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To Drive the Cold Winter Away

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Released
  
1987

To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987)
  
Parallel Dreams (1989)

Release date
  
1987

Label
  
Quinlan Road

Length
  
44:29

Artist
  
Loreena McKennitt

Producer
  
Loreena McKennitt

Genre
  
Folk music

To Drive the Cold Winter Away httpsimagesnasslimagesamazoncomimagesI6

Similar
  
Loreena McKennitt albums, Folk music albums

To Drive the Cold Winter Away is Loreena McKennitt's second album, released in 1987. It pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which “came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and tradition.”

Contents

To capture that remembered ambiance, McKennitt kept the arrangements sparse, celebrating the beauty of simplicity. She also chose to leave the found sounds of life in the performances, which were recorded on location in churches and great halls:

  • The Church of Our Lady in Guelph, Ontario, Canada
  • Glenstal Abbey, A Benedictine Monastery near Limerick, Ireland
  • Annaghmakerrig (The Tyrone Guthrie Centre) in County Monaghan, Ireland
  • Loreena mckennitt in praise of christmas


    Track listing

    1. "In Praise of Christmas" (traditional) – 6:06
    2. "The Seasons" (traditional) – 4:55
    3. "The King" (traditional) – 2:04
    4. "Banquet Hall" (McKennitt) – 3:53
    5. "Snow" (Archibald Lampman, McKennitt) – 5:35
    6. "Balulalow" (traditional) – 3:09
    7. "Let Us the Infant Greet" (traditional) – 3:46
    8. "The Wexford Carol" (traditional) – 6:07
    9. "The Stockford Carol" (McKennitt) – 3:02
    10. "Let All That Are to Mirth Inclined" (traditional) – 6:52

    Song information

  • "The King" features vocals by Cedric Smith. Shannon Purves-Smith plays Viols on two other tracks. Everything else was done by McKennitt.
  • "Snow" uses the words of the poem of the same name by Archibald Lampman. It was included on a Windham Hill Records album titled Celtic Christmas (1995).
  • Songs

    1In Praise of Christmas6:06
    2The Seasons4:52
    3The King2:06

    References

    To Drive the Cold Winter Away Wikipedia