Cheap Gael Force - An Irish Celebration of Song (Video) (Frances Black) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Gael Force - An Irish Celebration of Song

Think twice!
Given to me as a birthday gift by my girlfriend, my eyes peeled open and I rushed to the video machine to tear the wrapping off and pop the disc in the machine. She had made it a gift because I was supposed to see Altan in Georgia last year, but was unable to attend. As to my knowledge, there's no disc available where you can see the Chieftains, Altan, De Dannan, Christy Moore and Sharon Shannon all in one place. Those bands are fantastic, as one would expect. Little else needs to be said about their performances, except that they were talented, spirited, and everything one might expect from musicians with those kind of chops. <
> <
>A few problems with this disc, however: <
>I was thrown off by Brian Kennedy singing "Crazy Love," dressed in a black sequined shirt and yellow velour pants. Fine singing if you like him, oh sure, but he looked and sang as if he was going on a date with Al Green. I saw Sinead Lohan coming across as a 90's coffeehouse anachronism, as somewhat vain and out of place. Also, everyone raves about Sinead O'Connor's performances, but I only find her entertaining when she does something so ridiculous that the press is forced to take note. Quite frankly, I don't think it was appropriate or in the spirit of the tradition to have her close the show, the understated, low energy selection made the whole thing fall flat. You could see her underwear through her dress, however, so that provided some much needed comic relief. <
> <
>There are many vocal songs on the disc, although none in Irish, and no sean-nos singing. I think if the disc touts itself as the "culmination of Celtic music in the world" then it might have wanted to include this. I also thought that some of the new-styled music could have been omitted and replaced with more performances of the traditional dance music. <
> <
>The camera work was largely bad, focusing on whoever the singer happened to be at the time, or distance shots of the whole group, oblivious to the actual playing. As a musician I would have liked to see more of the fingers on the wood, so to speak, and less of the smile on the lady's face while she's singing the song. I know the words, okay, but I'd really like to see the masters coax poetry from inanimate boxes and strings. There was one point when the angle changed and I thought I was going to get a nice look at Paddy Moloney's wrists on the regulators of his pipes. So the color fades back in anf lo and behold I'm looking at the back of Sean keane's head. I guess the producers thought I might have wanted to know who made his jacket. <
> <
>The mixture of the old and new was refreshing, as it was also nice to see the young and the old mixing it up together, and old favorites together on sage as well. So that's one star for Altan, De Dannan, Chieftains and the like, one star for getting to see them perform instead of just listening to it, and one star for laughing at Sinead O'connor's underwear. If you're a traditional musician, a dancer, or a staunch trditionalist, then you might want to look somewhere else. The explainers and advertising are somewhat misleading.

---

Worth seeing for Christy Moore's performance alone!
I just loved this - wonderful introduction to some of Ireland's greats. I agree with the other reviewers who asked, "When's part 2 coming out?" Would love to have Altan and the Corrs grace the stage, as well! Some songs in Irish would be wonderful, too! BUY THIS!! You won't regret it.

---

A treasure!
This is probably the first time I rented a DVD and absolutely HAD to buy it (in fact, I almost told Netflix I'd broken it and paid the fine!). Incredible music, fantastic staging, and a much broader variety that might be expected. Highlights for me included The Chieftains (always!), De Dannan, Mary Black, and the incredible grouping singing "Hard Times," my favorite track on the DVD. If you enjoy Irish music, or just good music in general, this is a must-have!