Van Morrison & The Chieftains - Irish Heartbeat

Timeless music

I never tire of listening to this music, I have had this CD for several years and it is always enjoyable to me. I especially like the song 'Ta Mo Chleamhnas Deanta' with the back up vocal sung by Mary Black. Very nice. June 19, 2008

If this ain't Irish...........

I'll kiss your A_s! Van Morrison and the Cheiftians, this my #2 rated cd in my entire collection. If you like Irish music it don't get no better than this. June 13, 2008

Mystic sounds

Amazing combination. The Chieftains, often seen as the most traditional of Irish groups and Van Morrison from protestant Belfast, gruff soulful/blues singer. I love the moment when the Orange `Sash` is played during `I`ll tell my Ma `along with a snatch of the Foxhunter`s Reel.
These guys were years ahead of their time, combining nationalist and protestant music, long before the Northern Ireland peace process.
Carrickgergus is marvellous and so is She Moves Through the Fair, Raglan Road but the showstopper for me is My Lagan Love, with Van`s amazing saxaphone-like voice in full trumpet...although he does go a bit daft near the end. Well done, all, for a ground breaking album. June 8, 2008

Classic Irish music, classic Van Morrison

No longer available except on the secondary market, I encourage you to look hard for Irish Heartbeat. This is a gem if you enjoy Celtic soul. It doesn't hurt to be a Van Morrison fan either. I spent a year pursuing this CD and finally found a perfect copy at half the price I had expected to pay. May 25, 2008

A funny thing happened on the way back from the CD store....

I used to be a DJ back in Chicago, and we were doing a wedding with a ton of Irish guests. My boss told me to go fetch some Irish music. Instead of bringing back the usual, cliched "danny boy" stuff, I decided to be adventurous and buy this album. I really love Van Morrison, and there were 8 traditional songs here, so I thought why not? When I gave it to my boss, he scoffed and asked "there's no Tura Lura Lura on it". I informed Bob that the Irish have more songs than Tura Lura Lura and Danny Boy, but he didn't listen, and refused to compensate me for the CD. So I kept it, and it's one of my favorite Van Morrison albums.

And the kicker was my boss was half Irish!

Now to the music itself. This is a great album that has 8 traditional songs, and 2 Van songs, which are redone here in an Irish setting (they appeared on other albums before this one). My favorites are I'll Tell Me Ma (one of my all time favorite Irish songs), Star of the County Down, and Van's two originals, the title track and Celtic Ray, which are better here than the original versions. The Chieftains and Van really blend well together. It's a very enjoyable CD/album.

For those who care, the title track was featured in one of Janeane Garofalo's better films The Matchmaker.

November 8, 2007

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