Review Summary: Just goes to show that combining all aspects of Irish music lore makes it musically tremendous.
Irish music has been in a state of change over the past few hundred years. Turlough Carolan played Baroque music in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Irish Step Dancing (which became dominated by the Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley himself), became big starting in the early 20th century. Finally, Irish Rock came along during the course of the later 20th century with mega successful groups like U2, Enya, and the Cranberries. This all changed in 2004 when Sharon Browne brought the world a group called Celtic Women. Consisting of six women, they performed traditional Celtic songs and modern tunes. In 2007, this was further expanded on by the five member male fronted band Celtic Thunder, and in 2008, their first album was released.
These five individuals, ranging from sixteen to forty-one, each present a different vocal approach to the music. They have to do this though, as each come from a different background and have the large variation in age. So, as each member brings forth a different style, I will have to review this by each member’s performance individually, and I start first with the youngest member of the group Damien McGinty.
Let me start by saying this kid is a great singer. For having braces when this was recorded, McGinty puts together a remarkable performance.
Come by the Hills just shows a glimpse of the vocal ability of this kid. His range is decent in the chorus, and he is able to add a bit of catchiness to a song that without vocals would be quite boring. He trumps himself in one of the best songs this album has to offer.
Puppy Love was first written in 1960 and brought back to the masses by Donny Osmond in 1972, but this version beats both of those by a long shot. Damien’s singing of the verses is extremely well done, and is the highlight of the song. The orchestra plays on the vocals perfectly as well to make this song pretty epic.
We now reach the oldest member of the band in George Donaldson, who is in fact not from Ireland, but from Scotland. His vocal style is one that fits in perfectly with those aspiring singers who sing in local Scottish/Irish pubs. While not being immensely powerful, George has a nice smooth singing voice that he shows in
The Voyage. Listening to this song, I imagined I was packing for a long journey out to sea. He is definitely able to capture the mood with his vocal ability.
Now we move to the two members of the group who have a similar vocal styling that to an Irish pop rock band; Keith Harkin and Ryan Kelly. When listening to the album, I actually had a hard time differentiating the two, and had to look at the booklet to see what one was singing the song at the time. Ryan’s songs are the weakest on the CD. They drag on a bit too much and feel a tad boring. By no means is he a bad singer, he is quite good. I just wished the record would’ve included some more songs he sang on the live DVD. Those would have made this album better. Keith though, has the more entertaining songs of the two. Having three solo songs, Keith is featured the most during the duration of this album. One trait that Keith has going for him that works is his crackling voice, as seen in
Lauren and I. When a voice cracks normally, it shows weakness of vocal ability. That is not true in Keith’s case as he makes the song his own.
We have now approached the section on the best vocalist this group has in Paul Byrom. His vocal styling reminds me of Josh Groban in that he is a tenor, but Byrom almost sounds operatic in nature as well.
She, being a ballad, does tend to drag on and seem boring in a couple of spots, but vocally it is top notch. The best song on this entire disc though, and the third best song released this year,
Remember Me (Recuerdame) is simply breathtaking. The orchestration, which by the way carries this album to whole new heights, performs at its best here. The violins meshing with Paul’s vocals would make anyone emotional. The end of the song is one of the most breathtaking moments in song history, especially the last singing of “mi amour”. The range and level of talent displayed is unmatched by any other moment on the album.
So with all of these vocal styles combining together onto a record, it would seem that everyone singing a song together would be difficult. Well, it isn’t.
Heartland, which opens the album, is phenomenal. The tribal like instrumentation and the epic chorus makes this another highlight.
Steal Away is quite unique as each member gets to sing a verse of their own. Finally
Ireland’s Call is a song that could me misinterpreted as the Irish National Anthem. It just has that country brotherhood feel to it that would make Irish individuals proud of their country. We talk about stadium anthems and other songs that get crowds pumped up for the music, but this takes it to a different level. In fact, the Irish National Rugby Team uses this as their theme song.
Celtic Thunder’s debut is a marvel to listen to. From the great vocals, to the insane orchestration, this has everything to merit a classic rating. The only thing keeping it from that is the instances where the album drags on and gets a bit boring, though the orchestra is marvelous during the boring parts. I am definitely looking forward to a follow up album from this group. Just goes to show that combining all aspects of Irish music lore makes it musically tremendous.
