Customer Rating:
Summary: I Love this CD!
Comment: This was my first Cherish the Ladies CD and is still my favorite. It's not that that the others are subpar, this one is just amazing. My two favorites are Matt Hyland (great harmonizing) and The Waves of Kilkee (beautiful melody) I had the good fortune to see them in St. Paul, MN at the Irish Fair in 04, defintely the best act there. Joannie is not only an amazing flute/whistle player, but one of the funniest people fronting any band.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A welcome surprise!
Comment: I received this CD by mistake from BMG over four years ago. I procrastinated and forgot to return it, and in a recent spring cleaning I found it, opened it, and popped it in the CD player. What a surprise! I loved every track, from the traditional jigs and reels to the innovative remake of "Leader of the Band," which took me by surprise and had me singing along. Thanks to this mistake, I now intended to collect their other albums. Now I only wish I had listened to it years ago!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A nice (mainly) trad album!
Comment: A nice later album from this all-star, all-gal trad band. On this album, the Ladies bring in various members of their families to perform alongside the ensemble...The Longs, Maddens, Clancys, et al., pitch in, and show where the group's trad roots come from. Other than a horrendous version of Dan Fogelberg's '70s AOR neolith, "The Leader Of The Band," this is a great album. (I "get" the thematic tie between the lyrics and this album; I just can't stand the song and think it's really cheesy.) Otherwise, this disc has an admirable mix of instrumentals and ballads, and Joannie Madden's piping is, as ever, a heavenly aural treat. Recommended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Just Good Music
Comment: I have always felt it difficult to explain *why* I like a particular album by a particular group. Something about music is to me beyond explanation. It moves the soul, moves the passions, and brings a smile to your face; yet it defies explanation. Nevertheless, I know good music when I hear it, and this was good music.

One thing I can say is that I have heard neo-Irish and Celtic groups who, in my opinion, completely ruin the music. They add all these strange electronic effects, and mix the ancient music with a few too many electric guitars and such. Cherish the Ladies is not a group in that category. They understand traditional music, and how to use modern instruments to enhance it rather than destroying it.

It's just good music.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Heart- pounding Irish dance and heart-tugging ballads
Comment: This is my second Cherish The Ladies album, and as much as I loved the first one, this one makes me appreciate these gals all the more.

First, the alternating enervating dance numbers with tender ballads gives the album a great balance. The fact that one of the ballads, "The Waves of Kilkee", is strictly and beautifully instrumental just adds the variety of this CD.

And then, there are a couple of welcome surprises here. One is a touching rendition of Dan Fogelberg's "The Leader Of The Band", dedicated to their fathers. Fogelberg's song is enhanced by the weaving of a traditional reel, "Devaney's Goat", with the main melody.

The set of dances that follows is a Father's Day Medley that starts with a hornpiipe played by banjo and accordian, the same combination of instruments playing the following reel. Third part of the medley, "Drag Her 'round the Road", features Paddy Rafferty's authentic traditional lilting. The medley ends with "Bag of Spuds, featuring some step dancing.

This medley is followed by another welcome surprise,the song "John of Dreams", borrowed first from a Southern Italian lullaby and then used as a principal theme in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6.

These, cuts 6,7,8,& 9, form the heart of the album, but the energizing jigs and reels and the exquisite ballads as sung by Aoife Clancy that surround this "heart" set off the whole collection perfectly.

Highly recommended for all lovers of Irish and Celtic music.

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