PRECIOUSLY few Irish bands can compare in both virtuosity and versatility with Solas, a quintet of truly dazzling individual talents.
Multiple All-lreland champion Séamus Egan plays no fewer than eight instruments, John Williams is a gifted button accordionist and the only American ever to win the coveted All-lreland sen- ior concertina title, Winifred Horan weaves deft classical touches with an earthy passion in her fiddling, Karan Casey possesses a crystalline voice that can soar like no other, and John Doyle provides faultless guitar rhythms throughout.
But the sum of Solas is far greater than their impressive parts, combining to produce a marvelously spirited and textured sound rich in imagination, innovation, and tradition.
They are the most exciting Irish band to emerge in many years – as this stunning debut album attests.
– Earle Hitchner, Irish Echo April 1996
Tracks:
1. Side A NÍL Na LÁ
2. The Flowing Bowl
3. Máire Breathnach's #1
4. The Doon
5. The Mason's Men
6. The Newry Highwayman
7. The White Petticoat
8. Stan Chapmans
9. The Miller's Maggot
10. I Wonder What's Keeping My True
11. Love Tonight
12. The Yellow Tinker
13. Cranking Out
14. Master Crowley's #2
15. Side B Dougie MacDonalds
16. Máirebreathnach's #2
17. The Antrim Rose
18. Atlantic Waves
19. Toss the Feathers
20. Johnny's Gone for a Soldier
21. Gan Ainm
22. The Humours of Whiskey
23. Leslie's March
24. Lament for Frankie
25. Timmy Cliffords
26. The Return Home
27. O'Ot Be Est Da Vong
28. John Joe Caseys
