The well below the valley --- Planxty --- 1973 (Polydor)
Responsible for creating some of the biggest and best talent in the Irish folk scene, Planxty were formed in 1972 by Christy Moore, who had at that time just finished recording his second album, and had had the assistance of his friends Donal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn and Andy Irvine. The guys liked working together so much that they decided to put together a band, and thus Planxty was born. Credited with raising the profile of Irish trad and folk music more than any other band prior, Planxty would later give birth to Moving Hearts, as well as, indirectly, the scourge we now know as Riverdance!
Oileann pipes and fiddle open “Cunla”(coon-lah), with the soon-to-be-familiar “scat”-style singing of Christy Moore, singing alernatively in Irish then English. Irvine on banjo and Lunny on bouzouki join in, Moore adding a sense of percussion via the bodhran (bow-rawn). I don't know that much about trad music, but I think this is a reel, maybe. It's certainly lively and makes you want to get up and dance, as a lot of trad music does. It's followed by “Pat Reilly”, banjo and whistle in a sort of Irish uptempo ballad, with either Donal Lunny or Andy Irvine on vocals --- it's not Christy, that's all I can confirm. Like much trad and indeed folk music there's little in the way of percussion, no drumming as the song is carried along on the banjo and backed by the whistle, the truest meaning of unplugged you could come across.
Two slip jigs (don't ask) follow, the first being “The kid on the mountain” (which I think is meant to refer to a goat rather than a child) and played mostly on oileann pipes with the second being called “An phis fliuch”(on fiss flue-awch) --- I know “fluich” means wet, not sure about the phis part --- with Christy Moore's bodhran coming in to add to the pipes. It all slows down then for “As I roved out”, an old traditional Irish ballad played on acoustic guitar and pipes and sung by Andy Irvine. It's one of two versions on the album, the other being sung by Christy Moore. Why? I have no idea...
More reels to follow, with “The dogs among the bushes” and “Jenny's wedding”, both merging as reels tend to, and played on loud oileann pipes again, a real dancing rhythm as the bodhran joins in and some mandolin and/or banjo adds to the proceedings. The title track is up next, on whistle and bodhran with Christy singing as bouzouki slips in, slowly taking over the tune on a mid-paced kind of a drinking song, as many of these trad songs are. Nice backing vocals, the first time on the album that Planxty have used more than one voice on any one song.
“Hewlett” then is a pipes-led instrumental, with banjo joining in as Irvine and O'Flynn go head-to-head, as it were, and “Bean Phaidin” (ban fawd-jeen), which best translates as either Mrs. Phaidin or Phaidin's wife, is sung entirely in Irish against harmonica, bodhran and fiddle. Not sure who sings it, but it may be Donal Lunny. Halfway through, this develops into a sort of jig or reel (I don't know the difference) as the whole band comes in with bodhran, pipes, harmonica, bouzouki and anything else they can get their hands on it would seem!
Two hornpipes are next, “The fisherman's lilt” and “Cronin's hornpipe”, again mostly on oileann pipes with harmonica and whistle, bouzouki coming in for the second one, which takes us to the second version of “As I roved out” on the album, this one sung by Christy with what would become his characteristic everyman charm, soft voice but loaded with passion and honesty. In fact, it sounds like a different song entirely. How weird. Little indeed do I know of the Irish trad scene. This is played on whistle with mandolin backing, much faster than the other version. It's also much shorter, almost a minute shorter than the Andy Irvine version.
“The humours of Ballyloughlin” is a jig played on oileann pipes, a true solo as no other instrument is involved, from start to finish. We close then on the gentle acoustic guitar ballad “Time will cure me”, which is I think sung by Irvine. Nice relaxing whistle then joins in, with some lovely laidback mandolin adding to the mix.
An album of alternately incredible energy and enthusiasm, and fragile balladry, it's easy to see why this album lifted Planxty out of the realm of the ordinary, and why they as a band were able to do so much to advance the cause of Irish traditional and folk music. It wouldn't be my own favourite genre now, this music I used to disparagingly refer to as “skiddly-idle”, but for anyone familiar with, or interested in folk, trad and celtic music and rhythms, Planxty is a very good starting point.
TRACKLISTING
1. Cunla
2. Pat Reilly
3. Slip jigs: “The kid on the mountain/An phis fliuch”
4. As I roved out (vocal: Andy Irvine)
5. Reels: “The dogs among the bushes/Jenny's wedding”
6. The well below the valley
7. Hewlett
8. Bean Phaidin
9. Hornpipes: “A fisherman's lilt/Cronin's hornpipe”
10. As I roved out (vocal: Christy Moore)
11. Solo jig: “The humours of Ballyloughlin”
12. Time will cure me