A Magical Gathering: The Clannad Anthology

~ Clannad has created a unique mix of traditional Gaelic sng, contemporary folk,jazz,rock forms. This double album takes the listener through a guided tour of their studio albums to date and some live material. While cross licensing allows for a complete overview of their career this package is a finely honed reminder of what Clannad has achieved in their 30 plus years together. The whole gamut is there from traditional Gaelic balads to contemporray arrangemnts of traditional songs and their own material which veers into moody film score soundtracks and a synthesis of Celtic/Pop/Rock in tracks like Seanachas and Chroi Croga. As an introduction to Clannad's music this cant be beaten nor can it be faulted on its wide angled view of their musical development.

Having just discovered Clannad, this set was an absolutely fantastic find for me. It's got a great mix of modern and more traditional sounds. If you already own several Clannad CDs, you might find that this mix contains a lot of songs you already have, but if you're just discovering Clannad and Irish music, than this is a GREAT place to start.

This is the first Clannad album I bought, so the complaints of some of the other reviewers (that it had too much material already available elsewhere) didn't really bother me.

When I like Clannad, I really like Clannad. When I don't like them, I really don't like them. On this package, I really liked about three quarters of the music and really did not like the other quarter.

The stuff they've done with traditional Celtic and Gaelic music is great. I could listen to songs like the Theme From "Harry's Game", Nil Se Ina La, Caislean Oir and The Poison Glen a thousand times and still enjoy each one.

However, the new age-y 80s and 90s stuff like Sirius seems horribly dated.

That aside, if you don't have any Clannad albums and you like some of their stuff, this might be a good place to start.

If you like Celtic music, you know that Clannad is one of the best groups ever. These discs combine a bit of every album across the band's history. Not perfect, but a great intro. Be prepared to buy the individual albums.

I want to make it known that I adore Clannad with all my heart. I have been a fan since my fiance first introduced me to Banba several years ago. Since Banba, I have made it my mission to collect whatever Clannad full-length release I could find. I own only 2 compliation CDs by Clannad, the remaining CDs are non-compilation releases ranging from "Clannad 2" to "Landmarks."

This anthology was released by Rhino. I am very disappointed in Rhino. This anthology has nothing to appeal to a longtime fan of Clannad. The anthology is made up of familiar tunes ranging from Clannad's early stuff to the last release "Landmarks."

Rhino is known for being able to find rare gems and golden nuggets. Is Rhino starting to push quantity over quality?

If they couldn't find a nugget (which believe me, would be hard to find since Clannad have been releasing material since the later 70s), they could have included live performances from the band when played at Leo's for the PastPresent Video. How about a live performance from the BAFTA awards? Something from their very first tour of Germany, or from appearances on Top of the Pops?

My hope is Clannad will release a new album soon to make up for the unappeal this anthology has for the longtime fans of Clannad. What a pity! I think I am going to go spend my money on that debut from Dirty Vegas.