Track Listing

1. Rising of the Moon
2. (Down by the Glenn) The Bold Fenian Men
3. Johnson's Motor Car
4. Irish Rover
5. Nation Once Again
6. Jug of Punch
7. Whisky, You're the Devil
8. Isn't It Grand Boys
9. Patriot Game
10. I'm a Free Born Man of the Traveling People
11. Mr. Moses Ri-Tooral-I-Ay
12. Gallant Forty TWA
13. Old Orange Flute
14. Royal Canal
15. Whiskey Is the Life of Man
16. Paddy West

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91077 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2002-02-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
These days it's difficult to understand how big the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were in the early 1960s. But the fact that a young Bob Dylan once claimed he was going to be more famous than they were--and then borrowed the melody from their song "The Patriot Game" for his own "With God on our Side"--hints at the level of influence they had. The tracks on The Best of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem were made between 1962 and 1969, and include a well-chosen selection of drinking songs, rebel ballads, and comic turns, most of which were recorded live in various concerts. The quartet belts out these songs with a good-natured gusto that owes more to the Weavers than it does to traditional Irish performance technique, but their renditions of classics like "The Rising of the Moon" and "A Nation Once Again" are still stirring. The group underwent many personnel changes in the years after these recordings were made, but the combination of Tommy Makem and Tom, Liam, and Paddy Clancy was never bettered. --Michael Simmons

Customer Reviews

What are they thinking?
First of all, the title of this CD is somewhat misleading. If you are expecting to hear the "best" of what you might remember hearing from albums released by Columbia in the 1960s, for the most part you will not hear what you expect. Only 5 of the 16 tracks are from originally released lps. Two of the tracks are from a 1967 Irish Uprising box set, which the group, among other contributed to. One track is from 1992's Luck of the Irish CD, although recorded in the 60s, not released until then. The remainder of the tracks are from 1995's Ain't It Grand Boys CD, which again although recorded in the 60s was not released until then.
Secondly, if you happen to own Ain't It Grand Boys, Super Hits, Wrap the Green Flag, and Irish Drinking Songs (all recent CD compilations of 1960s material), you already own every song on this CD. Granted the sound quality is improved, but when one considers that there are over 100 songs officially released by Columbia in the 1960s that have not yet made it to CD reissue, one wonders why Columbia/Legacy insist on re-releasing material that has already been released. It just doesn't make sense.
To add insult to injury, the CD liner notes, as per usual with the Legacy CD reissues is full of errors. The most glaring ones on this release is the reference to two songs being from an album entitled "Live and Lusty" that was supposedly released in 1964, but which, in fact, was never released as Columbia decided to record and release a live album recorded in Ireland instead. One of the songs supposedly from this album is included on the Ain't It Grand Boys CD and there it says it was previously unreleased.
The Clancys deserve much better and perhaps Sony should let someone who knows the history of the group put together the next compilation.

These guys deserve better
The fan fom Las Vegas sums up beautifully how Sony has failed to do justice to this important group. If the Sony Legacy executives ever get the insight and energy to attempt to issue a compilation that actually is the best of, they might consider involving the surviving artists, Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem. It's their art, after all. Insted, we get a falsely-labelled package that is just another piece of big label product timed to meet the March demand for Irish music. It's good stuff because the artists are great, but it is certainly not "the best."

In picking as "the best" mostly outakes released by Sony in the 1990's rather than the original stuff issued and sold in the 1960's, the compilers have ignored great songs (and albums), including (from "The First Hurrah!") The Leaving of Liverpool, The Mermaid, the original and superior Gallant Forty-Twa, (from "The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone") I'll Tell My Ma, South Australia (later covered by the Pogues), the Holy Ground, Rothsea-O, Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?, (from "Isn't It Grand Boys") Galway Races, Nancy Whisky, Galway City and the original and superior version of the title cut, (from "Home Boys Home")Old Maid in the Garrett, New South Wales, Four Green Fields.

Of the 16 cuts on this compilation, 11 are live, but excluded are superior live songs from "A Spontaneous Performance Recording!" (The Moonshiner, Tim Finnegan's Wake, Reilly's Daughter), "Freedom's Sons" (Green in the Green), "Recorded Live In Ireland!" (Wild Rover, Beggar Man, Butcher Boy), "In Concert" (MacAlpine's Fuzilliers, Red Haired Mary). Other great songs MIA: Legion of the Rearguard, Jolly Tinker, Johnny McEldoo, Wild Colonial Boy, Rocky Road to Dublin.

Based on this and the other Clancys/Makem CD compilations it has issued on Legacy, Sony just doesn't know what it has. The fans only hope appears to be that Rhino will take an interest, involve Liam and Tommy and and issue a real compilation under license.

Alas, Out goes the baby with the bathwater
In August of 1995, I saw a very detatched Liam Clancy, leaning on a railing in Milwaukee. I mentioned the recent "Ain't It Grand" release, and Mr. Clancy became extremely animated and proclaimed that, "They were suing Columbia/Legacy over that release."

A year later, brother Paddy said that they had dropped the litigation, since all Columbia's recordings that they made, were, in essence Columbia's property. End of story.

Oddly enough, Columbia/Legacy circled the wagons and left them circled after that little tiff. I am sure that the logistics of defending one's self against a suit are extremely resource heavy. But, two consecutive rehashes of the first five C/L releases tries my patience in extremis!

I recently acquired a new pc with virtually unlimited hard drive, and have succeeded in doing what I had hoped C/L would do. I have transcribed to hard disc, every Clancy/Makem recording from "Spontanious Performance" to "Flowers Of The Valley", including a rather neat re editing of the two record "Easter Rebellion" album. Does this mean that I will never again purchase a Columbia/Legacy release of "Clancy/Makem Treasures"? NO!

I am secretly hoping for a massive compilation, similar to the Simon & Garfunkel re issue. That would be, all the basic Columbia albums from 1961 to 1970, with little recordings like "Young Cassidy" and "Brennan On The Moor" and "The Bonny Earl Of Moray" included. If you are contemplating such an undertaking, please, communicate with us who hunger. Don't cling to re releasing the same nucleus of songs, time and time again. Take any one of five "live" albums and re issue them the way you did Pete Seeger. We'd die for a taste of that! You are sitting on a treasure trove of music. Please, share it with those who truly appreciate it!

Thank you.