Choose one of the items below to find out what existing customers are
saying about Grey's recordings.
Reviews for The Green House, Larsen’s first recording with Paddy League
"I would like to say quite simply that is album is superb in every way. Great playing by both Larsen and League. My favorite track is the 11, the medley starting with 'Sweet Isincara.' I used to play classical flute in high, and listening to Grey play has inspired me to take it up again, though this time with a simple system irish flute.
"I heartily encourage anyone who likes good irish music to get this album. You won't regret it. It is good duo playing at its finest."
- Anton Emery
"I grew up listening to Grey Larsen's traditional music albums such as Banish Misfortune and First of Autumn. What I found in The Green House is something entirely different and beautiful.
Larsen and League have done something very unique here in traditional music. Through brilliant performance and production they have incorporated the intimacy of a solo album with the energy and innovation of a "trad band" and the precise evocation of a string quartet. The tracks are mostly in the traditional format of sets of tunes in like form (e.g. jigs), but they go far beyond letting the tunes speak for themselves. They create an entire ambiance of sound in which the tunes live--primarily traditional in instrumentation and performance, but entirely purposeful in their intent and virtuosic implementation.
Don't expect a session tape here. There is nothing informal about The Green House. At times you will be moved to tap your feet or dance, especially as Paddy League rips loose on the goat skin. But you will also be moved into more contemplative moods by Larsen's masterful interpretation of traditional tunes such as The Wind That Shakes the Barley followed by his own Dusk Among the Willows on track 4.
At the end of the CD, after a long gap, there are some old recordings of Larsen and friends interviewing Michael Kennedy, an Irish immigrant and accordion player playing, speaking and singing. These are wonderful in the way they tie the new to the old through Kennedy's recounts of how he learned his tunes as a boy near the turn of the century in Ireland, especially as we realize that the tune Kennedy plays is also played by Larsen on track 3.
I highly recommend this album. 5 out of 5 stars. A gem."
- an Amazon.com customer from Bloomington, Indiana, November 24, 2001
Reviews for The Orange Tree, Larsen’s recording with André Marchand
"This CD is a wonderful collaboration between Quebec and Ireland. ... Andre Marchand is currently the greatest name in Quebec music. He fronts and plays in many bands and is a great representative of his music. ... This CD combines traditional tunes from both cultures with originals written by both Marchand and Larsen and with Quebec folk songs. Instruments include flute, concertina, voice and guitar. The sound is gentle and playful and altogether beguiling. It is immediately accessible to anybody and I recommend it without reserve. The song Qui Me Passera le Bois is especially beautiful.
5 out of 5 stars. A wonderful collaboration."
- monkeygod6, an Amazon.com customer from Seattle, Washington, May 13, 2002
Reviews for earlier recordings with Malcolm Dalglish and Metamora
"This album is a true classic. This is a must-have album for lovers of celtic, instrumental, and hammer dulcimer music. With me, as for many early fans, this was the album that introduced me to celtic music.
Often labeled as "new age" because "Banish Misfortune" is instrumental, it is a forerunner of that genre. This music is not synthesized or electronic, but instead consists of virtuoso performances of traditional Irish tunes. While this album is melodic, it is not especially mellow. Most of these are dance tunes, and as such are played at dizzying tempos that inspire one to motion more than to meditation. Highly recommended!
5 out of 5 stars. A classic!"
- ericnewhaven, an Amazon.com customer from New Haven, Connecticut, September 15, 2003
"I first heard Malcolm Dalglish and Grey Larsen in a little club in Ohio in the late 1970s, and was a dedicated fan of theirs from then on, up through the time they joined with Pete Sutherland to form Metamora. ... Dalglish's hammer dulcimer playing is exquisite, and Larsen is an expert on virtually every other instrument known to man. Thunderhead is my favorite of all their albums; their trademark combination of airy grace, sinuous melody and poignant harmonies is, to my mind, heard to better effect here than on any other album they ever made (and their other albums are great!).
5 out of 5 stars. Lovely, fresh, and graceful."
- Miles D. Moore, an Amazon.com customer and Top 500 reviewer from Alexandria, Virginia, August 29, 2000
"I first purchased this album on vinyl way back in the 80's. Since then, I must have bought at least five more copies, for myself and to give as gifts. It has consistently been among my top ten favorite albums of all time.
The music, while "folky," is also fresh and exhilarating, wonderfully arranged and performed. Malcom Dalglish has a way with the hammered dulcimer equalled by few, and the vocal and instrumental lines often form an intricate tapestry which is truly a delight to hear.
If you are at all interested in folk music, or just good music which can stand the proverbial "test of time" I highly recommend this album, as well as all of the Metamora/Dalglish oeuvre.
5 out of 5 stars. A real treasure!"
- drewster, an Amazon.com customer from Long Island, New York, May 12, 2000
"Dalglish and Larsen were the core that later became Metamora. These are two incredible musicians. Dalglish is one of the best hammer dulcimer players in the world, and combines brilliantly with Larsen's melodic flute (and other instruments). This is an album I never tire of.
5 out of 5 stars. One of the best folk albums of all time."
- an Amazon.com customer from Seattle, Washington, December 5, 1998
"Anyone from the Mpls/St. Paul will be familiar with their song "Little potato," often played on the am public radio program. This album is a mixture of accoustical and vocal selections perfect for background music. Some of the songs are so outstanding that you may wear out the replay button on your CD. The last track on the album, Endless Chain, recounts the imagined conversations of quilts calling out their names as they flap on the clothesline, richly accompanied by varous strings and dulcimer, which builds to an amazing, layered climax of harmonies and words, much as if all the hands that created the quilts were all in the same room on a phenomenal quilting bee. I cannot properly do it justice, but if accoustical {and augmented} folk is your taste, this album is really worth buying. Mine gets played at least once a week and I've had it for years.
5 out of 5 stars. Indespensible folk selection."
- an Amazon.com customer, November 23, 1998