by Phil Hall

Artist: Van Morrison and the Chieftains
Album: "Irish Heartbeat"
Year produced: 1988

The Chieftains have collaborated musically with a wide spectrum of creative artists, ranging from James Galway to the Rolling Stones. But perhaps their finest pairing came when Van Morrison joined them for the 1988 album "Irish Heartbeat," which is my choice for the very best of the Chieftains' canon.

"Irish Heartbeat" consists of 10 songs, eight of them traditional Irish melodies which are performed with such depth and vibrancy that it is easy to assume they are all brand new. Morrison was in playful vocal form, sowing musical wild oats with the opening "Star of the County Down" and the raucous reel "I'll Tell Me Ma." The Chieftains' main vocalist Kevin Conneff does a grand vocal duel with Morrison on "Ta Mo Chleamhnas Deanta (My Match It Is Made"), with Morrison taking the English lyrics while Conneff keeps the Irish lyrics in play.

The emotionalism of Irish folk music is heard with uncommonly graceful renditions of "Carrickfergus" and "She Moved Through the Fair." Morrison's decidedly mature and raw voice gives these renditions a tinge of time-weathered poignancy and rue which is frequently absent when the songs are performed by singers of a younger and finely-trained voice.

The two new songs created for the recording, "Irish Heartbeat" and "Celtic Ray," are pleasant if not particularly stirring. But their inadequacies are easy to overlook, especially with the closing polka "Marie's Wedding," a sweeping and jolly swish of matrimonial celebration (and listen carefully for the lush back-up vocals from Mary Black, Maura O'Connell and June Boyce).


   Buy the Album: "Irish Heartbeat"

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Celtic MP3s Music Magazine writer, Phil Hall is contributing editor for Film Threat, book editor for the New York Resident, author of "The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies" (MWP Books) and a proud child of Wales.