Come West Along the Road: Irish Traditional Music - Treasures from RTE TV Archives, 1960's - 1980's

This DVD is an amazing collection of gems of traditional Irish music. Hardcore traditionalists (myself included) will almost drool over some of the selections herein. For fans of more progressive Irish music, I can't recommend this highly enough, if only as a frame of reference as to where the younger musicians are coming from. For anyone wishing to play (or sing) Irish music, this should be required viewing!Bain sult as an DVD seo!

If you are fanatical about real Irish traditional music and have Irish roots, this is a must have DVD. This is to say, if this is not your genre, if you are looking for more modern Irish or Celtic Music, if you have no roots connection with Irish traditional music, you may find this DVD a mismatch for your interests.If you are a fanatic, Failte (welcome)! This is as deep Irish as you can go. This DVD is a very large number of RTE television music broadcasts covering 30 years. Its highlights for this fanatic starts with seeing old black and white footage of pub groups playing and dancing to reels and jigs (imperfections but tons of heart), a young unknown boy in a pub singing in a perfect beautiful voice (whatever happened to him?), Tommy Peoples playing "naked fiddle" (solo) to absolute perfection, seeing the old Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny combination of Bouzouki and Octave Mandolin through several tracks with the Bothy Band and Planxty, Seeing a young Matt Molloy in his prime playing fast and fluid flute, seeing an old man doing a lively step dance marathon with a pleasant smile on his face to Wren Boys - St Stephens Day celebration music, seeing an excellent reel played by the old De Danann group, hearing Tommy Makem singing Farewell to Ireland, and Stockton's Wing playing a fast and furious reel with Tommy Hayes setting the pace on bones and bodhran (Irish Drum). Within 48 tracks, you are going to find at least a dozen memorable archival gems that are going to make this purchase well worthwhile. Some of our history is comprised of fond memories that are too precious not to be saved forever.

Much of it very good, some so-so, some not so good. You can really travel back in time to an Ireland not the same as it is today. Raw stuff, but if you love Irish music, you'll enjoy it. Worth the $10 or so I paid for it.

Whether you are just past the point of figuring out that you really do like Irish trad musicor if you are someone like myself who has devoured tunes, concerts, books, videos and everything Irish for most of your life, then buy this DVD. This DVD is a great antidote to the treacly tidbits offered by the likes of Celtic Women and Celtic Thunder. It offers a wide range of styles, musicians and eras from the most trad to the ceili band to the rock influenced. Upon repeated listenings, there will be some you want to skip, but many more you will want to play over and over. I attended a Fleadh Ceoil (All-Ireland music festival)way back in the 1970's and some of the cuts make me nostalgic for the straight-ahead, but brilliant sounds I heard at that time. You can't go wrong with this DVD!

This is Irish traditional music presented on Irish television over the years. Some of it is very very good. Some of it is awful. The presentation is uniformly awful. I had to fight myself to give three stars. If it were not for all my old friends on here I would not have wanted it. But then they are worth watching and not just because they are my old friends.

What an absolute treasure this is; for anybody with even a passing interest in traditional Irish music, this compilation is both entertaining and enlightening. Many of the featured musicians are now credited with having been (pardon me) instrumental in keeping traditional Irish music alive ... Paddy Keenan, Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, etc. Their talent and skill are extraordinary and they have since achieved well-deserved celebrity. And it was a delight to see them perform in their early days. The footage of perhaps lesser known musicians and dancers, though, represents an absorbing peek into the past, nostalgic for those fortunate enough to have grown up in such a time and place and culture, and a vicarious pleasure for the rest of us. Not only have I watched it numerous times, I have lent it to friends who have kept it for weeks only to return it reluctantly. Pure transport.

I've seen most of the episodes of Come West Along the Road on telly back home, so there wasn't a lot new here for me - still nice to have it all on a DVD though. For my tastes it's a wee bit heavy on songs, seems like there's a tune, and then a song, a tune and then a song etc etc. I suppose if you prefer songs you'll think it's a bit top heavy with tunes! Fun spotting the younger versions of well known musicians (a very young Martin Hayes with short hair, or Kieran Hanrahan with Stockton's Wing). With all the wealth of material RTE has in their archives, it'd be nice if they put out a lot more of these, maybe with themes, such as "songs", "Sliabh Luachra", fleadh cheoil na heireann", etc, etc. Just a thought...

Others have given five gold stars to this DVD - I would like to add my own. This is an opportunity to open a window and view traditional Irish music and dancing as it was done by groups of people and individuals who dance for the pure enjoyment of it. It is not done by professionals, but by ordinary, every day citizens of "Erin's Green Isle". My hat is off to the Irish public television station who went out and recorded this bit of Irish life. I highly reconmmend this DVD - my guess is you will not be able to resist getting out of your easy chair and dancing along with the Irish folk.

This is a much more rounded and thorough compilation than the previous rather uninspired release on vhs and comes with an introduction by the excellent and very knowledgeable Nicholas Carolan the director of Irelands "Archive of traditional Irish music" in Dublin and the host of this definitive and long running series regularly broadcast on Irelands main television channel RTE "Radio Telefis Eireann" who has chosen well a superb selection of recordings from the extensive traditional music archives of RTE ranging from instrumentals to folk song. The DVD excellently conveys the essence of this very fine television programme and will please all who love Irish traditional music in its scope. I very much hope that there will be more releases of this series on dvd it is a collection of recordings that no true enthusiast of Irish music should be without.Musicologicaly YoursJim ClarkRe-animator of great poets and literary figures at the poetryreincarnations youtube channel

There are some wonderful pieces of footage in this DVD. Some wonderful moments in the history of Irish music. Also, while I'm not a fan of Seanchaí, it was wonderful to see the old footage of the singing As Gaelgie. If you are looking for a concise musical history of the last 50 years in traditional music then this may very well be the DVD for you. Includes Ceili/Set Dancing, Ceili Bands, contemporary trad, a few old men banging out tunes and kids wishing they were somewhere else rather than at the Fleadh Ceoil.