The Chieftains Collection: The Very Best of the Claddagh Years (1999)

About this title: Before they signed to Columbia and became an international sensation (and long before they ever recorded a concert album in China or collaborated with Tom Jones or Luciano Pavarotti), the Chieftains recorded several albums for Ireland's respected Claddagh label. The Chieftains Collection: The Very Best of the Claddagh Years features 12 tracks from that period, and although the material is more strictly traditional and the playing a bit more conservative than it has become since, the group's taste for intricate arrangements is already apparent. Never satisfied to simply bash straight through a ... read more

Tracks:

1. The March of the King of Laois or Ruarí Óg Ó Mordah [Traditional]
2. The Musical Priest/The Queen of May [Traditional]
3. An Páistín Fionn (The Fair Child)/Mrs. Crotty's Reel/The Mountain Top [Traditional]
4. Tabhair Dom Do Lámh [Give Me Your Hand] [O Cathain]
5. The Morning Dew [Moloney]
6. Bean an Fhir Rua [The Red-Haired Man's Wife] [Traditional]
7. John Kelly's Slide/Merrily Kiss the Quaker/Denis Murphy's Slide [Traditional]
8. Mná Na Héireann [O Riada]
9. The Walls of Liscarroll [Traditional]
10. Sonny's Mazurka/Tommy Hunt's Jig [Traditional]
11. Samhradh, Samhradh [Summertime, Summertime] [Moloney]
12. Seóirse Brabston [George Brabazon] [O Caerarbhallain]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.