Best Of Mary Black, The Volume 2 (2CD)

Wonderful collection and great service

As a long-time fan of Mary Black I was looking forward to this volume. However, the "Best of" disk was somewhat of a dissapointment. The second disk in the package, "Hidden Harvest," is worth the price of admission and then some. The duets are a treat, the selections wonderful, and if you're a fan, you won't want to miss it.

Excellent CD! One of the best CDs I've ever heard. I recently lost my copy and scrambled to replace it.

excellent!

Ahhhhhh

The Best of Mary Black, Vol. 2, (2011). As I write this, we’re approaching Saint Patrick’s Day, which of course, reminds me of the veteran Irish singer Mary Black: the CD is on my sound system at this very moment. The vocalist says on her website that she has toured for 30-40 years, but is currently taking a break to celebrate the birth of a grandchild. However, during her touring years, she’s often been in the United States and Canada in March. Thanks to a former beau with a wide and deep knowledge of Irish music, I’ve been lucky enough to see her several times live, principally at New York’s Town Hall. (She’s also frequently appeared on the Dave Letterman TV show.) I’ve come away from these experiences with a great love of her pure, clear voice (and an admiration for her handsome pastel-colored blazers!)According to Wikopedia, Black was born into a musical family: Her father was a fiddler, her mother a singer, and her brothers had their own musical group called The Black Brothers. Her younger sister Frances would also achieve success as a singer in the 90s. Black began singing traditional Irish songs at the age of eight. As she grew older, she began to perform with her siblings (Shay, Michael and Martin Black) in small clubs around Dublin. Black then joined a small Irish folk band called General Humbert in 1975, and toured professionally with them. She released her first solo album, MARY BLACK, in 1982; it went gold in Ireland. The thrush then joined the well-known Irish band De Dannan, which specialized in traditional Irish music, and toured with them around Europe and the U.S. As to her extraordinary voice, “What Hi-Fi?”magazine, for a number of years, suggested Black's voice was so pure, it could be used as an audiophile benchmark to compare the sound quality of different high end sound systems. Music critic and lyricist Michael Leahy once said: "Over the years, Mary Black has come to define what many people see as the essence of Irish woman singers: profound, slightly ethereal and beyond the reaches of trends.”Today, Black is greatly admired in her native Ireland and beyond as one of the most important Irish vocalists of her generation. She can sing and interpret traditional Irish material, contemporary material, folk, and country, jazz and pop with her marvelous instrument of a voice.This album contains two discs, of which disk one is the traditional 'best of'. It gives us, nicely remastered, some of the best songs from Black’s previous albums BABES IN THE WOOD to SPEAKING WITH THE ANGEL, ballads and up-tempo almost-rockers, did I say she can rock out too? Most with flavorful, immediately recognizable Irish arrangements. It also contains two songs previously unreleased by the artist, Eileen Laverty's 'Wildest Dreams' and Steve Cooney's 'Just a Journey'.Disk 2 is called 'Hidden Harvest.' It gives us more previously unreleased material, showing us the many sides of Black. There’s the unearthly countrified beauty of “Sonny,” a woman’s keening lament to her son, sung in trio with Emmylou Harris and Dolores Keane, a great, great concert favorite of mine. A folksy “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” a Sandy Denny tune. A haunting rendition of Billie Holiday’s jazz standard, “Good Morning Heartache.” Traditional Irish, “Ai Fond Kiss,” and “Bruach Na Carraige Baine,” the latter with Seamus Begley. Sweet pop, “If I Gave My Heart to You,” with Shane Howard. There are six live tracks, and many critics believe Mary does her absolute best on the stage, not in the studio. A jazzy take of Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells,” with Joan Baez, recorded at New York’s Bottom Line of sainted memory. An aching Beatles song, “Across the Universe,” with Noel Bridgeman, from the Olympia. Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s “Say a Little Prayer,” a monster hit for Dionne Warwick, which Black manages to reimagine and freshen. “Once in a Very Blue Moon,” popularized by Nancy Griffith, recorded in Melbourne. Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “The Moon and St. Christopher,” with Carpenter, at the Royal Albert Hall. And “Without the Fanfare,” with which she frequently ends her concerts, from the Point Depot, Dublin. Well, as noted above, Black says she will not be touring for the next year or two. But you can get this CD compilation for a quite reasonable price, and be ready for those holiday parties. Mind you, you’ll have to get the green beer yourself. I can make no recommendations about that.

This is an unusual 'best of'. In fact the two discs present two different ways to understand the title. Disc 1 is a traditional 'best of' containing some of the best songs from Mary's albums from 'Babes in the Wood' up until 'Speaking With the Angel'. It also contains two previously unreleased songs Eileen Laverty's 'Wildest Dreams' and Steve Cooney's 'Just a Journey'. Both are good additions to the Black repertoire but despite this, Disc 1 may appeal most to completists; mind you are the recordings remastered here because the tracks from 'Speaking With the Angel' seem clearer, crisper somehow? Happily for Black fans and those seeking an introduction, Disc 2 is a real gem. Called 'Hidden Harvest' it might have been called 'Hidden Treasure' and it is here that we have the other concept of 'best of'. Rather than being a selection of previously released tracks this offers Mary Black at her best, and her most versatile. There is Mary the interpreter of classic contemporary 'folk'(a crystal clear 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes?'), Mary the folk/pop singer (Into the Blue), Mary the accomplished jazz/blues singer (a beautiful Billy Holliday's 'Good Morning Heartache'), Mary the excellent interpreter of traditional songs (lovely versions of 'Ae Fond Kiss' and Bruach na Carraige Baine', the latter with with Seamus Begley), Mary the country singer ('Sony' with Emmylou Harris and Dolores Keane), and Mary Black the sublime live performer. And it is these live tracks in particular that make this CD such a gem. It has always puzzled me why she has never released a live album as none of her studio recordings match her live work (much as I love them). All the live tracks are great and the most suitable final track 'Without the Fanfare' transports you into the concert hall, where Mary has finished many a concert with this song. 'Hidden Harvest' may well be Mary Black's best recording to date.

I've been in love with this lady's voice and delivery since I first heard her version of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" some years back. I'm currently on a kick of listening to only my Mary Black collection.This particular CD is a steal as a double CD. One CD of her classic hits, some performed live, some with other performers and a new CD. This CD has the aforementioned "Who Knows Where The Time Goes"A great introduction to Mary Black!