For those who are fans of this great Irish group this is a combination of tracks from their second and third releases titled "Clannad 2" & "Dulaman". Great traditional Irish ballads as well as original songs by this Group. If you do not own either of these CD's and are fans of this group, a must for your collection. For those of us who have collected their works, unless you want duplicate pressings, unfortunately skip this one.

this is a well rounded album, even if it is a contiplation. I like all of the tracks and if you've only heard the newest Clannad albums if sounds different because of its "folky" feel, which I like. there is a problem if you have the first two albums from Clannad (a few others have these tracks but mostly those two), this is a contiplation of those two and have most of the tracks that were on those two so this is one you'll probally have to ignore.

This is a great CD in case if you still haven't managed to get the earliest albums by Clannad like Clannad 2 or Fuaim. Whenever you get the feeling that Clannad got too deep into pop, mainstream and commercialism, An Diolaim is surely the best way to flee to those olden times both of Irish music and Clannad. There is also the old recording of An Choinleach Glas an Fhomhair, later re-recorded and re-issued on Magical Rings. Quite haunting are harp-instrumentals like Fair Shot of Her and Eleanor Plunkett, but most of all I'd emphasize really beautiful Chuaigh me na Rossan, where the group, pace by pace - which is evident in adding the electric organ - treads toward what was later on to be one of the most interesting, most haunting and most inovative sounds in the history of contemporary music. Still, while listening to this CD, it is hard not to think: My... Who could have said...

These are songs from Clannad's earlier period, before they began to emulate ex-band member Enya's sound and cater to the rather bland tastes of the `world music' crowd. "An Diolaim" covers the band's recordings during an early period of their development (i.e. the early to mid 1970s), when they more consistently employed traditional sounds and instruments (although the influence of contemporary sounds can definitely be heard). There is a strong selection of songs with both Gaelic and English lyrics - and it is basically a collection of Celtic-inspired songs largely released before Celtic became trendy (at least outside of Clannad's native Ireland). Particularly strong tracks are the melancholy instrumental pieces "Eleanor Plunkett" and "Cumha Eoghain Rua Ui Neill" and the very folky "Two Sisters" and "The Gaelic Hunt." Also interesting is the not unpleasant blend of Celtic flutes, accoustic guitar and acidy electric-guitar riffs in "Dheanainn Sugradh." For the most part, this is a really great collection of contemporary Celtic.