PLANXTY

Wish they were still together, all are so talented. The instrumentals are even better than the songs with words. The group has a genuine love for and understanding of the old songs and have included a little background of each (brief) in the liner notes. You want this CD!

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 ..

Bought this eponymous album many years ago and gave it as a gift recently. Each player is a top Irish musician. They are as versatile as they are excellent and they are at their best here. “The Blacksmith” is hardly to be believed. It is that fabulous.Puck62

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!

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!!

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.

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.

Just as I expected awesome