Reviews for The Chieftains - The Making of The Long Black Veil (1995)
Amazon.com The Chieftains reached a pinnacle of Celtic crossover success with their 1995 CD The Long Black Veil, featuring guest appearances by rock and pop icons like Mick Jagger, Sting, Van Morrison, and Sinead O'Connor. Fans of the CD may find the DVD a wee bit heavy on the blarney at the expense of the music, however. While the disc offers backstage glimpses at some of the recording sessions for the CD, it leans heavily on interviews, ruminations, and voiceovers by various Chieftains (mostly leader Paddy Moloney) and guests (variations on "why I wanted to work with the Chieftains" and testimonials on Moloney's velvet-hammer powers of persuasion), and reduces the songs to mere snippets. Some of the most notable guest artists, like Jagger and Morrison, are missing altogether. So fans hoping for a video version of the CD may be disappointed, though diehard Chieftain devotees will learn a lot about the band's work habits and enduring vision. --Anne Hurley
