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loreenamckennitt thejourneysofar
Artist: Loreena McKennitt
Title: The Journey So Far - The Best of Loreena McKennitt
Genre: Ethnic / Celtic / World
Release Date: 7th March 2014
Label: Quinlan Road


Album Review

LOREENA MCKENNITT was born in Morden near Manitoba, Canada. In 1981 she moved to Stratford, Ontario and in 1985 she founded her own record label Quinlan Road. She is her own manager, produces her music by herself and manages her own internationally successful record label Quinlan Road. Her career already spans three decades. During that period of time she has achieved numerous prizes worldwide and received gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards in more than fifteen countries on four continents. Besides her seven studio albums she released six live recordings, three seasonal recordings, three compilations and three DVDs.

With her upcoming album, 'The Journey So Far - The Best of Loreena McKennitt', which will be released on March 7th 2014 in Germany, she celebrates her 30th anniversary and presents her musical career of the previous three decades in retrospective. This unique career is reflected in her work of Celtic music combined with world and folk music influences. The two disc album includes a selection of the most popular songs, hand-picked by Loreena herself for her fans, as well as 'A Midsummer Night´s Tour' featuring nine live tracks recorded on the 2012 summer tour.

LOREENA MCKENNITT takes us on a journey through expansive sound landscapes. Her music characterized by traditional as well as Celtic and Eastern influences reminds of ages long past, pulling the listener into an ancient, medieval mood. It is easy to sink into the music, not only because of the instrumental improvisation parts within the songs. Her soft, though present and strong voice fits the music and the harmonies well. Those who already know LOREENA MCKENNITTs albums are probably quite familiar with her music and will likely recognize the most popular songs. Only a few tracks are in my opinion not that well-chosen, for example 'Down by the Sally Gardens', as well as 'The Star Of The County Down' and 'As I Roved Out' on disc two.

The melody structure in most of the songs is characterized by lots of repetitions which is typical in folk songs. Simple, memorisable melodies make it easy to connect to the music and to sing along. The song order is well-balanced, meaning that slower ballads succeed faster progressive tracks. There are songs which start out slowly, with sometimes only one instrument at the beginning which is nevertheless describing the basic melody of the whole song, further on more instruments are introduced developing the melody until a musical climax is reached and the full beauty of the harmonies is revealed. Toward the end of the song one instrument after the other vanishes and the song ends as it had begun.

To a certain extent, the slower tracks are prone to become monotonous and shallow because they don´t really undergo a development in their the musical structure. Some songs of the album feature qualities that are not typical for Loreena´s musical style, such as 'The Mummers` Dance', which is a remix of the original version. It leaves a rather strange impression due to its electronic and trance-like style, although e-guitar parts are used in some of her songs, giving the music a more contemporary appeal.

I would consider CD 2 with the live recordings to be better than the studio recordings, especially track two, 'Night Ride Across The Caucasus', which is in my opinion one of the best tracks on the live CD. The piano part at the beginning guides the listener slowly into the song, so that he can become familiar with the harmonies. The piano outro provides for a coherent finish. In summary, with her 'Best Of' album LOREENA MCKENNITT stays true to her musical past and development so far. With her angelic voice and musical depth she is and has always been able to capture her listeners and pull them into another world. The journey she has been on so far will probably, or rather hopefully, not come to an end so quickly.


Tracklist

CD1
01. The Mystic´s Dream
02. Bonny Portmore
03. The Bonny Swans
04. The Mummers` Dance
05. Down By The Sally Gardens
06. Stolen Child
07. The Lady Of Shalott
08. Marco Polo
09. Penelope´s Song
10. Huron 'Beltane' Fire Dance
11. The Old Ways
12. Dante´s Prayer
CD2
01. The Star Of The County Down
02. Night Ride Across The Caucasus
03. The Dark Night Of The Soul
04. Santiago
05. Beneath A Phrygian Sky
06. As I Roved Out
07. All Souls Night
08. Caravanserai
09. Full Circle



Line-up

Vocals, Keys, Harp – Loreena McKennitt
Numerous other musicians on various instruments (violin, viola, cello, bass, percussion, kit drums, hurdy-gurdy, guitars, oud and lyra or kemenche)


Website

www.quinlanroad.com / https://www.facebook.com/loreenamckennitt / http://www.loreenamckennitt.com


Cover Picture

loreenamckennitt thejourneysofar


Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 10
Total: 9 / 10





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