Steve Holtje: March 15, 2009

Irish Top Ten

For St. Patrick’s Day, of course. The main rule is that the artist has to have been born in Ireland. This eliminates Elvis Costello and George Harrison. Secondarily, I omit Irish classical musicians playing non-Irish music, notably flutist James Galway and pianist Barry Douglas. Chronological order.

1. The Harp Consort/Andrew Lawrence-King – Carolan’s Harp (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/BMG Classics)

   Turlough O’Carolan (1630-1738) was a blind harper credited with writing over 200 songs and instrumental pieces. The melodies are deserving of their immortality. This is a good collection of 25 pieces.

2. John Field – Piano Music vols. 1&2 (Naxos)

   A pianist and composer, Field (1782-1837) invented the nocturne, a solo piano genre of a single movement of no specific structure but with a nighttime mood. He also wrote seven fine piano concertos; the Second, in A-flat major, has long been the most popular and features an Irish reel recurring in the first movement. Pianist Benjamin Frith’s mid-’90s recordings of Field’s piano music are excellent and inexpensive; these two CDs between them contain all 18 of the nocturnes plus Field’s second and third piano sonatas; Frith has also recorded all the piano concertos for Naxos. Pianists (well, anyone) can go here to print out public domain (that’s free!) sheet music for the nocturnes.

3. John McCormack – Songs of My Heart: Popular songs and Irish ballads (EMI Classics)

   Although McCormack (1884-1945) was trained as an Italian operatic tenor, he devoted many recordings to Irish music (in particular the songs of Thomas Moore) and is the finest example of the “Irish tenor.” This type has gotten a bad rap from tasteless modern examples such as Ronan Tynan, but McCormack’s beautiful tone, perfect breath control, and impeccable taste on these 23 songs (22 from 1930-41, plus his 1908 hit “I Hear You Calling Me”) are the opposite of such crudity.

4. Van Morrison – It’s Too Late to Stop Now (Warner Bros.)

   I know that Astral Weeks is a greater artistic statement, but this 1974 double LP is the greatest rock concert album ever, and more fun.

5. The Undertones – Hypnotised (Ryko)

   I could just have easily picked the self-titled debut, but this 1980 album rocks a bit harder.

6. Virgin Prunes – …If I Die, I Die (Rough Trade)

   Produced by Wire’s Colin Newman, this 1982 LP is one of the great post-punk albums, simultaneously of its time yet timeless. “Pagan Lovesong,” the single, is classic.

7. The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & the Lash (WEA)

   Elvis Costello let the Pogues be the Pogues for this 1985 LP, and it’s a glorious mess. I suppose 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God is slightly better, but this one’s more fiercely Irish, and just more fierce.

8. U2 – Achtung Baby (Island)

   This, The Joshua Tree, and War are all perfect albums; I give this one the nod because it’s the bravest of them. For this band in 1991, at the peak of its fame, to so drastically alter its sound paid great dividends, though.

9. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (Sire)

   What hasn’t already been said about this 1991 cornerstone of the shoegaze style?

10. Anuna – Anuna (Celtic Heartbeat/Atlantic)

    This choir mixes some of the oldest extant Irish music with new compositions (or as the back of the CD puts it, “12 centuries of Celtic Music”). Some tracks on their 1993 debut are just beautiful; the best are eerily beautiful.