The Fureys - without Finbar?

Subject: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 11:49 AM

Got tickets to see them but just found out that Finbar left them years ago. Are they any good without him?

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 12:13 PM

Finbar left in 1997.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Rev Bayes
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 01:12 PM

Were they any good with him?

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,woodsie
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 03:17 PM

Yes - very good!

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,roderick warner
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 04:39 PM

Cabaret act if that spins your wheels...

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 08:51 PM

Saw them a couple of years back, didn't really rate them. For what we were paying they could have boght a new bodhran - flappy old thing patched up with sticky tape!
Saw Finbar solo too on another occasion: sorry, but past sell by date IMHO.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 25 Nov 12 - 04:47 AM

Finbar didn't leave, they just can't get him out of the bar.

Dave H

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Guest - Jim Younger
Date: 25 Nov 12 - 10:43 AM

One of the strangest sights ever I saw was a night at a theatre up around Saltburn way, 1972, when Finbar sat on one side of the stage with his 5-string banjo and played Foggy Mountain Breakdown while Eddy stood on the other side singing The Flying Cloud. I don't think they could agree on what to play. The poor promoter was tearing his hair out.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,concerned
Date: 25 Nov 12 - 12:17 PM

Shite.....inmho

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 04:41 AM

It's too easy, too lazy to dismiss them like this. They are boys done good and fair play to them. And Finbar's piping can be both the most sublime and exciting noise on the planet. Not to mention his influence. And does anyone remember that he and Bernard Overton invented the low whistle?

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 05:55 AM

Strange - I posted a similar comment to Michael's above yesterday, but it seems to have not appeared. Agree with him 100% about Finbar's piping. I have to admit, I'd be less likely to go see the band without him, though, but still worth investigating.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 07:23 AM

Thanks for the comments folks. I seem to have missed the heyday of Finbar & Eddie during 1968/69. I won't however dismiss them just yet as "Cabaret" though as I can't see them performing at any cabaret shows in their current 90+ date tour Ho ho!

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 10:15 AM

Let us know how you get on when you go to see them Woodsie!

Agreed with michael gill re how they sounded in the past. "The Lonesome Boatman" has become a real standard for any whistle player.

But my previous comments relate to 2 concerts within the last 3-4 years, which were both disappointing.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 11:27 AM

belting piper
ged

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: Bugsy
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 07:21 PM

Not as good as they were with Finbar. On the other hand, Finbar not as good as he was with the Fureys.

They need each other.

CHeers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 07:58 PM

That's too simplistic

Brothers have such complicated relationships (and don't forget that Davey was a brother too). They look after each other in a way that transcends everything, even music.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: michaelr
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 08:45 PM

The Fureys provided my first exposure to Irish music and the uillean pipes. This must have been the later part of the 1970s, at a concert in Hamburg, Germany.

I've been hooked ever since.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: Bugsy
Date: 26 Nov 12 - 11:53 PM

"Brothers have such complicated relationships (and don't forget that Davey was a brother too). They look after each other in a way that transcends everything, even music."

I'm sure they do Michael. I was responding to the original question about the music. Not the family makeup.

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 06:00 AM

There was a documentary on RTE some time ago on Finbar where he talked a lot about all things stuck together and fell apart again. Worth seeing. Title was something involving 'Free spirit'.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 08:40 AM

I watched it last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrjaRkTluZk

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Big bamboo
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 09:34 AM

Davey was a cousin not a brother in the strictest sense. Born in Scotland unlike the rest of the Fureys, so not a brother at all. Bernard Overton told me that Finbar had a lovely bamboo whistle that he played on stage but it was held together with sellotape and chewing-gum and came to pieces in his hands. That was when he talked to Bernard about replacing the large bamboo whistle with something made of Aluminium. That's what started to low whistle boom.
The Buskers were another group that came from the Fureys and Davey Arthur history.

I'd go and see the group just so that I could say I'd been and maybe have a good night out. You'll think back on't one day and only regret the things you didn't do, not that you went and didn't enjoy it.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 10:01 AM

Thanks for the YouTube link - I'll watch that tonight!

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 10:09 AM

There was another program on RTE, Finbar talking to Gay Byrne and playing music in the 'For one night only' series (which also had shows with Paul Brady, Sinead O Connor and previously Christy Moore among others). That may or may not be out there as well. They're no longer archived on the RTE site.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: Brian May
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 03:56 PM

Saw them about 18 months ago. They were good value.

If you like the Fureys with or without Davy Arthur/Finbar Furey, you'll still like them.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 27 Nov 12 - 08:05 PM

... or so speaks a lead guitar player (who's dad made his guitar from a wardrobe door) who's lost his front man ...

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,buddhuu sans cookie
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 04:59 AM

I've seen The Furey's and Davey many times, but only once since Paul's passing. On a good day they're still good entertainment.

Similarly, Finbar on a good day is brilliant. I've seen him many times too. There is certainly a hint of the cabaret, but with a favourable wind at his back he is a fine piper. He's also a showman. At times he plays his set of uilleans standing up posing like a rock guitar hero - very funny. Most times I've seen him he's had Maurice Lennon with him - another fine musician.

At a slight tangent, I have their dad, Ted's, album 'Toss the Feathers'. With due respect to the late Ted, it isn't my favourite fiddle album by a long way, but the thing that sticks out most to me is the bizarre bodhran playing on it... Very odd.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 06:13 AM

I'd say he's very very much more than a "fine" piper. My favourite recording of him is that "Tomorrow We Part" thing. I can do without Bob Stuart (who ever he is) but the piping is astonishing.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: buddhuu
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 06:44 AM

I mean fine in its sense of "altogether fine", rather than meh-dismissive fine. I like Finbar.

If I were to list the recorded tunes upon which I have heard him do a wonderful job it would be a list bettered only by that which I would compile for Liam Og O'Flynn.

All that said, I'm not a big fan of 'Fox Chase', the one that everyone quotes as an example of Finbar's skill. It's clever, but not terribly listenable, IMHO.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 08:53 AM

Finbar is/was a very fine musician indeed - when The Peelers (who?) played Coventry he sat in with us on whistle on a couple of songs ... very impressive accompanist altogether, plenty of give-and-take about him. Very shrewd man, too. Did anyone see the Gay Byrne show where the Fureys were on, and another guest was Paul Daniels? Mr. Daniels made some supercilious comment about the band and the camerman immediately swivelled to the Fureys ... if looks could kill ... Mr Daniels squirmed his way through the rest of the show.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,guest - Jim Younger
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 08:55 AM

sorry, that anon guest post was me

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 09:18 AM

For more than 30 years I've been schizophrenic about preferring Finbar or Liam Og. They are so different though, they really are not worth comparing.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: alex s
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 10:06 AM

The bamboo whistle was a kid's cheapo toy which Finbar got to play in tune by using electrician's tape! Looked horrible but played beautifully.
I used to book Fin and Eddie regularly in the late 60's/early 70's. I think they were at their best then, just the 2 of them.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: buddhuu
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 05:21 PM

I wouldn't directly compare them, Michael; I like them both very much, but their styles are certainly very different.

Liam's playing just takes my breath away on every level, and of the two I would have to say that I prefer Liam's work.

Fortunately, I do not have to choose one. I can listen to both. Win.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 04:18 AM

Yes, I'm glad that life has given us both. But I'd say it's Finbar that takes my breath away. Liam O'Flynn's playing gives me a kind of calm steady feeling that I breath deeply too. It's a kind of considered perfection. Finbar's, on the other hand, especially hith airs, gives me a kind of intensity where I could pass out because I daren't breath

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,buddhuu sans cookie
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 04:37 AM

Funny how one can feel so strongly about the playing of an instrument that one cannot play oneself. I squawk away on whistle, but pipes are a lifetime of study beyond me. Yet I'm still absorbed enough by that amazing instrument to be able to, quite often, recognise the playing of well known pipers even on pieces I've not heard before.

Some people dismiss all bagpipes, no matter if they're Northumbrian, uillean or whatever. Clearly to some people it all sounds the same. I don't get that. The same huge differences in style and nuance that make me love the playing of Liam and Finbar (and Paddy Keenan) make me entirely indifferent to the over-busy playing of, say, Paddy Moloney and the playing of Davy Spillane - which just seems to lack a sense of purpose.

This thread has prompted a note to self to catch Finbar again ASAP, and Eddie and Davey too, for that matter. They were major figures in my early exposure to folk music and I'll always have a soft spot for them - together or separately.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 11:04 AM

Don't do yourself down. The pipes can't be that hard to play

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 11:30 AM

Fiddle is harder. I think so anyway.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 01:45 PM

ha ha.

"Hard" and "easy" are such nonsensical words eh. They are completely meaningless without context.

I grew up with with my mate who plays the pipes and consequentially his pipe playing is quite fiddley and my fiddle playing is very pipey.

The only disadvantage to the pipes that I can see is that you have to have a decent set really. Where as I think it's possible to scrape some really good music out of a bit of a banger of a fiddle

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 01:57 PM

Well, you need a set that is going well and enough knowledge to keep them going.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: GUEST,michael gill
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 05:49 PM

yeah, but a set that's going well requires the holes to be drilled in the right place and the right size, ect. Bits of edam wax will only get you so far.

Subject: RE: The Fureys - without Finbar?
From: buddhuu
Date: 29 Nov 12 - 06:11 PM

I can just about get a tune out of a chanter (I did it in the wrong order and learned whistle first). Can't get the hang of piper's grip.

And my fiddle playing is decidedly lame. In fact, I just sold my fiddle.