Come Dance with Me In Ireland: Classic Irish Dance Music

1	Brendan Tonra's Jig / Cran 4:04
2	Two Kerry Slides / Bakerswell 2:43
3	Vincent Campbell's Mazurkas / The Brass Fiddle 2:33
4	The Wexford Hornpipe/The Bannow Bay Hornpipe / Phil John 4:00
5	The Shelf / Skylark 3:11
6	The Ace and Deuce of Popering / Gay McKeon 2:16
7	The Killavil Jig/Have a Drink With Me / Mary MacNamara 3:28
8	Lord Gordon's Reel the Laurel Bush / Dolores Keane 3:02
9	The Banks of Lough Gowna Willie Clancy's Paidin O' Raifeartaigh Paidin ... / Ronan Browne 3:51
10	O'Mahony's Hornpipe the Stack of Barley / Denis Murphy 3:03
11	The Humours of Derrykissane the Campbells Are Coming the Howthorn / Ronan Browne 3:23
12	The Boys of Tanderagee Jackson's Morning Brush / Robbie Hannan 3:22

Barnes & Noble

Long before RIVERDANCE hit the planks, the Irish were dancing in the fields, halls, and pubs to their favorite tunes. This new collection from the renowned Claddagh label brings together lusty examples of many different styles of old-fashioned dance, from jigs and reels to slides and mazurkas. While the performers aren't particularly well known, ace players like Sean Potts and Dolores Keane acquit themselves well, presenting utterly traditional renditions minus the Celtic-contemporary bells and whistles. Even if you don't feel like shaking a leg, these upbeat, nimble instrumentals should at least set your mood lively. Marty Lipp

Barnes & Noble

No, this recording is not some supercharged RIVERDANCE production. These dozen classic tracks are compiled from the vast archives of Dublin's Claddagh Records. Between the great famine and English repression, Irish music, language, and dance almost died out. The liner notes tell of how dancing at a crossroads was common practice until the early 19th century, when uptight clergymen tried to abolish it. But, of course, the music did survive, and Claddagh has a vast repository of recordings that capture the art in its pure forms. COME DANCE WITH ME IN IRELAND offers jigs, slides, mazurkas, polkas, hornpipes, reels, and other dances featuring various soloists and instrumental combinations (like string or guitar bands, squeeze box, uilleann pipes, flute, whistles, and fiddle). These aren't the overblown, over-romanticized showstoppers you might find in a theatrical production, but are typical of what you'd hear if you went to an actual dance. The liner notes could be more detailed about who played what, but the list of performers includes CRAN; Blackwell; Vincent Campbell; Phil, John, and Pip Murphy; Skylark; Gay McKeon, Mary MacNamara; Delores Keane and the Reel Union; Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin; Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford; and Robbie Hannan. Carol Wright

All Music Guide

The Claddagh label was founded in Dublin in 1959, and its catalog includes recordings by such eminent artists as piper Seamus Ennis, singer Dolores Keane, harper Derek Bell, fiddler Tommy Potts, and even Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. A licensing agreement with the Atlantic label in 1999 has led to the reissue of a number of recordings from the Claddagh back catalog, including the first four Chieftains albums and solo work by Derek Bell. Come Dance With Me in Ireland is a sampler of sorts, with 12 tracks culled from Claddagh releases dating back as far as 1969. At under 40 minutes in length, it's a bit skimpy as collections of previously-released material go, but there's no arguing with the quality. Among other gems, there's a great set of hornpipes played with an almost polka verve by Phil, John, and Pip Murphy, an exquisite rendition of "The Ace and Deuce of Pipering" by uilleann piper Gay McKeon, and a very fine jig set played on flute and pipes by Ronan Brown and Peter O'Loughlin. This is traditional Irish music of the relatively hardcore variety -- no synthesizers, no multi-tracked vocals, no electric basses. Highly recommended. Rick Anderson