Live At Vicar Street (With Donal Lunny & Declan Sinott) - Christy Moore

Advantages: A living legend
Disadvantages: He's retired now

...Since this is the first review of Christy's work I will concentrate not entirely on traveller, but on the man himself. For many many years now I have been a huge fan of Christy Moore. Other artists have come and gone but Christy has stood the test of time and still remains my all-time favourite. The esteem with which Christy is held in Ireland and by the Irish community worldide is astonishing. Wherever his name pops up it is invariably accompanied by the words 'the great'. This description really does sum Christy up, no one else in Irish Folk circles can even come close. In the late 1960's the interest in Folk music was almost non-existent in Ireland. Christy Moore, almost single-handedly reversed this and started the trend that has seen the Irish Folk scene emerge as one of the most popular genres throughout the world. Christy has... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: moving,different,good for pub sing alongs
Disadvantages: not for people already feeling depressed

...I love this album.I love it so much I used to make my Thai lodger listen to it after our weekly bonding pub sessions.She didn't get it! I first heard the title song "Ride On" 18 years in our local music playing pub and have sang this and other songs so often using my guitar and my Christy Moore song book that the book's fallen apart! Background Christy was born 1945 in County Kildare (Eire) and was one of the founding members of "Planxty "-an Irish folk band who shared the stage with Donovan in County Galway in the 1970's.He eventually left to set up another band "Moving Hearts" and then went solo.He has an interest in songs which are involved in social or political commentary.I've seen him live twice at the Hexagon in Reading and it was fantastic.I had to drag my husband-ageing grumpy biker-kicking and screaming the first time... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Some really poignant songs
Disadvantages: None really

...Christy Moore - Ride On. 1984. I have long been a fan of Irish music, and a fan of protest songs, from John Lennon to The Clash, so it is fair to say that I have a fair collection of Irish protest music, some of which has a distinctly anti-British feel. Before anyone slates me for writing a review of well known IRA sympathisers' songs, many of which are very supportive of the IRA cause, let me say this. Like it or not, there has been a conflict between the British and Irish for hundreds of years, and the troubles of the 70's and 80's were not new. It was inevitable that songs would be written, and inevitable that whoever wrote them would have a subjective slant. This album is not just about the IRA by the way, it also chronicles other 'struggles' such as the Spanish Civil War and the El Salvador conflicts. Moore himself... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful