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Afro Celt Sound System: Volume 4 - Seed

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Afro Celt Sound System
Title: Volume 4 - Seed
Released: 2003.03.28
Label: Real World
Time: 68:04
Producer(s): Simon Emmerson
Appears with: Peter Gabriel
Category: Pop/rock
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2003.06.20
Price in €: 16,99
Web address: www.afrocelts.org

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Cyberia (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel) - 7:41
[2] Seed (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel/N.Kouyate) - 6:25
[3] Nevermore (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel/N.Miranda) - 4:45
[4] The Other Side (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel/N.Kouyate/Mass) - 7:01
[5] Ayub's Song/As You Were (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel/A.Ogada) - 7:31
[6] Rise (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel/Myrdhin) - 3:06
[7] Rise Above It (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel/N.Kouyate/E.Enright) - 10:11
[8] Deep Channel (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel) - 6:48
[9] All Remains (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel) - 7:30
[10] Green [Nevermore Instrumental] (S.Emmerson/J.McNally/I.ÓLionáird/M.Russel) - 5:57

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Afrocelts are:
SIMON EMMERSON - Bouzouki, Guitar, Mandolin, Keyboards, Programming, Vocals, Producer
JAMES MCNALLY - Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Programming, Whistle, Producer, Bodhran, String Arrangements, Low Whistle, Bamboo Flute
LARA Ó LIONÁIRD - Vocals, Additional Producer
MARTIN RUSSEL - Keyboards, Programming, Producer, Engineer, Mixing
N'FALY KOUYATE - Vocals, Kora, Balafon, Standing N'Goma Drum
MYRDHIN - Harp
MASS - Keyboard, Drum Programming, Shaker, Additional Producer, Engineer, Mixing
JOHNNY KALSI - Percussion, Drums, Tabla, Okedo-daiko, Hand Percussion
MOUSSA SISSIKHO - Djembe, Talking Drum
EMER MAYOCK - Uillean Pipes

Guest Musicians:
RON ASLAN - Additional Programming
NATALIA BONNER - Violin
JESSE COOK - Flamenco Guitar
LAURENCE COTTLE - Bass
VALERIE ETIENNE - Vocals
ALI FRIEND - Double Bass
MARTIN HAYES - Fiddle
SHARLENE HECTOR - Vocals
EILEEN IVERS - Lead Fiddle
MICHELLE JOHN-DOUGLAS - Vocals
PETE LOCKETT - Bongos, Darbouka, Taiko Drums
NINA MIRANDA - Vocals
MUNDY - Lead Vocal
AYUB OGADA - Nyatiti
SCREAMING ORPHANS - Vocals
HILAIRE PENDA - Bass
HOSSAM RAMZY - Tabla, Shaker, Mazhar
LUCY THEO - Viola
PAUL TURNER - Bass
KATHERINE WATMOUGH - Violin
ROSIE WETTERS - Cello
JAH WOBBLE - Bass

IAN COOPER - Mastering
CULANN MAC CÁBA - Engineer
MARC BESSANT - Art Direction
TONY STILES - Graphic Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2003 CD Real World 81508



Aided by nearly two dozen guest musicians, this effort from the Afrocelts (aka the Afro-Celt Sound System) veers off in a slightly different direction from previous releases. Still present are the multi-culti layers of sound, the club-friendly beats, and the ethereal vocalists. What's missing is some of the hyper-kinetic energy and heavy drum presence that helped the first few Afro-Celt releases grab their audiences; in their place is a gentler, more soothing feel. Fiddler Eileen Ivers and flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook both make major contributions to the colorations of this new sound, while never quite upstaging the core bandmembers.

Stacia Proefrock - All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2003 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



In 1996, the Afro-Celt Sound System formed a sound clash that mixed Irish music, dance floor grooves, West African percussion, and the kora. While there were highlights, often with help from high profile singing guests like Sinead O'Connor and Peter Gabriel, the albums were fragmented. Now the members have shortened their name to the AfroCelts for their forth album, declaring that the Sound System isn't applicable because they've evolved into a more conventional and fully formed group. The change sounds radical, but it's really just a refinement in their working relationship and songwriting skill. Consequently, Seed holds together more strongly as an album. The songs are more consistently crafted and sonically rich here, with different voices and instruments coming to the fore, but never outshining the greater whole. Highlights include the blues slide guitar-driven title track, the wholly acoustic (which is a first!) and Irish jig-inspired "Ayob's Song/As You Were," and the Radiohead-influenced "All Remains."

Tad Hendrickson - Amazon.com



The Afro Celt Sound System has now shortened its name, with Seed acknowledging that the metamorphosis into a fully functioning band has now been completed. Since forming in 1995, producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson's remarkably stable gathering has become strongly identified with the whole global, hippy, ambient rave culture. The only problem is that that's become something of a dated concept, musically. For their fourth album, the Afrocelts are given a homogenised production that smoothes all their diverse elements down into a global composite, removing any spiky protuberances. For an album that's largely the product of acoustic musicianship, it sounds remarkably one-dimensional in terms of its middle-ground textures. Space is lacking between each instrument, producing a thick wall of sound.

The band's previous album, Volume 3: Further in Time, featured guest vocals from Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, but now the band's regular singers are given prominence. Iarla O Lionaird's vocals hover in the heavenly realms, while N'Faly Kouyate operates at a more earthly, earthy level. There's still no shortage of exuberant instrumental guests, with flamenco guitar by Jesse Cook, a duet vocal for the Brazilian Nina Miranda and Irish fiddling from Martin Hayes and Eileen Ivers. "The Other Side" pulses swiftly, built around a frenetic drum work-out, and "Deep Channel" has a liquid bassline, with Emer Maycock's uillean pipes flitting around its trouncing beats. Sadly though, the epic "Rise Above It" ends up being derailed by guest singer Mundy's Bono-like straining.

Martin Longley - Amazon.co.uk



An example of what can happen when cultural bridges are crossed, and borders erased...Seed supports the universal truism that there's more to be gained by unity than division.

CMJ New Music Report



‘…the Afro Celts leave the emphasis on programmed beats and grooves to their scores of imitators and capitalise on their stellar reputation as one of world music’s-and, it must be said, the world’s-top live acts…Probably one of the albums of the year.’

Songlines (UK)



'Seed has a gentler laid-back feel, the soothing voice of sean nos singer Iarla O Lionaird as always an outstanding feature.'

What's On (UK)



'...a collection of tight, amazing epic workouts... the best record of their career so far.'

Classic Rock Society (UK)



'Yes, it sounds exactly likes the Afro Celts are supposed to... but the team is moving away from its own template, sounding less like a team of programmers and more like the unit that plays, jams and improvises live. Perhaps dropping the Sound System tag has really made them more of a band.'
Rating (out of 5):

Mojo (UK)



"This 10-piece band continues to make hypnotizingly beautiful music that utilizes everything from traditional guitar, percussion and keyboards to uilleann pipes, kora and bodhran.'

Detroit News And Free Press, USA



‘The Afro Celt Sound System returns after its hit album Volume 3: Further In Time with a new, simplified band name-Afro Celts-and a superb follow-up record. All 10 songs on the new disc are originals, and collectively, they exceed whatever expectations Further In Time may have fostered. Afro Celts have yet to create a full-length that didn’t offer an essential track for dance fans, Seed delivers a trio of tunes destined for dance floors: "The Otherside," "Rise Above It" (Featuring Eileen Ivers' fiddle), and "Green Instrumental." For a memorable encounter with uilleann pipes, cue up "Deep Channel" and catch Emer Mayock's furious solo. In a more measured vein, Iarla O'Lionaird offers a beautiful vocal performance on "Ayub's Song/As You Were," a tune that, in addition to being melodically wonderful, truly exemplifies the African/Celtic musical sympathy that was the original inspiration for Afro Celts.'

Billboard (USA)



Arts

'...a characteristically electric mixture of guest performances, from flamenco guitar to Nina Miranda's deliciously cool neo-bossa vocals. The delicate instrumental interplay, though, is given space to be more than just contrast for the big beat.'

The Daily Telegraph (UK)



The Play

'The Afro Celts finally sound like a fully fledged band rather than a clever studio project.'

The Times (UK)



'The result is cohesive, classy and will satisfy die-hard fans as well as winning over a few cynics.'
'...the centrepiece of the album is Rise Above It, an epic track featuring the vocals of Irish rock singer Mundy, an amazing virtuoso fiddle performance by Eileen Ivers and a cacophonous finish with N'Faly Kouyate's powerful African chants and Ms. Dynamite's backing vocalists trading celebratory overtures.'

HMV Choice (UK)



'Global-beat pioneers Afro Celt Sound System change their name and go organic with this latest offering...they're liberated from the domination of machine-defined programming and, brimming with new confidence...a whole new level of songwriting comes to the fore in the aptly-named Seed, burgeoning with new beginnings... It's dreamily meditative, it's sweepingly orchestral, it's beaty and dancey...Synergistic blendings of slide guitar and uilleann pipes, kora and fiddle, jigs and jives burst out of the grooves in an unbelievable multi-layered swirl of sound...do your ears and preconceptions a favour and buy this album.'

BBC Radio 2 Folk & Acoustic Reviews (UK Internet)



'...the world-travelling outfit has undergone a revolution and forsaken sequencers and programmed beats for real playing, real instruments...years of touring has turned the Afro Celts into... a band. In the wall of sound, Iarla O'Lionaird's voice remains astonishing.'

Scotland On Sunday (Scotland)
 

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