Album Review: The Long Journey Home
Unisphere Records (BMG), 1998 | 09026-68963-2

by Sarah Adams

This album is the soundtrack for the PBS series from Lennon Documentary Group and Walt Disney Studios, The Irish In America: The Long Journey Home. The music paints a tapestry of the Irish in America. The album features Mary Black, The Chieftains, Elvis Costello, Vince Gill, Van Morrison, Sinéad O'Connor, Eileen Ivers, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Sissel, Irish Film Orchestra and guest appearances from several other artists.

The soundtrack is strong and is a departure from what many will expect of a program about the Irish. The Irish music theme is alive and well throughout the entire score and shows the versatility of Paddy Moloney to marry the image on the screen with the music. His selections of some of the tracks were a good choice and represented the goal of the producer of the film. The orchestration of the music is strong. Two of the tracks were either written by Paddy Moloney or in collaboration with Brian Keane, who also produced the music for the film. The album boasts star power of Ireland's best and Irish-American performers.

The album has a number of tracks that really got my attention. I particularly liked Paddy's Lamentation as performed by Mary Black. It shows the lament of an emigrant who came to America and fought in the US Civil War in the 1860's. The other track that really caught my attention was O'Carolan's Farewell To Music performed by the Irish Film Orchestra and Derek Bell. It is a very poignant and powerful track. Vince Gill delivers a nice performance on The Bard of Armagh / Streets of Laredo track demonstrating how the song would be sung in Ireland and how it changed to suit the Irish experience in America and compelling performances were delivered by Sinéad O'Connor and Sissel. Eileen Ivers demonstrates her prowess on the fiddle on the track, O'Donnell's Lament / Reel With The Beryle. A nice touch to the album is the presence of Gaelic Irish presenting to the listener an example of Ireland prior to the famine and its rich Gaelic heritage in music.

Overall the album is a nice balance of orchestrated music and traditional Irish music and delivers the message of the film to the listener. It is well balanced and the arrangement of the tracks is strong. It is a departure from what is used to hearing from the Chieftains but it demonstrates their vitality as musicians. The album is well done and well balanced. Give it a listen!!