Clannad
In a Lifetime: The Best of
Clannad
BMG 82076 564022; 2 CDs; 116 minutes; 2003
Unlike
a fine claret, the music of the Donegal “Celtic hush” band Clannad has not aged
well over the last twenty years. Nevertheless, BMG seems intent on repossessing
whatever minimal ground the band once held, embarking on a re-issue project
which has so far seen four of its albums from the 1980s back on the racks with
the threat of a further four more from the subsequent decade to follow. So, coming
at the midpoint, In a Lifetime, should offer some suggestion that the
project is at all worthwhile. The answer is emphatically negative. 
Unlike
its predecessor, 1997’s The Ultimate Collection (issued in the same year
as the band’s last proper album release, Landmarks), In a Lifetime
completely ignores Clannad’s formative years, drawing absolutely nothing from
the albums recorded for Philips, Gael-Linn and Ogham in the 1970s. Thus anyone
coming fresh to the band’s music will remain ignorant of its erstwhile marriage
of traditional Irish song and somewhat jazz-inspired arrangements. Nor will
such listeners become aware of their two transitional (and arguably most
influential) Tara albums from the early 1980s, Crann Ull and Fuaim.
Instead,
In a Lifetime throws together a hapless mix of film and TV theme tunes,
duets with has-beens such as Paul Young and Bruce Hornsby and enough deep flock
aural wallpaper to refurbish several mansions. Early purchasers, however, might
be enticed by the promise of a bonus CD, entitled Clannad Chilled (though
“garnished in aspic” might be more appropriate), but don’t be, as it’s even
more turgid than the originals.
This review by Geoff Wallis originally appeared in Songlines - www.songlines.co.uk/.
More information about Clannad can be found at www.clannad.ie/.