The Chieftains: Best of The Chieftains

What is there to dislike about The Chieftains? Well there's some of their clothes, I suppose. Although one of the things I find attractive about them as a group is that they clearly have no sense of a band dress code. You see the usual array of plaid shirts and woolly jumpers you'd expect with a folk group, an occasional dodgy wing collar as Paddy Moloney is wearing on the cover of this CD — but always there's Derek Bell (R.I.P.) in a suit and tie, with his comb-over side-parting. That's my kind of small-c catholic.

It was on 7th May 1988 that I saw The Chieftains at the Riverside Studios, with Van Morrison. Amazing concert: more about that another time.

I'd be fibbing if I said I listened to this a lot, but I'm glad I have it when I need it. And it was only — you guessed it — a fiver from Fopp. I think Fopp also sold me The Chieftains' biography at a knock-down price, but I haven't read it yet.

MusicBrainz entry for this album