Planxty

I thought I had heard about the best of them when it come to Irish / Celtic / Folk / Traditional music. Not so, as I had never heard Planxty. A cousin of mine introduced me to them by loaning me his album .. Planxty-Planxty. Right away I was amazed and hooked. My favorite Planxty - Planxty song is "Follow Me Up To Carlow." Although all of them are very good. As a matter of fact, I think all of the albums / CDs by this group are excellent. I know because I am a very happy owner of them all. :) I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I think it would be Planxty, After The Break and Well below The Valley. In that order. You can't go wrong with any of them. It all started when they got together and did the album - Christy Moore / Prosperous. Christy Moore & Donal Lunny Played Guitars. Lunny also played Bouzouki, bottle neck bouzouki. Liam Og O'Flynn plays Uilleann pipes and Whistle. Andy Irving plays Mandolin and Mouth organ. Olive Collins .. Fiddle. Dave Bland Plays Concertina. Kevin Conneff plays bodhran on one song as he arrived late into the recording session, otherwise, he would have been on them all.Hope this helps ..

Simply the best Irish music record I've ever heard, mixing traditional reels and tunes with latter-day folk revival compositions. A great companion whether you are celebrating with friends, drinking alone, or washing the dishes. From the rousing (Raggle Taggle Gypsy, Jolly Beggar, Arthur McBride, Carlow) to the touching (West Coast of Claire, Only Our Rivers Run Free), this album delivers everything you might desire with crystal clear production highlighting the extraordinary musicianship of all involved. Everything about this record screams passion, expertise, and authenticity. It is that good. I gladly defy anyone to name me a better record of Irish music, and if you can, God bless, please do! An absolute classic.

Until I discovered Planxty I thought the Chieftains are the best. Now I am not so sure anymore. Seems like Planxty restarted the Irish Folk movement and brought it in the 20th century. And in the 21th, as they are touring again, according to Christy Moores website. I came to Planxty after listening to Christy Moores music for many years. He is still the artist which moved me the most just being alone on the stage at an solo concert in Erlangen, Germany in the 1990s. I went there with a female friend I wanted to date, but almost forgot about her with the power of his voice.Here at Planxty he music and vocals are the best. You got to get it. And they have to go on a World Tour. NOW!

Thirty-nine years too late, I discover Planxty! Planxty was one of the first Irish music supergroups. The Chieftains came along in 1962, Planxty in 1972 (first recorded in 1973). Then came the Bothy Boys in 1974, Kila in 1987, Solas and the Peat Bog Faeries in 1994, Flook in 1995, Lunasa in 1996, and Sharon Shannon and the Woodchoppers I don't know when, and in Scotland, such bands as Shooglenifty (ca. 1990), the Wicked Tinkers (1995) and Bad Haggis (1998 on).The original band heard on this record consisted of Christy Moore (vocals, guitar, bodhran), Donal Lunny (bouzouki and guitars), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, and harmonica) and Liam O'Flynn (uillean pipes and tin whistle). Flutes and keyboards were added to the group at times but vocal, guitar and other like strings, uillean pipes (a small bagpipe), tin whistle and bodhran (la cross between a tambourine and a bongo drum) form the signature sound of the group. Christy Moore has won fame as a solo artist. (One of his signature songs, not performed with Planxty, is "Ride On."), He is the better of the two vocalists in Planxty but both are good. Moore sings "Raggle Taggle Gypsy" on this recording. The instruments, both in ensemble and solo, are exceptional.A fact of no significance at all but amusing nonetheless: James Joyce used the word "planxty" in Finnegans Wake (1939): "Poof! There's puff for ye, begor, and planxty of it, all abound me breadth!"Planxty broke up in 1975 but has reformed several times, most recently in 2004-5 for reunion shows and a DVD and music CD.I like the way much of contemporary Irish small group music mediates between the traditional forms and the virtuosity of its performers. Among groups I've listened to, Planxty rates high, in part because any group with Christy Moore in it is bound to be good. I miss the twinned flute/pipes sound of Lunasa and Flook, the wild at times modernistic energy of Kila, and the sheer abandonment of the best of Sharon Shannon's work with other Irish musicians, but this is good stuff. I find that I especially enjoy listening to music like this when I'm driving in the car. I have no distractions, I can fall into the groove of the music, and the interplay among instruments jumps out at me.

Oh my goodness...where do I start?!? I am usually a rock/bluegrass fan...I LOVE LOVE LOVE this CD!. My fave of 4 Irish music cds I own...it would accompany me on that desert island trip I use as my personal criteria for what's worth having! My 3 yo grandson requests it in the car, I pinned 'Raggle Taggle Gypsy' and had a friend immediately message me and ask where I even heard of this band! In short, everyone who heard it loves it!!

This is a very good CD for the Irish music purist. Planxty is the real deal. This group has been around for a long time and it's evident in their playing and authentic pub-like sound. I loved Ireland and this takes me back when I listen to it.

A fabulous treatment of traditional Irish music - true to the traditional spirit, yet full of energy. I bought it when it first came out on vinyl in the early 70's and I've listened to it thousands of times over the years, without ever tiring of it. This is simply the best Irish "folk" album you will ever buy!

Planxty, one of the best Irish Folk Bands in history!! What more is there to Say???

The 'Black' album, I first bought this speculatively back in 1981 as a vinyl disc and instantly fell in love with it. Consequently this album has become one of the defining records of my life and is right up there on my personal Desert Island Discs list! If you like folk/trad music you will be blown away by this record. Superb musicianship, a wonderful mix of trad and their own compositions. It even propelled me on a journey when, as a young teenager sat in my bedroom in southern England I listened over and over again to 'The West Coast of Clare' so in my twenties I upped and went to the West Coast of Clare where I walked to Spanish Point and sat in a pub in Miltown Malbay (I didn't find her either Andy!). And whilst I'm name dropping, I once met Christy Moore in an airport and he is the nicest guy you could ever wish to meet! Go buy it!

The first official Planxty album, also known as the 'Black Album', is one of my favourite albums in any genre, combining superb, heartfelt vocals and passionate, spirited and highly skilled musicianship. It is also encompasses a whole gamut of emotions, from rending pathos, to jaunty pleasure and defiance. Strongly recommended for anybody who just loves bloomin' good music. Top notch.

The so-called "black album" by Planxty was a revelation to Irish youth when it was first released and helped make Traditional and Folk "cool". Like the "white album" it features four exceptionally talented and distinctive artists. Unlike the Fab Four only two are lead vocalists but Donal Lunny is an exceptional harmony singer and Liam's piping is a voice in itself. This is not Planxty's Greatest Hits but it is their greatest album and should never be split or played out of order. Like a good Irish Session, it moves from song to tune and back again so that even the casual listener is never allowed to be bored. There are slow airs and ballads and rabble-rousing anthems and it features self-penned numbers by Andy Irvine and a contemporary anthem "only our rivers" which sound as if they have been part of the folk canon for ever. Vocalist Christy Moore has rarely sounded better and is not yet sounding like a parody of himself. If you want to introduce a "foreigner" to Irish acoustic music, which in fact was my brief for purchasing, I do not believe there is a single album available which is better qualified. A timeless classic.

The product is as described and is fit for purpose.

I really liked this album, its dated but still great