Numbered 180g LP!

Broadening her focus toward a more eclectic range of Celtic-related subjects, and following her attendance at an international exhibition of Celtic artefacts in Venice, Loreena McKennitt's writing on her fourth album The Visit, takes on the form of musical historical travel writing. A multimillion-selling success around the world, this 1991 recording recasts Loreena's early influences in an inventive and contemporary light.

Its nine self-produced tracks range from a haunting version of "Greensleeves" sung "as I imagine Tom Waits might have done it" and a stirring instrumental "Tango To Evora" to the heartrending traditional balladry and proto-environmentalism of "Bonny Portmore" and, finally, one of Loreena's best-loved creations, a gorgeously melodic setting of Tennyson's epic Arthurian poem "The Lady Of Shalott."

"The Celts knew, as we are re-learning now, the importance of a deep respect for all the life around them," Loreena explained. "This recording aspires to be nothing so much as a reflection into the weave of these things. I have long considered the creative impulse to be a visit – a thing of grace, perhaps, not commanded or owned so much as awaited, prepared for. A thing, also, of mystery. This recording endeavors to explore some of that mystery."