KEVIN BURKE: SWEENEY'S DREAM - FIDDLE TUNES FROM COUNTY SLIGO, IRELAND
Kevin Burke: fiddle

A fiddle player with an instantly recognizable sound,Kevin Burke is well-known today as a former member of the Bothy Band and a current member of Patrick Street and Open House. This was his first solo recording, made in 1972 during Burke's first visit to the US, and now reissued on CD. The album was a bit of an experiment, which grew out of his meeting American musicians in New York and discussing with them common traits of Irish and American folk music. The accompaniments on banjo, mandolin, guitar and autoharp are rather crude and somewhat obstrusive at times. Kevin's playing itself is quite a bit rougher than what we have become familiar with. Yet he already had that great lift and swing to his music, with at the same time a certain nonchalance which seems to reflect his personality. As Don Meade points out in the notes (all new sleeve notes by Don and Kevin himself), Kevin re-recorded many of the tunes here on later albums, and several of them have become associated with his playing ever since. An interesting, if not essential, album.
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Rating: ***

Price: $17.99
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Contents:
1. Reels: Love at the Endings / John McGrath's Reel
2. Reels: The Humours of Lissadell / Sweeney's Dream
3. Hornpipe: Murphy's Hornpipe 
4. Reels: The Sligo Maid / The Woman of the House / The Sailor's Bonnet
5. Jig: The Strayaway Child
6. Reel: The College Grooves
7. Reels: Toss the Feathers
8. Set Dance: The King of the Fairies
9. Reels: The Mason's Apron / Laington's Reel
10. Reels: The Bunch of Keys / The Girl That Broke My Heart
11. Reels: Bonnie Kate / Jennie's Chickens
12. Slip Jig: Rise a Mile (Ride a Mile, Ride a Mule)
13. Reels: Brendan McGlinchey's Reel (Splendid Isolation) / Sweeney's Buttermilk
14. Reels: Tuttle's Reel / The Chicken in the Saucepan (The Maids of Mitchelstown)
15. Slip Jig: The Kid on the Mountain
16. The Killarney Wonder Schottisches: Gurren Castle and The Finnea Lasses / The Long Note
17. Reels: George White's Favourite / The Happy Days of  Youth / Coleman's Cross 
See also:
If the Cap Fits
      The Bothy Band: Old Hag You Have Killed Me
      The Bothy Band: Out of the Wind Into the Sun