Sorry, wrong again – it seems to be a habit with this writer. In this case, wrong name, wrong part of the country and, as with the Nora Cleary/Siney Crotty foot in mouth, wrong gender.
I did hear Tom Munnely speak at Ballyliffin some years ago and am an admirer of his work, as the reviewer was at the outset of his review – interesting to watch his attitude change – a wonderful case of somebody who can't take what he dishes out. As for my being him – guess again (guess-who-I-am seems to be his favourite pastime).
If Wallis did attempt to comment on the songs or their performance, perhaps he could point those comments out – were the songs good or bad versions, full or fragmentary, were they well or badly sung – sorry, I must have overlooked those bits.
The singers were treated with contempt, the performances of a few of them were passed over with three or four word comments, but most of them were totally ignored. The only thing I learned from the review was that one of them sang like a woman. I'm sure the children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces would have been delighted to read this information, though they can take comfort from the thought that anybody who can't tell the difference between the singing of Siney Crotty (male) and Nora Cleary (female) is hardly qualified to say if somebody sounds like a man, woman or Siberian hamster.
Along with his friend (Grommitt seems to have caught on over here), Musical Traditions seems to have on board two very unpleasant individuals who are quite happy to promote themselves by denigrating the work of others supposedly with the same interest in traditional music. The editor seems to have been quite happy to stand silently by like an over-indulgent parent while his two unruly brats create havoc.
I have no axe to grind with Geoff Wallis – he seems to have his own problems – but I do find myself extremely disappointed that the otherwise excellent Musical Traditions should soil its hands on such behaviour.
You will understand, I hope, why I prefer to remain anonymous. I live in a small, rather quiet town; encouraging an irate hack armed with a knuckle duster into our community really wouldn't endear us to our neigbours. I've heard of vigorous journalism, but this is something I've never come across before
Wallis's review would have carried more weight if it had not been written in such and unpleasant manner, if it didn't contain so many inconsistencies and trivial points and if he had made the slightest effort to review the two CDs – he appeared not to be interested in that side of the job.
By the way – why did he object so vehemently to the use of a word he used himself on three occasions – I'll happily supply the references if he has forgotten them.

Love Mary – but you can call me Tom if it gives you any satisfaction