{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox album | name = A Spontaneous Performance Recording | type = live | artist = The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem | cover = The_Clancy_Brothers_and_Tommy_Makem_-_A_Spontaneous_Performance_Recording_LP.jpg | alt = | released = August 1961 | recorded = 5 March 1961 | venue = | studio = | genre = Irish folk music | length = 30:45 | label = Columbia <br />CL 1648 (mono) <br />CS 8448 (stereo) | producer = Bob Morgan | prev_title = The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem | prev_year = 1961 | next_title = Hearty and Hellish! | next_year = 1962 | misc = {{Singles | name = A Spontaneous Performance Recording | type = live | single1 = The Moonshiner"/"The Whistling Gypsy | single1date = | single2 = Tim Finnegan's Wake"/"Reilly's Daughter | single2date = }} }} {{Album ratings | rev1 = Allmusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}} [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=mw0000311299|pure_url=yes}} link] | rev2 = Billboard | rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}} <ref>{{cite journal|title=Pop LP's: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem|volume=73|issue=31|journal=Billboard Music Week|date=Aug 7, 1961|page=28}}</ref>}}
'''''A Spontaneous Performance Recording!: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem''''', sometimes simply called '''''A Spontaneous Performance''''', is a 1961 collection of traditional Irish folk songs performed by The Clancy Brothers with frequent collaborator Tommy Makem. It was their first album for Columbia Records.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Morgan|first1=Bob|title=A Spontaneous Performance Recording: Album Liner Notes|url=http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d13_spontaneous.htm|accessdate=1 June 2014|archive-date=29 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329205436/http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d13_spontaneous.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The group would continue to record for Columbia for the remainder of the 1960s. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1962 for Best Folk Recording.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grammy Awards 1962 (Note: The self-titled album nominated is better known by its subtitle, ''A Spontaneous Performance'')|url=http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1962-214.html|publisher=Awards & Shows|accessdate=19 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602005611/http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1962-214.html|archive-date=2 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Spontaneous Performance Recording Page|url=http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d13_spontaneous.htm|website=The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem Website|accessdate=1 June 2014|archive-date=29 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329205436/http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d13_spontaneous.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zhito|first1=Lee|title=Disk Firms Vie for NARAS Honors: RCA Victor Leads List of Grammy Nominations|journal=Billboard Music Week|date=May 5, 1962|volume=74|issue=18|page=4}}</ref>
The LP had originally been considered a self-titled album with "A Spontaneous Performance Recording!" merely a description of the record for the cover. It is referred to as ''The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem'' in the original reviews<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gros|title=Album Reviews: The Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem|volume=223|issue=12|journal=Variety|date=Aug 16, 1961|page=44}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Pop LP's: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem|volume=73|issue=31|journal=Billboard Music Week|date=Aug 7, 1961|page=28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Folk Trails: Trio Still Popular, If Shook Up|agency=Toronto Daily Star|date=16 Dec 1961|pages=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Shelton|first1=Robert|title=Disks: Two Hues|agency=New York Times|date=Aug 12, 1962|pages=X10}}</ref> of the album and for its Grammy Nomination.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zhito|first1=Lee|title=Disk Firms Vie for NARAS Honors: RCA Victor Leads List of Grammy Nominations|journal=Billboard Music Week|date=May 5, 1962|volume=74|issue=18|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Grammy Awards 1962 (Note: The self-titled album nominated is better known by its subtitle, ''A Spontaneous Performance'')|url=http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1962-214.html|publisher=Awards & Shows|accessdate=19 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602005611/http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1962-214.html|archive-date=2 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> It later became known as ''A Spontaneous Performance Recording'' to avoid confusion, because the group already had released a less popular album entitled ''The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem'' on the little Tradition Records label that Paddy Clancy ran.
One of the leaders of the American folk music revival, Pete Seeger, played the banjo on the recording. In 2007 on the BBC, influential folk singer and songwriter Christy Moore chose the song, "Brennan on the Moor," from this album as one of his desert island discs. He introduced the song by noting, "The Clancy Brothers changed my life," because through them he discovered a love for Irish folk music.<ref>{{cite web|title=Desert Island Discs: Christy Moore|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007ptxs|website=BBC|access-date=13 June 2014|date=17 June 2007}}</ref>
==Reception==
A review in ''Variety'' praised the album's style as "exciting because it isn't yet overdone." It also lauded the "lively" musical accompaniment of Seeger and Bruce Langhorne and the singing of the live audience on the album. Even though the reviewer noted that the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were only starting to get prominent live gigs at that point, he said already "the group was built along solid pro lines."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gros|title=Album Reviews: The Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem|volume=223|issue=12|journal=Variety|date=Aug 16, 1961|page=44}}</ref>
The ''Billboard Magazine'' review rated the album with four stars and noted its "strong sales potential." After referring to the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem as an "Irish Brothers Four or Kingston Trio," the article praised the group's "delightfully droll manner" and "spirited interpretations" on the recording.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Pop LP's: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem|volume=73|issue=31|journal=Billboard Music Week|date=Aug 7, 1961|page=28}}</ref>
''The New York Times'' lauded the album for its "vigor and drive and charm," but also criticized an apparent speeding up of the recording that "distorts the group's natural sound" and made the singers sound too much like American pop groups.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Shelton|first1=Robert|title=Disks: Two Hues|agency=New York Times|date=Aug 12, 1962|pages=X10}}</ref>
In a more specialized review of folk albums, D. K. Wilgus argued that this record "demonstrates that general respect for tradition may survive in a stage concert for a major label." He also expressed the opinion that ''A Spontaneous Performance'' was at about the same level as the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem's self-titled album on Tradition Records that was released earlier the same year.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wilgus|first1=D. K.|title=Record Reviews|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|date=April–June 1962|volume=75|issue=296|page=180}}</ref>
==Other releases and reissues==
In 1961, side one of ''A Spontaneous Performance Recording'' was released as an EP, ''The Moonshiner''. Side two was also released in EP format as ''Tim Finnegan's Wake''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Discography: EP Releases|url=http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d05.htm|website=The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem|accessdate=2 June 2014}}</ref>
In 2009, Sony Legacy reissued the entire album in mp3 format for download.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Spontaneous Performance Recording|url=https://www.amazon.com/Spontaneous-Performance-Recording-Clancy-Brothers/dp/B001UFQQNE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401667583&sr=8-2&keywords=spontaneous+performance|website=Amazon|accessdate=2 June 2014}}</ref> In 2012 Jasmine Music re-released ''A Spontaneous Performance'' as part of the four-album collection on two CDs, ''Raise a Glass to the Sounds of...The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem'', which also included the albums, ''The Rising of the Moon'', ''Come Fill Your Glass with Us'', and ''The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Raise A Glass To The Sounds Of.... Four Original Albums|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sounds-Original-ORIGINAL-RECORDINGS-REMASTERED/dp/B009CZTG1I/ref=pd_sim_m_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZQVNP4PWQQ7K2YNMGWJ|website=Amazon|accessdate=3 June 2014}}</ref> In addition, selections from the album were released on CD as part of ''The Clancy Brothers Collection 1956-1962'' in late 2013. This compilation also includes the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem's second Columbia record, ''The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone'', as well as the group's earlier Tradition Records albums.<ref>{{cite web|title=Collection 1956-1962|url=https://www.amazon.com/Spontaneous-Performance-Recording-Clancy-Brothers/dp/B001UFQQNE/ref=https://www.amazon.com/Collection-1956-62-Clancy-Brothers/dp/B00EPMCJGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1401669206&sr=1-1&keywords=clancy+brothers+1956-|website=Amazon|accessdate=2 June 2014}}</ref>
Several songs from this album have appeared on various Clancy Brothers compilation recordings.
==Track listing==
All songs are traditional and were adapted and arranged by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, except "A Jug of Punch" and The Whistling Gypsy, written by Leo Maguire
{{Track listing | headline = Side one | extra_column = Lead vocals | title1 = The Moonshiner | extra1 = Tom Clancy | length1 = 2:37 | title2 = The Whistling Gypsy | extra2 = Tommy Makem | length2 = 3:51 | title3 = My Johnny Lad | extra3 = Paddy Clancy | length3 = 1:59 | title4 = The Work of the Weavers | extra4 = Liam Clancy | length4 = 2:23 | title5 = The Old Orange Flute | extra5 = Tommy Makem | length5 = 3:05 | title6 = Brennan on the Moor | extra6 = Tommy Makem and Tom Clancy | length6 = 2:32 }} {{Track listing | headline = Side two | extra_column = Lead vocals | title1 = Tim Finnegan's Wake | extra1 = Tommy Makem | length1 = 2:05 | title2 = Port Lairge | extra2 = Liam Clancy | length2 = 2:37 | title3 = Haul Away Joe | extra3 = Tom Clancy | length3 = 2:07 | title4 = Young Roddy McCorley | extra4 = No solos | length4 = 2:32 | title5 = A Jug of Punch | writer5 = Francis McPeake - arranged by P. Kennedy | extra5 = Paddy Clancy | length5 = 3:15 | title6 = Reilly's Daughter | extra6 = Tommy Makem | length6 = 1:42 }}
== Personnel == * Paddy Clancy - vocals, harmonica * Tom Clancy - vocals * Liam Clancy - vocals, guitar * Tommy Makem - vocals, tin whistle * Pete Seeger - banjo * Bruce Langhorne - guitar<ref>{{cite web|title=A Spontaneous Performance Recording: Album Cover Listing|url=http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d13_spontaneous.htm|website=The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem Website|accessdate=1 June 2014|archive-date=29 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329205436/http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/cbtm_d13_spontaneous.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
{{The Clancy Brothers}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spontaneous Performance Recording}} Category:The Clancy Brothers albums Category:1961 albums Category:Columbia Records albums Category:1960s in Irish music