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Iona is by no means one of the music
world's giant acts, but the team has earned itself an undisputed reputation over it's thirteen year existence that has made music critics - both secular and Christian - ooze enthusiastically with superlatives. This
collectors box-set, essentially covering the 'Early years', carries four albums and over 4 hours of music and celebrates the beginnings of that rich heritage, a musical history that abounds with passion,
intensity, professionalism and spiritual depth.
Disc 1
constitutes Iona's self-titled inaugural recording, initially released in 1990 to huge acclaim, eight tracks given a remix for this box-set. In attempt to define their style, comparisons were variously made with Yes and
the Moody Blues, and with sounds from Clannad, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel! General concensus was, however, that Iona's music is thoroughly unique and innovative, and extremely difficult to classify - containing as it
does, elements of rock, jazz, classical, folk.....and a few other genres to boot!
The band's second album came out in 1992 under title Book of Kells. This
was directly inspired by the famous 8th Century manuscript of the four Gospels, written in Latin (its meticulous and strikingly beautiful calligraphy was as much an act of worship as of art). Hence this thematic project
is an exploration of the life of Christ, with all it's emotions and intense drama. The stunning, edgy 12-min survey of 'Matthew - the Man' in essence denotes Iona's music as a whole....'powerful rhythmic
sections, atmospheric passages, the use of traditional acoustic instruments in conjunction with electronically created sounds, tightly arranged and also improvised sections and of course Joanne's haunting vocal and
incredibly evocative lyrics'.
The remarkable thing about Iona is that each new album they come out with conveys music and
moods that are fresh and inventive. Disc 3 - Beyond These Shores - the title of which Joanne believes may have been audibly given to her by God, was
released in November '93, and covers many contemporary topics such as suicide, miraculous protection, and healing......these interspersed with instrumental pieces of gentle inspiration based on the life of 6th Century
Brendan (who, it is believed, with a company of monks, made a boat out of leather and wood and set out to discover the promised land, believed to be America).
The fourth and final disc - Dunes
- contains material not previously released - essentially a mixture of collector's memorabilia, including a set of short instrumental pieces ('Snowdonia - Land of the Ravens') written for a TV nature series back
in '93 and now extensively reworked, and a delightfully upbeat set of jigs and reels which the band have been playing at gigs for some time and which show they're not in any way afraid to let their hair down and have a
bit of fun!
The recordings come in a book-form gift set, accompanied by a 60-page souvenir booklet packed with literally
scores of photos, track-by-track commentary, original recording details, and press quotations for each album. Strangely, song lyrics are not provided - a disappointing omission for a band who emphasise song-content.
Nevertheless, there's no doubting that this is a masterful volume, and a feast for any music lover. Admittedly not cheap, The River Flows
is nonetheless a prize you will value for many a year to come.
Review by tom lennie - August 2002 |
