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Here are just a few of the great Celtic CD's out there! The ones listed here are available online from Amazon Books, for pretty good rates too. Most orders are shipped within a couple of days, and the expected ship date is listed with each music CD title. Although I try to keep up to date with the prices listed here, Amazon Books can change them within a moment, so double check the price when you place your order. Celtic Musical CD's   The Visit Loreena McKennitt / Wea/Warner Brothers / Released April 14, 1992 Ships within 2-3 days Amazon Price: $13.99, Savings: $3.98 (22%) One of the first CD's I bought of Loreena McKennitt's, and since then I have bought everything she's ever done! This particular release of hers has the famous "The Lady of Shalott" rendition, an 11 minute long song full of beautiful singing and lovely harping by Loreena. It truly does justice to Tennyson's poem, although during one interview Loreena is said to have regretted putting nearly the entire poem by Tennyson to music...just her luck that the most requested song is a grueling 11 minutes of singing and harp playing! ;-) The rest of the album is also wonderful to listen to, with some purely traditional pieces, and some new, with most of it having quite a Celtic flavour to it. Other tracks that are my favorites are "Bonny Portmore", "All Souls Night", and "The Old Ways", a song full of wild longing and mystery. Just a great all round CD! (-Cari) The Book Of Secrets Loreena McKennitt / Wea/Warner Brothers / Released September 30, 1997 Ships in 24 hours Amazon Price: $13.49, Savings: $5.49 (29%) Loreena's newest CD release, this has on it the popular "The Mummers' Dance", which you may have heard on the radio. True to her tradition, Loreena has also included an old traditional poem in this release, this time it's "The Highwayman", which she plays urgent and taut with the coming doom of the lovers. This release also has a blend of other cultural sounds in it, all woven together to make a very unique sound...I always tend to call this sound "gypsy music", although having never heard gypsy music I'm sure it's just a romantic idea on my part. ;-) But the wild sounds, the very mysterious and folk-ish instruments and such in there, just leaves me thinking of wild dancing by the firelight. (-Cari) A rare CD with at least a half-dozen haunting Celtic melodies which can be considered "favorites" and played over and over. Miss McKennitt's voice has a very rich, beautiful quality, and the supporting musicians and their arrangements are exceptional. There is also an intriguing, and very catchy, instrumental piece with distinctly middle eastern overtones. This is one of few CD's you won't think of returning, even after listening to it many, many times. (-Hal) The Mask And Mirror Loreena McKennitt / Wea/Warner Brothers / Released March 22, 1994 Ships in 24 hours Amazon Price: $13.99, Savings: $3.98 (22%) This release has a lovely song on it called "The Bonny Swans", which is from an old folk tale or series of folks tales in which one sister drowns another for the love of a man. When the drowned sister's body is washed ashore, a harper passing by makes a magical harp from the strands of her hair and such, and takes the harp to her father's court, and there the harp plays by itself and tells of the betrayal. It is a wonderful haunting song, and has a sort of sorrow to it when Loreena sings it. Other of my favorites on this disk is "The Mystic's Dream", which although totally instrumental, is a wonderful swirling melody that also reminds me of 'gypsy music'. As always Loreena blends many sounds and music styles together to make a very strong emotional statement...I don't quite know what to call it...it's not folk music, not new age, not traditional, not wholly Celtic...yet the final flavour is definitely a blend of the exotic, and I think the wildness and the haunting quality of a lot of the songs certainly makes her music a must for the 'Celtic inclined.' ;-) (-Cari) The Celts Enya / Wea/Warner Brothers / Released June 27, 1995 Ships in 24 hours Amazon Price: $13.99, Savings: $3.98 (22%) This a good introduction to Enya's type of music, with a nice blend of both traditional and 'new age' material. For those not familiar with Enya, she is one of the sisters from Clannad, but left to pursue her own style of music. She usually arranges and plays the instruments for her own songs, layering the sounds and her voice over and over for a very ethereal sound. She also sings a lot of songs in Irish, which is sort of a nifty thing to hear...although I don't understand a word of what she's singing without the lyrics in front of me, it sure sounds great! ;-) (-Cari) Shepherd Moons Enya / Wea/Warner Brothers / Released November 19, 1991 Ships in 24 hours Amazon Price: $13.99, Savings: $3.98 (22%) This is a great one by Enya, with my favorite song being either "Marble Halls" or "How Can I Keep From Singing". As usual, Enya's voice is like crystal, very pure and light. I think this release has a more magical feel to it than "The Celts", to me it has a very mystical flavour and I think the name Shepard Moons definitely suits it. It does feel like moonlit nights or pools of water with moonlight reflected in them. :-) (-Cari) The Memory Of Trees Enya / Wea/Warner Brothers / Released December 5, 1995 Ships within 2-3 days Amazon Price: $13.99, Savings: $3.98 (22%) I think the best song on this album would be "Anywhere Is" to me, it has a very neat rhythm to it. It sort of 'spins' or 'turns', it reminds me of a carrousel ride or something. But it has such a happy feel to it that all I can think of is spinning around and around in the sunlight. Definitely a nifty song. :-) As always, Enya's music sounds like it should be background music for some epic saga...and it often is! A lot of Enya's songs are used from everything from car commercials to movie soundtracks, they have a wonderful ambiance and feel to them. :-) (-Cari) The Best Of The Chieftains The Chieftains / Sony Music / Released January 28, 1992 Ships in 2-3 days Amazon Price: $11.97 I haven't heard this release by the Chieftains myself, but wanted to include it here as sort of a mix for folks not sure what to try by them. The Chieftains have just tons of CD's that you can buy, certainly more than I can ever put down in a list! So this one would probably be good for someone just wanting to give them a taste, and see if they like their stuff. :-) They are a traditional Irish sort of band, and they play extremely well together...it's obvious that they're having fun and that they enjoy the music they're playing. Of course, being a huge harp fan myself, the lovely harp that Derek Bell plays with it's beautiful decorations doesn't hurt, either. ;-) (-Cari) Celtic Wedding The Chieftains / Bmg/Rca Victor / Released February 24, 1998 Ships in 24 hours Amazon Price: $14.99, Savings: $1.99 (12%) I do have this release by the Chieftains, and I had to include it in the list here. It's full of traditional Celtic dances and songs from various areas, such as Breton Cornwall, Leon country, and Vannes. All the songs are played in sort of a loose order, or so it seems, where you go through the various stages of a Celtic wedding...there's the solemn parts where they would have maybe proclaimed their love for each other, the rollicking part that they would have perhaps played afterwards in wild celebration. My favorite song is called "Heuliadenn Toniou Breizh-izel", and it's great...just rollicks along, a wonderful song for dancing too! It's a very fun CD. :-) (-Cari)  Can't find the book you're looking for? 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