Cut-price Séamus Ennis records

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 7:23 pm

Years ago I picked up a cheap LP of songs and tunes on pipes and whistle by Séamus Ennis.

Strangely, it is titled "Irish Pipe and Tin Whistle Songs" and even more strangely it has a photo on the front of people playing warpipes in what looks like a St Pat's parade.

The label is Olympic records, no. 6129 in "The Atlas Series: Music from Around the World".

Can anyone shed any light on where and by whom this recording was first published, and how it got into the hands of a label that obviously knew very little about it?

But wait - it gets curiouser. Carol Skinner has just alerted me to the existence of this odd CD, which she picked up cut-price, $5.99 I think.

http://www.allegro-music.com/online_cat ... CRG3140140

It turns out that all the tunes on the CD are taken from the LP discussed above, though none of the songs, which are by Lord knows who - definitely not Ennis, as you can hear from the clips. None of the performers are credited.

Is this weird or what? Séamus must be rolling with laughter in his grave.

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:03 pm

Stranger still is Track # 20 - "The Fossy Dew".

Then there's # 23, "A Bench of Rushes"

And # 11 - "Bonty Bay"

Good Lord in Heaven - I hope the actual CD sounds better than on RealPlay -- OUCH! My ears !

tok · Post by **tok** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:12 pm

At least there was no highland piping on the record .

That album was one of my first exposures to uilleann piping . Is that a bad thing ?

Are some of the Ennis tracks taken from other recordings ,, ??? :roll: I think so . :roll:
tok .

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 6:25 am

I don't have it to hand, but there is a more complete history of this album in the Discography at the back of the NPU book, "The Master's Touch". It has been re-issued several times by different labels under different names. Its easy to buy the same album twice unwittingly.

Ennis recorded anywhere he could - the market was pretty limited, I guess. There are lots of re-issues amongst these lesser known labels. Albums get rebought, renamed, and resold under various guises.

Another obscure source for Clancy and Ennis recordings is from the Smithsonian. They bought up most of the albums from the Folkways label when that company folded. The albums are available as CDs. Again, many of these tracks have been rebundled on other collections, so you may already have them.

djm

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 2:30 pm

Pack-rat that I am, I saved my old issues of the Shanachie Newsletter from the 1970s and early 80s, and here in issue number 10 is the following review, by none other than Bill Ochs (spelling errors are mine, I'm typing this quickly):

Irish Pipe and Tin Whistle Songs

This is a repackaging of an old Tradition LP called "The Bonny Bunch of Roses," featuring Seamus Ennis playing the uilleann pipes. When it was first released (about 20 years ago), this was one of the few recordings of uilleann piping available in the U.S., apart from out-of-print 78s. But probably because it was produced for a folk market which had as yet to really "discover" Irish instrumental music, the album features more singing than piping. Seamus Ennis is one of the greatest pipers of all time, but not a particularly memorable singer. The songs on this album do not appeal to me very much.

I enjoy the whistle playing (3 cuts) -- it has a pleasant, warbling quality -- and as for the pipng, there's a tantalizing taste of what Seamus can do. His brilliant renditions of two well-worn jigs, "The Connaughtman's Rambles' and "the Lark in the Morning," and the slow air "An Leanbh Sidhe" rank among my all-time favorite piping tracks. But there are only two selections of dance music on the pipes, and over half the tunes on this album are available on later Ennis recordings. His regulators are also quite out of tune on a few pieces which doesn't help.

I will probably always have a warm spot in my heart for this record, which introduced me to the pipes ten years ago, but seen in the context of what's available now, I can't give it a strong recommendation. If Ennis' piping is your interest, you'll hear a lot more of it on Topic's Wandering Minstrel, Tara's The Pure Drop, or Innisfree's [later Green Linnet] double album, Forty Years of Irish Pipering." -- Bill Ochs

The price of the album at that time (1979)? $3.95.

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 5:14 pm

I have that album that you mention Brad but the one mentioned by Stevie appears to be different??? If anyone buys this can they make a copy for me?

PD.

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Sun Jun 29, 2003 8:11 pm

Mystery solved. Thanks for the info., djm, and Brad - you pack-rat you. (Shanachie newsletters from the 70s? What the hell else have you got? Don't ask me to help you move, hehe!)

I think Ennis' singing is just fine, myself. There's altogether too much piping on his other records. * ducks and runs *

"A Little Bench of Rushes" (as it is listed on the LP sleeve) may not be a misprint. A "bench" seems to be an old word for a shelf-like formation in geology and is probably used quite correctly in this instance. I can't imagine anyone in Ireland picking a "bunch" of rushes.

Patrick, the LP I was talking about is the same as the one Bill Ochs reviewed. As for the CD to which I provided a link, so far as I can tell from the listing and my correspondence with Carol (who has it), it contains all the tunes from that LP, minus all Ennis' songs from the LP, plus a bunch [sic] of songs from who knows where.

Cheers
Steve

tok · Post by **tok** » Sun Jun 29, 2003 8:42 pm

One hell of a post there steve . Now mabey we can all rest on the benches .

,,, the bunches , , lol

tok .

.