Celtophilia

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Artist: The Counterfeit Bards
CD: Bard From This Hall

Bonnie declares: The Counterfeit Bards are a Celtic/Renaissance band from Oklahoma, featuring a wide variety of instruments and vocals on their CD, Bard From This Hall.

Before I go any further I feel compelled to recite this spiel - music is infinitely subjective, one person’s Beethoven is another person’s Milli Vanilli, and so on. This happens to be (half) my blog, so I’m going to write what I think, and give it to you straight. Or crooked, or diagonal, or however the heck I feel like it, so there.

Now I bet you think I’m going to be wretched and say I don’t like the album.

Well, I didn’t say you were entirely wrong.

The Counterfeit Bards are an average Ren faire type band. The instruments are great, and the vocals are okay, hitting highs of “hey, I like that.” and lows of “sheesh, really?” Expect standard renditions of traditional songs, without a surfeit of personality or innovation.
Haste to the Wedding/Irish Washerwoman is an enjoyable instrumental piece. It’s a complex arrangement without being overly crowded, and it’s executed well.
The poor recording quality on Cruel Sister had me straining my ears to pick out the lyrics from underneath the far more strident instrument sounds. I’m disappointed by this because I think there were pleasant vocals going on somewhere in the background.
I could not believe that The Water Is Wide only lasted four minutes and twenty three seconds. Make of that what you will, Celtophiles.
Although there were glimpses of brilliant voices from time to time, and the musicianship was excellent, I was bored through most of the album. I think The Counterfeit Bards have a lot of talent, but this CD frustratingly does not live up to their potential.

Mike proclaims: I really like the instrumental parts of this CD, although it’s clear that the wind instrument could have done with better recording. There is a shrillness and airiness to it that isn’t very pleasing. The male vocals are quite nice throughout, but I had a really ahrd time picking out the words on The Water Is Wide and Jesuitmont. This may have again been a fault of the recording.
For the most part, I had trouble getting into this one. My favorite track on the CD by far was the last one, The Parting Glass. I’ve heard this song done dozens of ways, and it remains a favorite. The harmonies just sort of hit, and the music stays out of the way and lets them shine. I wish that more of the album had been like this!
Like Bonnie, I think this CD represents some unfulfilled potential. These guys have been performing since 1999, and no band lasts that long without some really great stuff going on. Bard From This Hall was recorded in 2004, and I would really love to hear what a disc from these guys recorded now would sound like.

If you want more info about The Counterfeit Bards, check out their website at counterfeitbards.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Contemporary Celtic Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.