Altan - The Best of Altan

(1997) 16 tracks: Tommy Peoples / The Windmill / Fintan McManus's * Moll Dubh A'Ghleanna * Jimmy Lyon's / The Teelin' / The Red Crow / The Broken Bridge * The Sunset * Glory Reel / The Heathery Cruach * The Flower of Magherally * Mazurka * A Bhean Udai Thall * King of the Pipers * Si Do Mhaimeo I * The Jug of Punch * The Emyvale / Ril Gan Ainm / The Three Merry Sisters of Fate / An Mhaighdean Mhara * Dulaman * Drowsy Maggie / Rakish Paddy / Harvest Storm * An Feochan.

BONUS CD - 8 tracks: Con Cassidy's / Neil Gow's Highland / Moll and Tiarna / McSweeney's * The Yellow Tinker / Lady Montgomery * Thug Me Ruide * Ta Mo Chleamhnas A Dheanamh * The Curlew / McDermott's / Three Scones of Boxty / Unnamed Reel * Tuirse Mo Chroi * Paddy's Trip to Scotland / Dinky's / The Shetland Fiddler * Johnny's Wedding / Rogue's Reel / The Gravel Walk.

Packaged together with a bonus CD of the band recorded live in Germany in January 1989, The Best of Altan provides a companion compilation to the previously released Altan - The First Ten Years. The nine songs and seven tunes chosen for this collection thoroughly illuminate the breadth of talent in this band, highlighting each member's individual virtuosity as well as the overwhelming strength of their arranging skills.

Undiluted and uncompromised, the music of Altan is all that Irish music ought to be: full of heart, imagination, unwavering respect for the tradition, and a mystical quality lying beyond the reach of words.

Altan has thrice won the NAIRD Indie Award for Celtic / British Isles Album of the Year (The Red Crow in 1990, Harvest Storm in 1992 and Island Angel in 1993). They've also earned three Album-of-the-Year selections from the Irish Echo, Best Traditional or Folk Act of 1993 from Dublin's Hot Press magazine, and the Best Traditional Act of 1994 category in Ireland's National Entertainment Awards.

Featuring Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, Frankie Kennedy, Ciaran Curran, Mark Kelly, Donal Lunny, Paul O'Shaughnessy, Phil Cunningham, Colm Murphy, Steve White, Marie Askin, Dermot Byrne, Seamus Quinn, Garvan Gallagher, Ciaran Tourish, Tommy Hayes, Liam O'Maolai, Daithi Sproule, Steve Cooney and Anna Ni Mhaonaigh.

"The best Irish traditional band active on either side of the Atlantic" (Irish Echo, New York)