Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan

Subject: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Murph10566
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 10:46 AM

A totally unsolicited observation, this:

Re: 'Nil sasta ach amadain'(sic)

Although I've only had the opportunity to listen to this exceptional CD a couple of times (so far), I'm so impressed with the quality of content...

Particularly nice blend of lyric and instrumental... Sincere congrats to all contributing musicians and especially to InOBU... Great Stuff altogether !

Regards, Murph

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Frug
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 02:56 PM

Yeh well done Larry.......a great offering.

Frank

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 05:25 PM

I received my copy as well. Mind you, I'm a bum for not writing to Lorcan and saying thanks and I apologise for that.

I like Track 4 a lot. I may just be dense, but this song seems to be in between Yvette's Song and Dick Turpin, but isn't in the notes.

What is the last reel after Yvette's Song? It seems to combine elements of Cooleys and Lads of Laois. The fiddle playing is wonderful. (Of course, I would focus on the fiddling!)

Thanks Larry - a very enjoyable CD!

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 08:42 PM

I goy mine todat, it is billiant.thanks Larry.john

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: khandu
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 10:21 PM

Yes, I am quite impressed and very thankful to InOBU for the copy. Sorcha Dorcha should be featured on "Thistle and Shamrock". Excellent work!

khandu

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: InOBU
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 03:12 PM

There are a few reviews in the Contest post, so to get it sorted out... so it is easier to tell the pre-CD winners from the Post CD winners, I thought I would move this up to the top for a while... thanks again all... Larry

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Rolfyboy6
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 08:22 PM

My copy just came in the mail and I'm listening to it now and I'm knocked out by it. And I'm knocked out by the great lyric content, as well as the magnificent playing. Thanks so much. Real generosity.

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: van lingle
Date: 04 Mar 02 - 09:02 PM

got back home yesterday to find mine waiting and liked it so well i immediately started concocting reasons why i don't want the follow-up sork dork cd *g*. thanks, larry. it's all so good and "amadou diallo" got to me in particular. more later when i'm 2- handed. dave

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: swirlygirl
Date: 05 Mar 02 - 11:32 AM

Only got mine in the post this morning so will listen to it when I get home from work...

Sure it'll be fab...

Any band with a name like Sorcha Dorcha would have to be...

:)

xx

P.S. Yid Vicous is my novelty band name of the moments after discovering them the other day...

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: InOBU
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 06:32 AM

Jeeze! I have been sitting here by the computer for DAYS waiting for Swirlygirl to get home from work! PHONE HOME! Cheers, Larry

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 07:25 AM

What do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Okay, let's hear the good news first. The Sorcha Dorcha CD is just plain magnificent. It's so good to hear a band doing mostly mostly Irish music who understand that the world neither began at the Battle of the Boyne nor ended when Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon lay dying outside the Brookeborough RUC barracks. Yes, you will hear songs about North American Indians in Quebec, Gypsies in Europe, an African immigrant in New York, Quakers during the American Revolution and during the Underground Railroad, and, as you probably know already, the 9/11 attacks. You will even hear a couple of ENGLISH songs. Of course, one is about a notorious horse thief and the other is about a lunatic in an asylum, but they are English nonetheless. Also, Lorcan Otway (InOBU) likes to tell us he's a Quaker, but I suspect he's a Freethinker, in the tradition of the many great Irish Freethinkers like Tone, Emmett, Connolly, to name just three. Well, if he's not a Freethinker, at least Lorcan is someone who slams both the Roman Church and the Protestants equally in song, those songs being The New Saint and The Riddle of the Rum, respectively.

Now the bad news. The Sorcha Dorcha on the CD is no more. Lorcan tells us there is now a new and improved Sorcha Dorcha up and about. Maybe so, but I'll believe it when I hear it. Meanwhile, go and get one of these CDs with the original cast of Sorcha Dorcha characters. You'll love it!

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: InOBU
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 10:57 AM

Well... yes and no... in two and a half years, for a variety of reasons, maybe even three years, have to count up... we have gone through some 22 members, and the sound has been fairly consistant, if not more refined and better, not to say we have not allways had lots of fine folks backing us. Well, life in New York is hard, and it is hard for folks to make a commitment to succeed in a struggling band, and well, for some, in the US (not all in the bands past but some) commitment to anything but self is well, hard to say the least. BUT You folks are going to love the new members, Bob Green, of the McCourt Bros. play "The Irish and How they got that way..." and Leah "the latest gamin" Wells of the Dixie Trixies (I know I know, don't say it...) WELL, the band is very much the band folks heard last month in North Carolina. As good as Mazz was, and she was good, Bob has a great deal more background in Irish music. (By the way, for Mazz fans, she went off on her own to become rich and famouse, I didn't fire her... and we miss her!) SO, expect great stuff to come down the pike. At our next concert to be anounced in another post, we are also including two of Leah's songs, "I can make you laugh" and "Everybody plays guitar". Cheers all and thanks, Larry

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:33 PM

I'm listening to it (again) right now -- but this is the first time I've been able to stay in the vicinity of the CD player to hear it all! (Not the CDs fault! I've been forced to be fairly peripatetic lately but the CD player is sedentary.)

Lovely! Good choices of traditional tunes to pair with new words. And very interesting material.

I'm enjoying it a lot, and so is Curmudgeon!

Thank you, thank you!

Linn

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: Murph10566
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:48 PM

Hi again -

This is not meant to be a convoluted creeper, but:

We were fortunate last year to be able to bring the original cast of "The Irish and How..." to Peekskill, NY last March as part of our annual St. Patrick's Celebration...

The ensemble was a delight - multi-talented and lively, Entertainers all ! Frank McCourt was there to share his wit & wisdom...

InOBU, you have some Talent Pool to draw from !

Continued Success - Murph

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: IvanB
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 10:39 AM

Got mine yesterday and loved it from beginning to end. Great album, and thanks, Larry, for your generosity. Hope I can make it to NYC one of these days to see you in person.

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: gnu
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 11:15 AM

I'm listening to it again right now. I love it.

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: gnu
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 05:35 AM

I'm listening to it again right now. I love it.

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: SharonA
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 09:48 AM

Larry: I finally visited the post office Saturday morning and picked up my copy of the CD. It sounds wonderful, even on my POS CD-player! I listened to it several times over the weekend. I'm especially fond of the song about the 11-year-old Quaker abolitionist!

If I may make a small suggestion, I think it would be helpful to include in the liner notes a list of songs with their corresponding track numbers (1. Title of song; 2. Title of song; etc.), to make it easier to follow the page describing the songs in detail AND to make it easier to cue up individual songs.

Sharon

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: InOBU
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 11:55 AM

Hi Sharon! (and everyone else!) Thanks for the kind words. The liner notes are stil a bit rough, as I am still producing the CDs in house, so - not offset printing the notes, every page increases the cost of production. I also hope, in the final factory burned copy, to have what's on the album on the back, so folks can see when decideing wether or not to buy it, what is on it! As it is, I have to have an open copy when it is on a table for sale anywhere, not the best cercumstance, but a situation tied to trying to save every penny at this stage!
The abolitionist song, Richard Murry, I am so glad you liked it. Last night we had a meeting for worship sharing at my house, with 9 Friends. The topic was the Quaker Peace Testimony. One friend spoke of the Peace Testimony in reguards to her family, who were conductors on the Underground Railroad. At the rise of the meeting, I sang Richard Murry. I have to admit that I really love the song, as it reminds me of Anna Curtis, who I learned the story of the song from, and I feel her present when I sing it. She was the image and reality of the old plain tradition, often speaking to us in plain speach, especially when wishing to make a point.
Thanks agian, Larry

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: SharonA
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 02:45 PM

Larry: No, no, thank you for sharing your music with me, and with all of us!

Sharon

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: JennieG
Date: 11 Mar 02 - 09:06 PM

My copy arrived yesterday, it was in my mailbox when I got home from work - I had a distracted listen while I cooked and ate dinner and it is fabulous. (distracted because I rush out again on Monday nights to a music session so have to keep one eye on the clock all the time) But I am not at work today so have been able to listen....and listen....and shortly will listen again. Thank you Larry very much from Down Under! I did PM you, I hope it got through. >br>Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: InOBU
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 07:34 AM

The PM got through, JeanieG! Thanks for the kind words and it means a lot to me to think of my music being heard from Labrador to Australia. Cheers, all , Larry

Subject: RE: Review: New Sorcha Dorcha Fan
From: gnu
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 09:41 PM

Not to mention the fact that I am listening to it again right now and enjoying it immensely. I don't know how that works out geographically, perhaps slightly skewed, kinda like me. Thanks again for the CD.... BTW, did I mention that it's great ?