Music 

 
last updated:  November 10, 2002


My musical tastes are  wide, stretching from folk through rock and on to the classics. If I had to restrict myself to a few general areas,  Celtic folk would loom large, exampled by the marvellous Planxty but extending to Scottish, Welsh and Breton music.  I am always drawn to lyrics, preferring poetry and often complexity to anything that sounds like "mere" prose.  The work of modern songwriters such as Richard Shindell and Gilles Servat hold me spellbound.  More recently (2002) as I've been struggling to learn Spanish and remain up-beat, the harmonies and driving beat of the Mexican band Maná seem to be in the CD-player constantly...

A few musical sites of interest:
 

  • Musi-Cal:  A search engine for concert information.  Primarily focuses on U.S. performances. 

    •   Indispensable for U.S. lovers of folk music.  http://calendar.com/concerts/
  • Realaudio: If you haven't already been here, you need to download Realaudio software 
  • in order to play most music clips from the Web.  http://www.realaudio. com/
  • Acoustic Cafe:  A great resource -- includes on-line interviews and musical clips of 
  • "acoustic" music.  http://www.acafe.com


    • Music makers: (click on the links for more information)

    Richard Shindell Al Stewart Martin Simpson
    Planxty
    Tri Yann
    Gilles Servat
     

    Other old favorites of mine include:

    Jethro Tull - "Thick as a Brick," "Songs from the Wood," "Heavy Horses," especially.
    Renaissance
    Fairport Convention
    Cat Stevens (before)
    Simon & Garfunkle
    The Who
    John Mellencamp "Human Wheels"

    Other "new" (to me) favorites include (alphabetically)

    Collective Soul
    Del Amitri
    Loreena McKennitt
    Maná
    October Project
    Oysterband (!)
    Martin Simpson
    Anne Vanderlove
    Dar Williams

    "Classical" favorites

    Beethoven
    Corelli
    Mozart
    Schubert
    Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Praetorius
    "Early music" generally

    Other celtic & similar favorites
    Altan
    Blowzabella
    Silly Wizard