PRECIOUSLY few Irish bands can compare in both virtuosity and versatility with Solas, a quintet of truly dazzling individual talents. Multiple All-lreland champion Séamus Egan plays no fewer than eight instruments, John Williams is a gifted button accordionist and the only American ever to win the coveted All-lreland senior concertina title, Winifred Horan weaves deft classical touches with an earthy passion in her fiddling, Karan Casey possesses a crystalline voice that can soar like no other, and John Doyle provides faultless guitar rhythms throughout. But the sum of Solas is far greater than their impressive parts, combining to produce a marvelously spirited and textured sound rich in imagination, innovation, and tradition. They are the most exciting Irish band to emerge in many years - as this stunning debut album attests. - Earle Hitchner, Irish Echo April 1996 Tracks1 Side A NÍL Na LÁ2 The Flowing Bowl3 Máire Breathnach's #14 The Doon5 The Mason's Men6 The Newry Highwayman7 The White Petticoat8 Stan Chapmans9 The Miller's Maggot10 I Wonder What's Keeping My True11 Love Tonight12 The Yellow Tinker13 Cranking Out14 Master Crowley's #215 Side B Dougie MacDonalds16 Máirebreathnach's #217 The Antrim Rose18 Atlantic Waves19 Toss the Feathers20 Johnny's Gone for a Soldier21 Gan Ainm22 The Humours of Whiskey23 Leslie's March24 Lament for Frankie25 Timmy Cliffords26 The Return Home27 O'Ot Be Est Da Vong28 John Joe Caseys
