, if you listen to the words, it's one of the truly most emotional songs around, an intensely sad expression of how the pre-Christian Celtic "dead is dead" notion affects a grieving lover.) Or if you don't understand Gaelic, maybe "Aililiu na Gamhna" will be one of those tracks you click past. But then, "Maid on the Shore" and "Adieu Lovely Nancy" are very nice ballads in the traditional vein that do not require this kind of in-genre special attention. (Also, "Maid" includes an instrumental melodic line that is close to genius--a near-reversal of the melody in "Wind that Shakes the Barley," with the line spiraling wildly upward, midway through the album, helping to establish a subtle structural wholeness to the CD.)

Hey, short version is, buy it. Or listen to it somewhere and then buy it. Then write Solas, tell them we miss them, and beg them to get back to this kind of music.

A Gorgeous Recording

This is an outstanding effort, mixing textures and tempos expertly. The cover of Unquiet Grave is beautifully haunting- Karan will be sorely missed. If you like Altan, you will not go wrong with Solas. As regards the guitar comments from Buffalo: Yes, the guitar is driving and prominent, but that has always been a cornerstone of the Solas sound. The musicianship of each and every memeber is well beyond reproach, in my humble opinion. Go see them live, and you will be ready to hug the guitarist (and everyone else around) in your excitement!