Why So Blu?

Liz Madden’s ‘My Irish Home’ (CD Review)

Here at Why So Blu, we always like to point out great talent.  In late 2009, we featured an interview/article on Irish singer Liz Madden, whose travels have brought her over the pond from the Emerald Isle.  The woman behind the smooth-as-glass voice has released her latest work My Irish Home, now on available CD and also for download at Amazon and iTunes. 

The accomplished singer had a busy year in 2009 as she completed work on both her Christmas album (released December ’09) and My Irish Home, which features an impressive array of 14 tracks that cover a variety of traditional Irish tunes.  The individual songs each speak their own history and you need not be Irish to relate to the emotion that the album delivers.  All in all, My Irish Home matches Madden’s talents with the moving, thought-provoking atmosphere that is brought forth from these age-old songs, which also feature a little Americana and a bit of France as well.  Liz Madden’s French accent is uncannily accurate in the song ‘Le Marais’ while she also brings a very fluent air of Gaelic in the album’s closing tune. 

I must say, my personal favorites are her renditions of ‘Galway Shawl’ and ‘She Moved Through the Fair’, though I will be the first to point out that not any one of the 14 tracks takes a backseat to another.  Her vocal quality is second to none and the entertainment value is much more than sufficient.  Each individual person will have their own thoughts and meanings derived from these tunes.  For this writer, it takes me back to my travels through County Wicklow and its lush, rolling hills and quaint towns along the way.  If there was ever an accurate, audible portrayal of Ireland with a little more to offer, here it is.

For a laid back listening experience that brings a little bit of Ireland to you, I suggest Liz Madden’s My Irish Home: 

1.     Spancil Hill

2.     Galway Shawl

3.     Danny Boy

4.     Banks of the Ohio

5.     Lullaby

6.     Le Marais

7.     Greensleeves

8.     Gaudete

9.     This Land is Your Land

10.   She Moved Through the Fair

11.   Shannagolden

12.   I Know My Love

13.   Blowin’ in the Wind

14.   An Raibh Tu Ag An Gcarraig

 

 

 

For more information on Liz Madden, visit her on these websites:

http://www.lizmaddenonline.com/

http://www.myspace.com/lizmadden

http://www.facebook.com/lizmadden