Well, at least it`s not all bad news for this album, and people are being polite enough to vote no lower than "OK".
It`s true that the music stays close to traditional interpretations and maybe lacks surprises. I rather liked the no-nonsense approach in which they don`t try to make the music too pretty-sounding. For instance, they avoid the big Celtic cliché of electronically-enhanced ethereal beauty that some (female) singers go for. Instead they belt out the music as if they were a pub band, helped along by Van Morrison`s powerful voice.
For the Chieftains at least, this album was quite a turning point in their career, as they hit on the scheme of pairing themselves with various rock stars; Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful among them.
Most recently, they teamed up with Ry Cooder for the album
San Patricio. As sometimes happens with folk music, there`s a story behind the song, and in this case the history is perhaps more interesting than the music: the "Saint Patricks" were a batallion of mainly Irish soldiers who deserted the USA in the Mexican-American war and went to fight for their fellow Catholics, the Mexicans. Any one who wants to read about the sad outcome of their idealistic decision can take a look here :-
Saint Patrick's Battalion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia