Green Linnet 20th Anniversary Collection

The compilation opens with "The Rainy Day/First You Must Learn The Grip", a monologue and short piece by Seamus Ennis, whose pipe-playing was one of the first offerings by the label. Highlights of the first disc include De'anta's "Culloden's Harvest", a harrowing song about a decisive Scottish battle, Relativity's lesser-known "There Was A Lady", and Patrick Street's cover of PCO's "Music For a Found Harmonium." I was pleasantly surprised by the Milladoiro tune "A Farruqina", which shows that the music of Galicia is just as infectious as anything from the British isles. Fusion between Irish and world music is shows nicely in Eileen Iver's "On Horseback."

The second disc is, I feel, the strongest. "The Wishing Tree," Seamus McGuire's incredible piece based on the poem by 1995 Nobel laureate Seamus Heany, is one of the most touching pieces of music Green Linnet has released. Wolfstone's "Ballavanich" is one of the most powerful pieces by this "Celtic rock" band, featuring screaming bagpipes among electric guitars in a way suprisingly faithful to tradition. The British folk singer June Tabor contributes "No Man's Land/Flowers Of The Forest", a slow and moving rumination on the savagery of World War I. "Pharoah", a tune by the master songwriter Richard Thompson, is featured here covered by The House Band, who transform the original into a very distinctive form. There are two songs on the second disc, however, which alone make the collection worth getting. The first is Touchstone's "Bolen's Fancy/The Dunmore Lasses/The Maid Behind the Bar/The Glass of Beer." Touchstone, featuring Triona Ni Domhnaill who subsequently joined Relativity and Nightnoise, was a fresh combination of Irish music with traditional music of Appalachia, and deserved much more attention than it received at the time. The album's closer is the other brilliant second, "A Jig and Five Reels" by The Bothy Band (another Triona Ni Domhnaill band), which was the first great group on Green Linnet and the inspiration for many of its artists to come.

The TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION also includes a thick booklet giving the background of each song and brief anecdotes by label founder Wendy Newton about each artist.

Green Linnet has suffered in recent years, with a great deal of its artists becoming discontented with its management and moving elsewhere, but the first twenty years was full of fantastic music. Green Linnet introduced authentic traditional music to a common American audience, when before there were only pop hybrids like Enya and Clannad, and it also showed the world that some American musicians such as Eileen Ivers were capable of taking on traditional music. The TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is the best Green Linnet compilation and worth getting for anyone looking for new horizons in traditional music of the British Isles and elsewhere.


A great retrospective!   May 25, 2003
Brianna Neal (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Beginning with a track from the very first Green Linnet release (a spoken introduction by Seamus Ennis from a cassette called "Forty Years of Irish Piping"), this 2-disc set follows Green Linnet artists old and new through 20 years of fine music production. From lively and spirited to sweet and sad, the selections range from old-time traditional to contemporary "plugged-in" fare, and it's nice to have that variety. The liner notes are a nice touch, providing reminiscences of the Green Linnet producers about their work with each artist. The list of contributing musicians reads like a "Who's Who in Celtic Music": Seamus Ennis, Kevin Burke, Micheal O Domhnaill, Kornog, Capercaillie, Altan, Joe Derrane, Carl Hession, Deanta, Milladoiro, Eileen Ivers, Moving Cloud, Matt Molloy, Sean Keane, Silly Wizard, the Tannahill Weavers, Trian, Tim Lyons, Jerry O'Sullivan, The Irish Tradition, Patrick Street, Relativity, Kevin Burke, Johnny Cunningham, Christian Lemaitre, Martin Hayes, Cherish the Ladies, Seamus McGuire, Wolfstone, Reeltime, Mick Moloney, Jimmy Keane, Robbie O'Connell, Liz Carroll, John Williams, Paddy O'Brien, Seamus Connolly, Joe Ryan, Eddie Clarke, Touchstone, June Tabor, the House Band, James Keane, Eugene O'Donnell, Billy McComiskey, Dick Gaughan, Joe Burke, Charlie Lemon and the Bothy Band. A great value at 2 CDs for the price of one! ...


Toe-tapping, infectious and just plain fun!   December 4, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

When I bought this a few years ago, I was unfamiliar with most of the artists but love Celtic traditional music so took a chance. What a great decision! If I had to cull my CD collection to only my favorite 10, this would be #1 (ok, maybe my Star Wars CDs would take 1st place, but this would be next in line).


Green Linnett: The Twentieth Is One Of The Best   February 24, 2001
Catherine Wallace (Washington, DC area)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a great Celtic CD. Very well produced music, out of the ordinary, guaranteed to catch your ear and steal your heart. If you enjoy Celtic music, or would like to experience some of the better samplings of this fine style of music, I most heartily recommend adding this CD to your collection. I will play it over and over again, and it won't be one which gathers dust. A good addition for any serious Celtic music fan! Definitely not ordinary...and some of the best examples of the Celts finest musical offerings

~Catherine Wallace, Celtic Music Review