Common Ground--my 2 cents

[ttuerff@primenet.com (Tom Tuerff)]

Well, I picked up Common Ground yesterday, and after one listening, I
don't like much of it at all. But this is a good thing. 

I have found that albums I really don't like the first time around become
albums I can't stop playing once I get into the second or third go-round.

Stand-outs the first time through: I like Maire Brennan's new arrangement of 
"O bhean a'ti," which she has performed on disk before with Clannad. (It's
on a live album under the title "O bhean ati cenbusurt sin Ort."

Sharon Shannon's Song is excellent.

The Paul Brady one could grow on me.

Sinead--I like the song on the Chieftains album better.

Kate--Not embarassing, but speaking from the ears of someone who buys a
lot of Celtic music, she's obviously singing to a phonetic translation,
which is better than not singing at all. She comes off much better than,
say, Sting did when he sang in "Gaelic" on the Chieftains LP.

One thing I really like about this song is the arrangement, which ends
rather abruptly, much like an informal sing with friends. Very nice. 

Was there a specific reason why Kate had her voice recorded by Del Palmer
and not by the engineer who did the music?

I really like the Liam O' Maonlai and Christy Moore cuts. Which means I'll
probably get sick of them!