Foinn Seisiún 4

My review - I hope it is helpful.
IMO opinion, this is kind of an odd recording though it is interesting. The series is pretty inconsistent in terms of audio quality and this is the worst of the four. I’ve always considered these volumes to be great tune learning tracks for sharpening your session skills so I’ve always wished they had made a better effort to insure clarity with better production and less better skilled players. That being said, many of the tracks do have that kind of chaotic sound of many players playing slightly different versions of tunes which, in a way, is helpful.

In this volume (4), the tracks are take from several albums of Ceili band (Tulla and Kilfenora) recordings. First I thought, why not learn from the source? Second, I realized, though they are old recordings before the present day when Ceili bands try to sound fast and perfect (sterile IMO), and before they were recording with modern technology, the old recording have better audio - it’s not close. It’s puzzling to me why Comhaltas didn’t put forth any effort in this regard. I have about 2/3’s of the material from the old bands but have always had trouble tracking down some of the classic Ceili band albums. I recommend anyone interested in this series to try to find the source recordings.

The original recordings:

CD1 - Kilfenora “Live In Lisdoonvarna”, “Century”,
CD 2 - Tulla “Echoes of Erin”, “Celebration”

“I realized, though they are old recordings before the present day when Ceili bands try to sound fast and perfect (sterile IMO), and before they were recording with modern technology, the old recording have better audio - it’s not close”.
The “Tulla’s” “Echoes of Erin” , from 1958, I might agree as “old”, but “Celebration” was recorded in 1996. The Kilfenora’s“ recordings were made in 2002 - ”Lisdoonvarna“ - and 2009 - ”Century".
Is 2009 “old” ?