Loreena McKennitt- The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Ok, any Celtic music lovers out there, Loreena McKennitt is releasing her new album "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" on November 15th (in the US). It seems Ms. McKennitt is returning to her original Celtic roots, as all nine songs are traditional Irish ones. Samples are available on her website, and I must say, they sound amazing. I largely know of McKennitt's music by her more Middle Eastern and Mediterranean themes, but this is a different flavor for her. Taking the lush arrangements from her more recent works and adding the beautiful sound of the uillean pipes, Loreena's music seems different yet good. I am thoroughly looking forward to the release of the album, and I think I may just add it to my very small Christmas list for the year.

Orla Fallon: "Winter, Fire, and Snow"

And, now as I promised recently, I shall give you all a review of Orla Fallon's Christmas/ winter-themed album "Winter, Fire, and Snow".

"What Child Is this?"

This hymn, with its familiar tune of "Greensleeves" is pretty, although the style and arrangement strikes me as something Moya Brennan would do.

"Emanuel"

This traditional hymn starts off acapella with fairly large pauses between stanzas (which becomes annoying and does not have a smooth feeling to it), and then it works into the rest of the band. I am not familiar with these verses, as this version has ones not normally sung. Compared to Enya and Hayley Westenra, this song is nothing memorable.

"Away in a Manger"

Orla sung this on Celtic Woman's Christmas album, and this version sounds almost identical, like what she would have sung with them. I would have preferred a different arrangement.

"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

Orla picks up the pace on this song, but I do not get the feeling of "comfort and joy" in the way she sings it. The piece then transforms into an instrumental version of "We Three Kings" (though I honestly had difficulty telling the two songs apart).

"Silent Night"

This song has been covered in Gaelic so many times it has grown old on me. It sounds almost identical the one Meav sang with Celtic Woman.

"Captain O'Cain"

Orla's harp has returned after spending time in the background on "Distant Shore". It is a pretty song, and the tune is familiar to me, having heard Maggie Sansone perform it. However, I do not know why this song was put on a Christmas/winter album.

"Bells of Christmas"

This song, most likely written by Orla, is pretty and sounds like Moya Brennan mixed with a bit of Loreena McKennit. To me, it is the only Christmas-y song on the album without coming across as sentimental. One of the few highlights of the entire album.

"In the Bleak Midwinter"

There is nothing particularly memorable about this song for me, despite being a pretty arrangement.

"Suantrai"

No, this is not the same one that Meav performs on her album "Celtic Journey"; rather, this is Anuna's version. Unless the song refers to Christ, once again I don't know why it ended up on this CD.

"Carolan's Welcome"

I have heard a couple of versions performed by Aine Minogue and the Chieftains, but the latter is still my absolute favorite. Orla sounds more like Aine here, and I'm still a bit puzzled over why a non-winter/Christmas tune is on here.

"Winter, Fire, and Snow"

This song is a poem converted to song form thanks to Brendan Graham (author of "My Land", "The Voice", and "You Raise Me up") and made popular by Orla's former collaborator Anuna. Even though it a haunting piece, Anuna's still holds my heart.

"Wexford Carol"

This carol sounds, again, identical to Meav/ Celtic Woman's.

I was hoping that this album would be an improvement over Orla's "Distant Shore" (which I thought was too pop-sounding for her style), but I found "Winter, Fire, and Snow" to be sadly worse.

First off is the style. Orla has departed from the pop, but she is now swinging more towards sounding like Moya Brennan. Maybe it is just because she is discovering her unique style, but Orla here sounds like a wannabe doing what other artists have already done and not standing up to them. She should find her own sound and stay there.

Second is the song choice. Besides a few Christmas/winter tunes, the album itself does not have the feel of something to listen to on a winter's day. Songs like "Carolan's Welcome" and "Captain O'Cain" sound more like filler and do not fit into the general scheme of things. And not only that, but the song arrangements are lacking and unimaginative. They sound more like Celtic Woman and less like Orla as a solo artist; and those not inspired by CW sound like Moya Brennan or come across as being passionless and flat, with nothing truly memorable about them.

Third off is Orla's voice itself. I read somewhere that the album was done in a short period of time, and it sounds exactly like that. Even though I have no critical fondness for "Distant Shore", I could still see Orla smiling and putting her heart into what she was singing. Here, I do not get that impression. Everything sounds rushed, as if there was no time to put a little heart and soul into what was performed.

I know Orla can do much, much better than this. She has no lack of talent or personality in singing and playing the harp, but sadly she fell flat on this CD. I was very disappointed to hear this album, and I can only hope that this is not a sign of things to come.

I give this album one and a half out of five stars.

Movie Review: Inception

While I hold off on the new Orla Fallon CD, I've decided instead to do another movie review for Christopher Nolan's "Inception", which I saw earlier this week.

"Inception" is not your typical heist movie commonly seen in theaters today. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, a thief who does his work in a most unusual fashion: breaking into someone's mind while they sleep and stealing their ideas. After a botched job, his victim, played by Ken Watanabe, offers him a deal: if he can cause the break-up of a rival company, he will enable Cobb to return home, as he has been living overseas in exile for an unspecified amount of time. Cobb assembles a team together and prepare to do this very risky job, but his personal demons are not far behind and could put the entire mission in jeopardy.

All in all, the movie was absolutely amazing. The story being centered around how we dream was a fascinating concept and came across as being very original. There was good, solid acting from everyone, and I have no complaints about the characters, even though DiCaprio's character in some ways was reminiscent of his role in "Shutter Island". The special effects were excellent, and they gave the film a surreal, dream-like feel. And, not to mention the ending of the film which will have everyone talking about it for days and make you want to see it again.

I highly recommend this film, and it is truly one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

I give it five out of five stars.

Upcoming CD Review

I am, at the moment, listening to former Celtic Woman Orla Fallon's Christmas/ winter CD "Winter, Fire, and Snow", purchased in MP3 form from Green Hill Music. However, because of her upcoming Christmas show in Nashville and because the CD largely being released the second week of September, I will not be posting a review until around then. Besides, it will give me more time to digest the CD and its content, something I wish I had done when writing a review of her "Distant Shore" last year. So, keep your eyes open for this upcoming review.

Movie Review: Shutter Island

A few weeks ago, on a recommendation from some friends and my own brother, my family rented this thriller from Blockbuster.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD


Edward (also known as "Teddy") Daniels is a US marshal summoned out to Ashecliff, a psychiatric hospital on Shutter Island, to find a missing patient named Rachel Solando there. He and his new partner "Chuck", as they dig deeper into finding the woman, discover that not everything is as it seems and that darker things could be happening at the hospital while, at the same time, Teddy battles the memory of his dead wife Dolores who urges him to find the man who killed her and may be on the island himself.

This movie was an interesting choice for Martin Scorsese, who is more well-known for his gritty films like "The Departed" and "Gangs of New York", but he pulled off this psychological thriller very well. Even though I had partially guessed the twist ending about halfway through the movie, it was still a surprise to me. The ending left no plot holes and fit the story perfectly; in fact, watching it a second time, I picked up more clues that gave it away, so do pay attention to it. I have no general complaints about this film, as it was enjoyable and well-done.

I give it four and a half stars out of five.

Sorry for Being Slow

Well, the title says it all. I've had a couple of ideas of what to post, but none so far have materialized, as I'm in the middle of a creative drought at the moment. I'll try to post something soon.

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

A few weeks ago, 3/5 of my family saw this film for the first time thanks to Blockbuster, as the other 2/5 had already seen it in theaters.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD



Tim Burton, known for his wacky films like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (yes, I know it should be in italics) and "Big Fish", at first seems to be made to bring Lewis Carrol's film to the big screen. Instead of sticking to the original material, Burton creates a new and independent story where the original events occurred before the movie begins. Several years have passed, and Alice has grown up into an independently-minded young woman who hates popular society but does not feel she can get out of an arranged marriage. While at her engagement party, she sees a white rabbit running around and follows it down the hole. The viewer soon learns that Alice has been in Wonderland before as a child but that she has virtually no memory of it, believing it to have been a bad dream. Upon her arrival, Alice discovers that Wonderland is being ruled by the bad-tempered Red Queen, whose pet jabberwocky is wrecking havoc on the kingdom, and that it is only she who can kill the jabberwocky and restore the rightful ruler the White Queen to the throne. Alice denies that she can do this, but she goes on a quest to find the needed sword and help her new friends.

On the one hand, I can understand why Burton wanted to give the story a plot because the original lacks a definitive one, but on the other hand it comes across as silly and unoriginal. While watching the movie, I kept thinking of "Chronicles of Narnia": child goes to other world, discovers is object of prophecy but refuses to believe it, then goes on a journey of self-discovery and ends up fulfilling its destiny then returning home to find that normal life can be conquered after all. This, I thought, was a very modern-fied version of Carrol's classic story and did not flow smoothly with it. Not only that, but several elements such as the White Queen and the jabberwocky were not even from the original story but were from other works of Carrol's, and so they really did not fit into the general scheme of things. The characters were not well-done either. Far from being the curious child, Alice has turned into an independent woman, the stereotypical girl not sure what to do who later decides to do things her own way. The rest of the characters are nothing really memorable, and even Johnny Depp's performance as the Mad Hatter wasn't as good as his other roles such as Captain Jack Sparrow or Willy Wonka; plus, the whole implied relationship between Alice and the Hatter was a bit weird.

The movie wasn't that bad, but it wasn't great either. It was worth it for one watch but not to see over and over again.

I give it two out of five stars.