I watched the Celtic Woman: Ancient Land DVD release from Shop PBS today!
The Ancient Land DVD from PBS has the full concert (all the songs that were recorded at the castle).
But the general release (at least the Blu-Ray release) will likely have additional content that the PBS release currently does
NOT have.
If you're looking for a review of the portion of the concert that was shown by PBS, see:
http://www.celticwomanforum.net/index.php?topic=617.0The mini-write-up below contains spoilers for the
Shop PBS release of the DVD.
--- SPOILERS BELOW ---.
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The Celtic Woman: Ancient Land DVD release from PBS has the full concert (ALL the songs recorded at Johnstown Castle while the audience was in attendance).
That includes the 3 additional solos that were recorded on night #2 at the castle that were not on the PBS special:
* County Down (Mairead Carlin)
* Faith's Song (Megan Walsh)
* Garden of Eden (Eabha McMahon)
I know of
at least one person that was in the audience that got a clear close-up during the additional songs that did not appear on PBS.
I knew there was going to be quite a bit of bonus content for Ancient Land, so I was surprised when I started up the DVD and found that there were only two menu items. Something like:
* Play concert
* Track selection
I checked the track selection hoping to see bonus content in the track listing.
I did not.
I did maintain a measure of hope during the DVD that there was hidden bonus content at the end of the concert.
There wasn't.
This is likely why the general DVD release hasn't been announced yet. I think they're still working on the extra content. I'm unsure as of the time I'm writing this if the extra content will be on the DVD or only on the Blu-Ray. I can only say that we know from multiple very reliable sources that
there is quite a bit of extra content and that it's NOT on the PBS release of the DVD.
Track List1. Ancient Land
2. Homeland
3. Moorlough Shore
4. Ae Fond Kiss
5. Amazing Grace
6. Long Journey Home
7. Sive
8. Shenandoah
9.
County Down10. Love & Honour
11. Ballroom of Romance
12. Follow Me
13. Mná na hÉireann
14. Over the Rainbow
15. Tara's Tunes
16. Danny Boy
17.
Garden of Eden18.
Faith's Song19. Siúil A Rún
20. Be Still
21. Going Home
22. The Enchanted Way
23. The Parting Glass
Additional TracksThe 3 additional tracks are definitely worth getting.
County Down is a beautiful
Mairead Carlin solo. The melody is soothing and rolls gracefully up and down like the hills of the Irish countryside. As mentioned in my writeup of the CD, the turns in this song are really pretty. Mairead's voice is simply enchanting.
Garden of Eden is an incredibly fun
Eabha McMahon solo and it's one that she wrote (prior to joining Celtic Woman in 2015). I couldn't imagine the arrangement being any better than it was. It was absolutely fantastic! This is definitely one of my favourite tracks from both the CD and the DVD.
Faith's Song is a moving solo performed by
Megan Walsh. Megan is accompanied by a choir, dressed in black behind her. Just as she did on the album, Megan shows off her stunning pop voice in this song. She has a strong voice and although she may have been nervous at the castle, that didn't stop her from projecting a lot of confidence when she performed. Listening to her makes me feel confident in other aspects of my life and I think she's the first member of Celtic Woman to ever have that particular effect on me. The album version has really grown on me, but the closeups of her singing her heart out on that stage add soooo much more to the song. This is really well done!
The Parting Glass was a song that did appear in the PBS special. What wasn't shown on the PBS special was something that happened before the song at the castle: a dedication to Dave Kavanagh by the girls. Sweet Mairead got emotional during the dedication. It was one of many treasured "live Castle experience" moments that Mairead provided, but this was the only one of those moments to make it to the DVD. They pulled away to a mid-range shot as she was wiping away a tear, so it wasn't quite as powerful a moment as it was on night 1 at the castle, when I really felt her pouring her heart out on stage. Still, I'm very glad they captured this.
Bonus ContentAs mentioned, this Shop PBS release of the DVD does NOT have bonus content beyond the concert itself.
As far as the content not on the Shop PBS release of the DVD, I am almost 100% certain there is a behind the scenes that will accompany at least the Blu-Ray release in spring. It's possible there will be more bonus content than a "making of" documentary, but I can't promise that.
I'm kind of in a difficult position because of the surprisingly absent extra content on the DVD. I kind of promoted the Shop PBS DVD thinking the bonus content would be on it. I don't think I ever stated it was, but I assumed it was and I'm pretty sure other people did too.
I don't want to tell people to not get the Shop PBS version, but I was forced to make some emergency posts cautioning people that I don't think this is the full set of content that will be available in spring with the general release. People for whom the PBS special will not be airing until January - March might want to get the DVD anyways, in spite of it not having all the content. I think knowing that this DVD does not have the full set of content, most people that aren't planning to get a separate copy in spring anyways would choose to skip this release wait until spring.
I'm not disappointed I got the DVD from PBS since I wanted to be able to show it to people during the Christmas holidays. I really wish it had the behind the scenes on it though.
VisualThat castle looks really pretty all lit up and the fog, in spite of the fact that it muddied a few of the shots, caused some pretty cool light-scattering, added to the mystical feel of the music, and was a benefit overall.
I still think Songs From the Heart holds a slight edge in terms of being visually spectacular: we got to see a lot of the Powerscourt grounds on the SftH DVD and the Wicklow Mountains in the background looking away from the stage. In Ancient Land, the castle looked incredibly beautiful. There's no doubt about that. But the only time you get to see the rest of the beautiful grounds is a brief flyover before they cut to the concert. You don't get to see the other side of the castle at all during the concert itself (most likely you will see more in the spring release on the behind the scenes).
Technical NoteThis has nothing to do with this particular DVD, but I'll only be getting Blu-Ray going forward. I believe most DVDs have 480p video (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), whereas Blu-Ray has 1080p. If you have a Blu-Ray player it does seem to make DVDs look better than if you play them on a regular DVD player. But considering my DVD player is now so bad that it can't make it thorough a single track without skipping repeatedly, it's time for me to finally get Blu-Ray. That's going to be an expensive overhaul (a Blu-Ray player and probably a new speaker system, since the one I have is starting to suck, plus I have to replace all my DVDs with Blu-Ray versions where possible), but it's long overdue and will be well worth it.
OverallAs I mentioned in my previous writeups (on the PBS special and the CD), Ancient Land is the most fun set of Celtic Woman music I've ever heard! The harmony is gorgeous, the arrangements are fantastic and the visuals are breathtaking.
Depending on your specific taste in music, you may enjoy A New Journey even more.
In spite of the pretty significant shock of not having any of the bonus content (aside from the 3 extra songs) on this DVD, this is definitely one of my favourite Celtic Woman DVDs.
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--- SPOILERS ABOVE ---
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