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Author Topic: Ancient Land Album: Reviews and Thoughts  (Read 17893 times)
Kevin R.I.
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« Reply #30 on: November 28, 2018, 02:28:48 PM »

I totally agree....the new show is great ....as is the latest CD. If any of the CW "regulars" see it and listen to it , they`ll be "hooked'. The latest album /CD is one of their bests ....and I have them all and have seen them in live shows since 2009 so I `ve been following them for a long enough time to add my "2 cents worth"..go see one of their shows, it`s money well spent and you will NEVER be disappointed.
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rfcw
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« Reply #31 on: December 04, 2018, 06:08:21 PM »

I Am sinking in & LOVING This Album so Much
To me I'd call it Majestic!

I re Voted for Favorite 4! 💗

Enchanted Way has all girls I Assume (reading this).

The Linear Note CwazyTom pointed out is something to look forward!.

I Love All CW Albums! Bottom Of My Heart ❤
« Last Edit: December 04, 2018, 06:10:45 PM by rfcw » Logged
CWazyTom
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« Reply #32 on: September 06, 2019, 01:24:25 AM »

Celtic Woman: Ancient Land (Deluxe) - Album Writeup

Spoilers Below!!!
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The new tracks are fantastic!

The Deluxe version is a digital-only album consisting of 27 tracks and has a running time of about 1 hour 39 minutes.

All the new tracks come at the end of the album.

It includes all 18 songs from the CD (including 2 which were not available on the digital album before):
1. The Enchanted Way
2. Ballroom of Romance

As those of us who have the CD or DVD/Blu-ray know, they are both excellent songs and very fun to listen to. Ballroom of Romance is one of my all-time favorite Celtic Woman ceili songs!

There are 9 new songs that weren't on the CD.

1. Newgrange (tour)
2. Orinoco Flow (tour)
3. Fields of Gold (tour)
4. Bean Pháidín (tour)
5. Over the Rainbow (DVD)
6. Siúil A Rúin (DVD)
7. Amazing Grace (DVD)
8. Danny Boy (DVD)
9. The Parting Glass (DVD)

For those counting, that's 11 additional tracks compared to the regular digital version of the album!


Newgrange

Mairead Carlin sounds amazing! This is the version from the Ancient Land tour with a few tweaks. The Ancient Land arrangement is epic and by far my favorite version of the song. Orla's version from A New Journey was haunting and extremely good. But Mairead's voice is so spectacular that it takes the song to a completely different level!

That said, the version on the Deluxe album wasn't perfect. There were two peculiar mixing choices:

1. There was a low frequency vibration injected into parts of the song. It reminded me a bit of the soundtrack from Inception. I think they were going for some sort of ominous undertone, but I thought it sounded a little weird and even a little distracting.

2. Mairead's voice level was, in my opinion, too low relative to the instrumental backing. Her voice was the highlight of the song during the tour as it should have been. She blew my mind all 4 times I heard her sing this live. EDIT: In the deluxe album version, her voice was close to a reasonable level when she was singing words, but when she went into epic humming mode, it seemed her level was dramatically reduced. In the version on the Deluxe album, even when she was belting out the climax of the song, it almost seemed like her voice played a supporting role. Was that supposed to represent the distant and faded memory of an ancient culture or something? Regardless of the reason, if it was done by choice, I think it was by far the worst decision they made on the album (except for maybe that deep vibration sound I mentioned). EDIT: I think it still could have worked if the magnitude of imbalance wasn't so dramatic. I love the actual song arrangement, but the mixing in this song didn't work for me at all. All the other new songs turned out fantastic. I don't know what happened with this one.

Over the Rainbow

This was the other track in which the vocal levels were slightly underpowered relative to the backing instrumentals. EDIT: This one was far more subtle, but it's almost like at the end of the song, when they were in "epic humming" mode, their voices started getting suppressed, almost as if there was some sort of amplitude gate that kicked in and reduced the volume on their voices once they reached a certain threshold. That said, it was pretty minor in this track and I still loved the way it sounded.

Fields of Gold

Some of the Classic Celtic Woman fans might hate me for saying this, but this is my all-time favorite version of the song. Lisa Kelly and Anabel Sweeney both did a fantastic job. But I thought the arrangement from Songs from the Heart didn't let Lisa do enough with the song. Anabel got to perform the song on Homecoming with a lot of emotion. But with the Ancient Land arrangement, I thought Megan got the most out of just about every note. <3

Orinoco Flow

The version from the Ancient Land tour. I may sound like I'm repeating myself, but this is once again my all-time favorite arrangement of the song. It features an excellent use of percussion, orchestration, and the voices of our lovely leading ladies.

Siúil A Rúin

EDIT: This was the arrangement from the DVD and tour and it was really fun to listen to! I loved the pleasant and enchanting combination of Eabha's voice, Tara's harp, and Eabha's tin whistle.

Amazing Grace, Danny Boy, and The Parting Glass are essentially the same arrangements we've heard on tour over the past few years. Very, very good arrangements! All three recordings are excellent!



Bean Pháidín

This arrangement is soooo much fun to listen to! There are a lot of sub-tunes that surface during the song and they're all amazing! Not just my favorite ever version of the song, it's one of my all-time favorite Celtic Woman songs! While I thought the Destiny version was really good, this one is totally different and it's better than I could have ever imagined.

Overall

All the new tracks are great, although I think different mixing decisions on Newgrange and Over the Rainbow could have made them even better. In spite of some of the tracks not being perfect, the new tracks were so good overall that they've broken the first place deadlock in my head between Ancient Land and A New Journey.

The Ancient Land deluxe album is now alone at the top as my favorite album ever!!!



P.S. I'm adding the new tracks to the poll!
« Last Edit: September 06, 2019, 06:17:07 PM by CWazyTom » Logged
Tracie
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« Reply #33 on: September 06, 2019, 07:38:26 AM »

Great write-up Tom! It was so worth staying up past midnight to listen to the new songs right after they released. I don't know how to even put into words how much I love all of them. They are beyond incredible! Ancient Land is absolutely my favorite album, dvd and tour, and I am soooooo happy to have seen it live so many times, including the dvd filming and at Red Rocks!

As for this updated poll, I'm going to have to ponder for awhile. How in the world do I pick only five songs out of 27 phenomenal choices!?
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VegasDavid
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« Reply #34 on: September 06, 2019, 10:24:55 AM »

I agree that Mairéad Carlin should be a lot louder in Newgrange!  It's kind of the like how I said the pipe band's drummers should be a lot louder in Moorlough Shore.

I like how clear everything is on these new tracks; I can hear all the parts and I was able to make out new words in Bean Pháidín that I could not hear in the live version.

The new Fields of Gold is great!  I can see what Tom is saying about Megan making the most out of every note.  But I think I love Lisa Kelly's from Songs from the Heart more.  I love how the vocals and arrangement get really epic at 2:22 ("Many years have passed") and then again at 3:00 in the SFTH version.  The buildup before 2:22, with the choir singing and Lisa doing non-lyrical notes is really nice too.  Another notable difference is the poppy drum beat, which is louder and more regular in the Ancient Land version.  I would have made it softer, but I suppose the way they did it is good if you want to dance!

Tom, you didn't mention Siúil A Rúin.
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rfcw
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« Reply #35 on: September 06, 2019, 01:18:18 PM »

I have not heard listened or listened to Newgrange or the others yet, only Orinoco Flow and now Bean Phaden! Just to keep something fresh for day to day.

Perhaps Newgrange was to not overtake Orla.
My favorite version of Mairead C was the Emerald/10th version. Although my favorite was Alex's and so rare she could record us share a studio along with her epic CW version of The Voice to us without being a current member, wonder if that was CW behind that or not I dunno.

Lisa Kelly version of Fields of Gold is perfect to me a love than the original artist. It may not been extended like she did on tour but it's her own. I love the extended version of True Colors Alex did on IOH Tour whereas the SFTH version was perfect it felt short much shorter than Lisa's Field's of Gold.

I wasn't for anyone singing Fields of Gold unless it was a newer version. I'm excluding The Voice with Susan, Alex and Newgrange with Mairead C, Alex and Caledonia- Susan because their voices and singing made their own so the same instrumentation they brought a new life and you never for once stuck thought on Lisa K or Orla when they sang it! So even though Megan is third, it suits the right choice like Newgrange suits Mairead C, Eabha- Isle of Hope, and Alex- The Voice and Lynn-Scarborough Fair.

I like to know what your thoughts are now for the 2017 Orinoco Flow as much as CW is finally studio ing their tour songs what took them so long!! All the Orinoco Flow versions might as well be released meaning the 2017 version also it had jazz, guitar, magic and aurora.

« Last Edit: September 06, 2019, 01:46:27 PM by rfcw » Logged
rfcw
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« Reply #36 on: September 06, 2019, 01:29:49 PM »

Update I listened!

There is vibrating zoin in Newgrange that's giving me a headache. The background instrumentation is definitely wanting to show Newgrange is Newgrange not Her no matter she Mairead wants to tell the story. ;D yikes
Way overdue agreed Cwazytom CW songs are to relax, sleep, dream, or joy, dance and enjoy. That background effect is
unpleasant and I just picked it up in one second!
Fields of Gold Megan is too different style than Lisa Kelly's to even compare for me. There both excellent.. Same factor when opting to try compare who is best at The Voice Lisa K, Alex, Susan, or even Meav!
« Last Edit: September 06, 2019, 01:34:15 PM by rfcw » Logged
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