My younger brother sent me not one, but two "Celtic Thunder" CDs for Christmas last year because he thought I would like "more Celtic stuff." I forced myself to listen all the way through...but only ONCE, and never again. It was excruciatingly awful popified nonsense with only the thinnest "Riverdance" Celtic veneer. The all-male review, like most productions of this sort, erred heavily on the side of tenors yet showcased none of the traditional singing that offers such voices the chance to shimmer with eerie beauty and grace. Instead the heavily-produced, slickly-packaged show came off like a Vegas act.

I, like Allan, wished for more thumbs, and for the same reasons.