"Faugh-a-ballagh" is Gaelic for "Clear the way." It is also the motto of the
Royal Irish Regiment, a long-lived British military unit that in 1993 spawned a popular band. This first volume of four in The Royal Irish Series finds the band, with its bugles, pipes, and drums, playing a lot of traditional Celtic and British folk music, including such familiar tunes as "The Minstrel Boy" and "Danny Boy." The arrangements are varied, from a sole bagpipe player to a full band, so it doesn't just sound like a St. Patrick's Day parade all the way through. This is the most traditional of the four volumes, however, and delivers more of the sort of Irish music one would expect than subsequent volumes. ~ William Ruhlmann