Search - Dolores Keane :: There Was a Maid

Myra S. (ignolopi) from SALT LAKE CTY, UT
Reviewed on 9/23/2010...

I first encountered Dolores Keane in a Woman's Heart CD, with her song Solid Ground (which I love). I also have the CD 'Dolores Keene', which is quite enjoyable. I was rather disappointed when I got this CD of hers... I'll try for some of her later work.

It's not bad, ordinary Irish folk with few instruments, a couple instrumental jig tracks, a couple a cappella pieces. Her voice is still lovely, but the style of the songs isn't that interesting. Her gypsy song, Seven Yellow Gypsies, was kind of fun, but I prefer the versions done by Custer LaRue, the Chieftains (w/ Nickel Creek), and Steeleye Span.

For simple traditional Irish folk, it's not a bad choice, but I would recommend instead something like The Clancy Brothers, Andy M. Stewart, or Custer LaRue.

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Early works by an Irish master musician

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 09/01/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"She looks so stern on the album's cover, yet the music is so lovely! Emerging in the late 1970s from her native Galway, Keane swiftly established herself as one of Ireland's best interpreters of traditional song, with a lovely voice that retains a hint of historical menace. These early recordings, with sympathetic but somewhat minimal backup instrumental accompaniment, aren't quite as incandescent as her 1981 album, "Broken Hearted I'll Wander" or "Sail Og Rua", from 1984... Still, it's pretty lovely stuff. The CD liner notes don't list the artists in the Reel Union band; John Faulkner wrote the liner notes, but I'm not sure if he also played on the album. At any rate, this is certainly worth picking up, particularly if you are already one of Keane's many fans."