Jul 302013
Believe
2012 release, the sixth album from the internationally acclaimed vocal phenomenon. Celtic Woman is the all-female singing sensation featuring vocalists Chlo‰ Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Lisa Lambe and Celtic violinist M ir‚ad Nesbitt performing classic Irish songs (“The Water Is Wide,” “Green Grow the Rushes,” “A Woman’s Heart,” “The Parting Glass”), timeless pop anthems (“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Sailing”), and inspirational songs (“You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “Ave Maria”) with their signature C
List Price: $ 18.98
Price: $ 8.46
ANGELIC VOICES, BEAUTIFUL MUSIC: THE MAGIC CONTINUES,
Five SOARING Stars! The latest offering from Celtic Woman is enchanting, beautiful music that once again expands from its Celtic music base to include music from other genres (such as Bridge Over Troubled Waters and the inspirational You’ll Never Walk Alone) that they easily bring under their distinctive umbrella of excellent interpretations. This latest edition of Celtic Woman features the marvelous angelic voices of Lisa Kelly, Chloë Agnew, the newest vocalist Lisa Lambe, along with Máiréad Nesbitt’s marvelous fiddling. The highlights include the fiery vocal and orchestral drama of “Awakening” with all three singers. “The Foxhunter” has Nesbitt’s high-energy fiddling stirring up a swirling jig. “The Water is Wide” is a true love song of equal cooperation featuring Kelly and Nesbitt. The lovely updated “Black is the Colour” gets a modern-day spin and Lisa Lambe is glorious amid strings and flutes. Chloe’s “Ave Maria” is indeed heavenly and quite touching. And perhaps best of all, the “Songs From The Heart” duo, “Teir Abhaile Riu” and “The Parting Glass” with high-energy performances by all four ladies that virtually define what the Celtic Woman experience is about: beautiful music. Recorded in excellent sound. Kudos to David Downes. If you’re new to Celtic Woman, as I am, it’s a wonderful new experience that invites checking out their entire past musical worlds and members for our enjoyment. My Highest Recommendation. Five WONDERFUL Stars! (mp3 download of 15 tracks; Time: 64 minutes. Available on DVD Celtic Woman: Believe ) (Note: Dublin’s own Susan McFadden joins the Celtic Woman tour in February 2012 while Lisa Kelly is on maternity leave.)
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|Lovely, but not as lovely,
This album has some amazingly beautiful songs, but to be honest, it’s not as good as the others. Yeah, there are tons of people who say that CW hasn’t changed and that maybe it’s we who have changed and that they’re still just as traditional as when they started, but I don’t think that’s true. The songs are more modern and the voices are also more modern. Don’t get me wrong. Their voices are gorgeous. This is just my opinion.
Stand-out songs:
Awakening, Nocturne, Sailing, The Foxhunter, Black is the Color, The World Falls Away, and The Parting Glass.
Awakening is a song that reminds me of The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun. It starts off with each of the girls singing a short solo then they all come together with energy and excitement in the air. The song is about awakening the dawn as a fire in the night.
Nocturne is a lovely song sung by Chloe about dreams, flying, and claiming the sky. Listen to it just before you go to sleep
Saling is a contemporary Celtic song. You really feel like you’re on a ship!
The Foxhunter is Mairead’s dazzling solo that will have you tapping your feet and making you wish you could play remotely like her.
Black is the Color is Lisa L’s first solo. Suiting Lisa’s voice very well, it’s about a guy singing of his true love.
Teir Abhaile Riu is a fun song. It’s also the only song on the entire CD with any Gaelic in it. (Is that saying something about how much less Celtic CW has become?)
The World Falls Away is in the same track as Walking the Night. Some people will argue that the first song flows beautifully into the second, but if I’m in the mood to listen to a cheerful song like The World Falls Away, I’m not going to want to listen to a mournful song like Walking the Night first. Sometimes called Give Me Your Hand, The World Falls Away is a lively song about dancing in the night with pipes playing on the wind.
The Parting Glass is a wonderful way to end the CD. It’s a traditional Irish song of farewell. You will be totally singing along with it by the second time you hear it.
The songs I really dislike:
The Water is Wide, sung by Lisa Kelly. The singer puts too much emotion into a beautiful, serene song that doesn’t need a lot of emotion. Also two of my favorite verses are left out. Chloe sings my favorite version of this song in her self-titled album. (Watch it on YouTube.)
A Spaceman Came Traveling, Lisa L’s second solo. The melody suits her voice very well. However, I know this song was intended to be figurative, but I’d just as soon stick with the Biblical story of Christ’s birth.
You’ll Never Walk Alone, A Woman’s Heart, and Bridge Over Troubled Water are too emotional for my taste. These songs will just give you a good feeling and aren’t really good music.
The songs that are good are still well-worth your money, even if you don’t like all of them. Buy it, but expect a less traditional atmosphere.
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|I like it …….but I wish I liked it more,
In Ireland you are obviously spoiled for choice when it comes to this genre with the best artists playing local sessions in their spare time(apart from enya).
That being said I am a closeted fan of celtic woman, though I’d rather die than admit that to my schoolfriends.
Unfortunately I am not as much a fan of this cd as I was genuinely hoping to be. The problems I have are:
-It seems incredibly rushed with less tracks and less lush and complex arrangements
-3 singers are not enough, an extra girl should have been brought in on time for the concert
-Track arrangements have become tooooo formulaic, 2 mairead solos 1 trad 1 part ballad multi tune arrangement comparable with shanendoah/reels. 1 diddly-i song teir abhaile riu(see ceili/nil sen la/christmas pipes all of which are better). You could probably start laying bets on which clannad back catalogue song they’ll choose to “reinterpret” next with hilarious hippy lyrics that sometimes jar with the retained irish lyric. 1 uplifting orchestral piece handled well sung well but still inexplicably bland: you’ll never walk alone. 1 epic opening song which I liked but it needed to be shortened or have variety added(again the hippy lyrics fell over the line into hilarity in some parts here). Lisa sings another mother earth broadway/country ballad followed by mother earth traditional ballad. Chloe sings a stock classical piece with no publishing rights that means celtic woman tries to borrow some audience from il divo josh groban etc. Chloe sings a secret garden cover, again I’ll be running bets on what the next cover from secret garden will be(a group I highly recommend for actual original music). Sailing is the epic bagpiping piece in the middle to provide a celtic loincloth to the track selection, but a lovely stirring track.
-Not enough focus on the vocals this time around. My favourite cd from the group is the first followed very closely by the ANJ because of the simple clear yet impressive and haunting voices that were properly emphasised with each piece. For whatever reason it is hard to hear the performers and their voices in parts of the tracks and they could be removed from a lot of parts of the album leaving the choir without changing the songs, a terrible indictment when all 3 women have such lovely voices. Maybe its just me Im no expert but the harmonys between the girls seemed non-existent and I was not as impressed with the vocals as I have been on other albums. Again not anything to do with the current performers who are just as talented as ever but while the production, the orchestra, choir, bagpipes, etc were turned up to 11 it seems the little effort was put into arranging the solo singing.
Positives: Lisa lambe has a lovely sensual voice, her track selection of a spaceman came travelling is a favourite of mine as I love the idea of a christian hymn that incorporates space travel +alien angels, doctor who etc. I actually dont find her interpretation of black is the colour to be weird when she doesnt change the object of the song to male from female as alot of the time when this song is envisioned the singer might be female but the female voice is the voice of the “true love” in the listeners mind.
-mostly new material, I simply dont think there were any more arrangements left to do of you raise me up/danny boy/mo ghile mear.
Id still recommend this group but its annoying when they literally only cover tracks I already have by other groups and then lose the sincerity and vocal power that leads me to buy the cd anyway.
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