Alan Stivell: Chemins de Terre (1973)

I reviewed one of Alan Stivell’s other albums, Renaissance of the Celtic Harp on this website, because that album was truly far better than the usual Celtic harp albums you come across (I have also a CD from a well-known Irish folk group, The Chieftains called The Celtic Harp from 1993 that included the Belfast Harp Orchestra, and there’s no doubt about it that the Alan Stivell album absolutely clobbers the Chieftains album by a long shot, but then I’m not the biggest Celtic music fan out there, and Stivell made Celtic music much more palatible to my taste). But Alan Stivell had a rather eclectic career, ranging from traditional to rock, to prog rock, to symphonic, to (especially in the mid 1980s) New Age.

Well, in 1973 he released the album Chemins de Terre, which also received a German release under the title Attention! (meaning if you already own Attention!, you have Chemins de Terre). This album is much more rock-oriented than Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, electric guitar is more dominant, but still with plenty of Celtic instruments like Scottish highland bagpipes, whistles, fiddles, bombarde (Breton double-reed instrument), etc. Stivell also sings on most of the cuts, singing in the language appropriate to these songs (Irish and Scots Gaelic, Welsh, English, Breton). The whole first half of the album consists of traditional British Isles folk music (Irish, Scots, Welsh), the first piece being the Irish “Susy MacGuire”. There is no mistaking the Celtic feel of this song, with vocals in Irish Gaelic, with mandolin, and electric guitar. The song actually starts getting more proggy at the end as guitarist Dan ar Braz gives some almost Pink Floyd-like guitar! Next comes the instrumental Scottish “Ian Morrison Reel” (apparently credited to someone named P. McCleod). It’s about as Scottish as they come, with some really mindblowing intense fiddle playing and Highland bagpipe playing, and you also get to hear some wild drumming (that reminds me something Dave Mattacks would do), and electric guitar. This certainly would not please folk purists (but neither did the folk purists took to well to Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965), but Alan Stivell wasn’t trying to do that, he was basically operating in a similar vein to such well-known English acts as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, but in a pan-Celtic context. Next comes the very often covered Irish folk song, “She Moved Through The Fair” (that every traditional folk group from Ireland and Britain, Fairport Convention included had to do a cover of). It’s a rather slow ballad dominated by Stivell’s Breton Harp, and he seems to have little trouble with the English language (since he wasn’t from an English-speaking country). Next is the traditional Welsh song “Can y Melinydd”. I have heard versions of this song sung by a choir, but this version sounds like a Welsh version of Steeleye Span or The Pentangle (without female vocals), with great vocal harmonies and use of banjo and fiddle. Then comes “Oidhche Mhaith”, which is Scottish, sung in Scots Gaelic. Piano is rather dominate with a nice choral feel. Then comes the second half of the album, which is all covers of traditional Breton material, aside from one cut. Here you get the chance to hear Breton vocals! First is “An Dro Nevez”, which is an instrumental piece, dominated by bombarde. “Brezhoneg’raok” is the only piece on the album penned by Alan Stivell. Here he dropped his Celtic roots for full-on prog rock, with electric guitars. It’s really cool to hear a prog rock song sung in a Celtic language, specifically Breton (I am certain Stivell picked up on the prog rock scene, as France was much more friendly to prog than say, Ireland, and France have gave us groups like Gong – well partially, Magma, Pulsar, Atoll, Mona Lisa, Carpe Diem, etc.). “An Hani A Garan” harkens back to Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, since the harp is the dominant instrument, except there are vocals here. “Kimiad” is the closing piece which, while not a favorite of mine, actually features a little Mellotron, really unusual to hear that instrument in Celtic music, but he did!

Certainly this is a great album to start if you’re not familiar with Alan Stivell!
– Alan Stivell: Celtic harp, lead vocal, bagpipes, Irish flute, Mellotron, kettle drum, Harmonium
– Gabriel Yacoub: acoustic guitar, banjo, dulcimer, psaltry, vocal
– René Warraner: fiddle, vocal
– Pascal Stive: organ, piano
– Jean-Luc Hallereau: bass, vocal
– Dan ar Braz: acoustic and electric guitars, vocals
– Michel Santangelli: drums
– Marie Yacoub: spoons, vocals
– Elyane Werneer, Mireille Werneer: vocals
– Michel Delaporte: tablas
– Bagad Bleimor: bagpipes, bombarde, Scottish drums