Accordion Music From The Soul

Unfortunately there is not much information about this album on the sleeve notes. I’m not sure if it is a recollection of old material recorded by Finbarr or if it is actually a new recorded item. Maybe someone can shed some light on the issue. The playing, as always, is just superb and he also throws in an old timey piece and some waltzes for good measure. Piano Accompaniment is by Theresa McMahon.

A friend was kind enough to give me a copy of this last night, I’m certain it’s another reissue of one of Fin(n?)’s old Outlet records - maybe one yclept “Ireland’s Champion Traditional Accordionist,” about which there are no details Alan Ng has slapped together a very nice discography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finbarr_Dwyer Like his other LPs it has Theresa at the piano and the same echoey sound; the playing’s like on the other records too, full of fire. Funny thing is I’d read how this was a “comeback” for Finbarr after years away from stages and studios: http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=57951 Apparently not. Sad to say rumor has it that Finbarr’s getting a bit senile these days too. Get some of his recordings, he was as good a player as composer; the Waltz of the Birds sounds like something Jimmy Shand would essay for a little Parisian touch.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cic.ie%2Fitem.aspx%3Flanguage%3Den%26id%3D1119&ei=U3I7UvDaC6KM0AXUnYCIAg&usg=AFQjCNEFbnzxCgLYcnCZd8rM_il61OK5Og&sig2=yqm0SjOHeMlz962JnrwnLg

Finbarr Dwyer didn’t look like that in 1977, Kevin, unless you think they set out deliberately to con people about when he recorded it. I don’t see any reason or purpose in that, myself.
The “AllCelticMusic” website has the release date as 31st Aug 2007. I’m pretty sure I bought it at the Willie Clancy week in 2008, although I no longer the recording.
“SOLP 1032” is a bit of a mystery though. I thought all of Finbarr’s “Outlet” recordings had been posted here, but maybe not.

“.. have the recording”.

I should ask my friend to see if there’s an actual recording date listed on the CD. It is odd that Cló Iar - Chonnacht would issue it and make it look for all the world like a new release, but as I said it sure sounds like the Finbarr of bygone days, just based on what it sounds like and with Theresa pounding the ivories. Her playing hasn’t changed, either. Maybe someday that odd man out Outlet LP will turn up and we can verify my notion.

This CD is out-of-print now too. Typical of Outlet almost all of his other LPs have been reissued under new titles, which is another thing making me suspicious of the provenance of this one. They’re all great music any way you look at it.

Kevin,

You seem to be getting tangled up in knots of your own devising.

Finbarr released this album independently in 2007. CIC distributed it for him.

The album was an entirely new recording and has nothing to do with his earlier Outlet releases.

Actually I was right all along, for the record: https://thesession.org/recordings/4574#comment711695 “Irish and Continental Accordion By Finbarr Dwyer”

"Re-release?
I’d say this one (which I have in front of me, as a rather battered 1971 vinyl) was re-released as a CD in 2007 and re-named ‘Accordion Music From the Soul’. It’s the only one I didn’t check the track listings on before posting the above.

It’s like how the OLP 1004 ‘Irish Traditional Accordionist’ was re-released as a CD in 1994 as ‘Pure Traditional Irish Accordion Music’ and then again in 2007 as ‘Kitty’s Rambles’.

Highly confusing.

# Posted by Dougal 2 years ago."

There are a good few Finbarr recordings from his last years and he was still a fantastic player. I notice he’s almost always playing the B/C instead of the big B/C/C# he played on his Outlet stuff so perhaps feeling his age a titch, those big 3 rows with piano accordion basses can be tough to manipulate, but the music was wonderful none the less. Why he made this CD seem like a new recording is still a puzzle, perhaps he was just studio shy or nervous.