Horslips

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HORSLIPS THE TÁIN~~Concerning the Táin. Ireland's most exciting saga is, undoubtedly, Táin Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), the centrepiece of the Ulster cycle of Heroic Tales. Normally referred to as "The Táin", it deals with the conflict between the forces of Connacht and Ulster for the possession of a prize bull. The events of the Táin are estimated to have taken place in Ireland approximately 500 B.C. The earliest written version of the Táin known to us is contained in the Book of the Dun Cow, which dates from the 12th century. Before this the story was kept alive by storytellers. Two other manuscript versions are also available; the 12th century Book of Leinster and the 14th century Yellow Book of Lecan. The Táin, as Ireland's equivalent of the Aeneid, has long intrigued historians, academics and writers. The Story One night in bed, the promiscuous Connacht Queen, Maeve, quarrels with her husband Ailill. They argue over who has the most wealth. Ailill doesn't like the suggestion that he's a kept man."Her words were sharp they cut him deep, in a war between the sheets".Ailill's magnificent White Bull is the deciding factor in which their subsequent measuring of possessions. Maeve's a bad loser. MacRoth, her messenger, goes to Cooley to rent the famed Brown Bull for a year, thus giving Maeve the decider. "I once told her where she could find her dream."The Bull's owner is agreeable until MacRoth and his party get very drunk and reveal that had they not been allowed to borrow the bull they would have taken it by force. The deal breaks down. They go home empty handed. Maeve decides on war. Having marshalled all her warriors, and allies from Munster and Tara, and with Ailill's six brothers and their armies standing by, Maeve receives favourable omens from her Druids. The long march to Cooley begins. "The Champions and the Seven Sons are come to take away the Donn". However, a sorceress appears and warns Maeve of impending defeat at the hands of Dearg Doom, Cu Chulainn. "Saw the host stained red in war, saw the hero-light around the head of a dragon-boy." The warning is ignored.Meanwhile the men of Ulster are ill with labour pains, the legacy of a curse put on them for their inhuman treatment of a pregnant woman. The one man exempt from this curse is Cu Chulainn, whose very birth is shrouded in mystery. Single handedly he takes on the defence of Ulster, harassing Maeve's soldiers, "And like a hawk I’ll swoop and swoop again" beheading those who stray from the main force. "You can hear me shout 'two heads are better than none, one hundred heads are so much better than one!'"Cu Chulainn is a hard man. Originally called Setanta, he became known as Cu Chulainn - the Hound of Culann, because of his savagery. As the Connacht losses grow greater, the deposed King of Ulster, Fergus Mac Roich, who is having a secret affair with Maeve, meets Cu Chulainn and arranges a treaty. Cu Chulainn agrees to single-handed combat with any Connacht champion provided Maeve's army does not advance. One by one, day after day, he defeats each warrior until eventually he faces his old foster-brother and close friend, Ferdia. Cu Chulainn pleads with Ferdia to leave. "But Ferdia just laughed and shook his golden head and then they fell to battle again." For three days they fight at a ford and appear evenly matched until on the third day Cu Chulainn flies into a rage and lets loose his super-natural javelin, the terrible Gae Bolga, which destroys his friend. As Ferdia falls, Cu Chulainn catches him and carries him to the riverbank lamenting. "Life was a game, Now I miss your name; your golden hair." Then overcome by despair Cu Chulainn abandons the fight. Maeve's army moves south with the stolen bull. The Ulstermen rally and with Cu Chulainn back in their ranks they give chase. "But before you hit off, let me say this time you bit off more than you can chew!"The Morrigan, Queen of Demons, who has been encouraging slaughter all along prophesies the outcome. In the battle which follows, the Connacht army is routed. "It seems our fortunes lied despite our gain. Our tears fall like our pride." Maeve's life is spared by Cu Chulainn. As the Ulstermen are taking the Brown Bull home they meet Ailill's Bull, the White-Horned One. The Donn immediately attacks the White. "You can fool them alright but can you fool the beast?" All day and night they are locked in combat. Morning sees the Donn victorious. The armies consider destroying him, the cause of all their suffering, but leave him as, dying, he staggers homewards.
The Tracks
Setanta
Maeves Court
Charolais
The March
You Can't Fool The Beast
Dearg Doom
Ferdia's Song
Gae Bolga
Cu Chulainn's Lament
Faster Than The Hound
The Silver Spear
More Than You Can Chew
The Morrigan's Dream
Time To Kill
~HORSLIPS THE TÁIN|WOU7039|~1662~13953~~

HAPPY TO MEET SORRY TO PART (re issue)~~Horslips had recorded their first two singles (released only in Ireland on their Oats label), Johnny's Wedding and Green Gravel, at Trend Studios. Eamon Andrews Studios was the other prime recording location in Dublin at that time. (Ian Whitcomb and Bluesville had recorded their American hit You Turn Me On there in the mid-'60s). For their debut album Horslips wanted the up-to-date facilities of a London studio but didn't relish the idea of clocking in and out every day. So they hired The Rolling Stones mobile (the one they'd used for Exile On Main Street) and installed it at Longfield House which they'd rented in County Tipperary. This splendid old building had been the home of Bianconi, the man who introduced the first commercial transport system (horse-drawn carriages) to Ireland centuries earlier. Visiting journalists testified that, yes, reports that the rambling old house was haunted were indeed correct. The album was recorded during the autumn of '72. Bales of straw were borrowed from a local farmer to act as baffles in the makeshift studio which had been erected in a drawing room. Soon mites, tics and other insects crawled out of their nests to check the action. The band itched. Thanks to the generosity of Paul McGuinness, the acoustics in the room were further improved for recording by the donation (on loan) of the stage curtains from the Trinity College Players (Dublin) theatre. Some instruments were recorded in the cellars. The title track was recorded, audio verite, in the library. Everything was mixed at Olympic Studios in London. The Eagles were recording there at the time. Johnny, who celebrated a birthday there, met Jimmy Page. French rocker Johnny Halliday visited the studio. And Stones saxman Bobby Keys came to hang. The album was on the racks in Ireland within weeks of being completed. In his book Race Of Angels, Ireland And The Genesis Of U2 (The Blackstaff Press), John Waters recalls hearing An Bratach Ban for the first time:-"This was not merely a rocked-up version of a traditional tune, but a reinvention of the medium for a different version of history. It was as though we were being given a glimpse of what the radio might have sounded like if the past eight hundred years had happened differently. It was as though the underground stream of Irish music culture - the way it might have been - had suddenly erupted through the ground into the living rooms of early seventies Ireland. Horslips changed the history of Irish popular music, and possibly much more besides....."
Tracks
Happy to meet...Hall of MirrorsThe Clergy's Lamentatoran Breathnach BánThe Shanrock ShoreFlower among them allBum istoigh ag olFurnitureAce and deuceDance to yer daddyHigh reelScalloway ripoffThe minstrel priest Sorry to part~HAPPY TO MEET SORRY TO PART|4245|~1662~13951~~

THE RETURN OF THE DANCEHALL SWEETHEARTS -2 DVD~The reTURN OF THE DANCEHALL SWEETHEARTS- DVD~This is a film about a rock and roll band,about what they did and how they did it, and about how doing it at all affected an awful lot of people.For the ten years that was the 70's Horslips ploughed their unique musical furrow from their home base in Ireland into mainland Europe and on into America.Dvd1 A feature film about Horslips against the backdrop of the 1970's Ireland Running Time 135 minutesDvd 2 19 Rare performances 1973-1979Tracks include Furniture.Bím Istigh, Dearg Doom, Faster than the hound, Charolais, Maeve's Court, The Snakes farewell to the Emerald Isle, King of the Fairies, Ny Kiree Fo Nachty, Mad Pat, Blindman, Johnny's Wedding, Trouble with a Capital T, The man who built America, Guests of the nation, Loneliness, Shakin' all over.Running time 75 minutes All regions compatible (cert E)~THE RETURN OF THE DANCEHALL SWEETHEARTS DVD|MOO26|~1662~10830~Horslips the return of the dancehall sweethearts~

ROLLBACK-CD~Rollback inc 15 Re-Recorded Classics and Bonus 4 track Enhanced Cd and 16 page booklet~When Horslips released their first single - Johnny's Wedding - on St Patrick's Day in 1972 and followed it up with the album Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part that same Christmas they turned rock music in Ireland on its head. The band's fusion of traditional Irish tunes with original lyrics and driving rock rhythms served them well through no fewer than twelve albums of which the best known are probably The Táin, The Book Of Invasions and The Man Who Built America.By the time they finished touring in October 1980 the band - Eamon Carr, Barry Devlin, John Fean, Jim Lockhart and Charles O' Connor - had entertained an entire generation of Irish kids. But it wasn't just the ballrooms of Ireland that rocked to the Dancehall Sweethearts. Horslips toured ceaselessly in Britain, Europe and America, their last US tour taking place in the spring of 1980. Today all albums continue to sell well and the band's anthemic single Dearg Doom is known to a whole generation of clubbers who weren't even thought of when Horslips was in its pomp.So why did the band go back into studio in Grouse Lodge this summer and put down fifteen tracks for Rollback the first new Horslips release in almost 30 years? Jim Lockhart, Horslips flautist and keyboards player explains. "It's kind of an unplugged album. We were always pretty loud and on the nail, cos we were hugely into performance. But when we were writing these songs all those years ago, they all had other possibilities, other ways they might have developed, other musical paths they might have taken. And we've explored those this time round. So for instance, The Man Who Built America has reverted to the waltz time in which it was originally written, Trouble is a skinny blues lurch.. and so on." Charles O' Connor, the band's fiddle, mandolin and concertina player says: "It's been extraordinarily exciting for us to get back together and revisit and re explore these tunes. We hope that comes across on the album.."Rollback is set for release on November 26 and features 15 tracks + Bonus 4 Track Enhanced CD + 16 Page Booklet. The DVD Return Of The Dancehall Sweethearts - a history of the band through its entire career from 1970 to 1980 - is due for release early next year.Tracks1.Trouble with a capital t 2.The man who built America 3.Guests of the nation 4.Faster than the hound 5.Huish the Cat 6. Mad Pat 7.The Wrath of The Rain 8.Flirting in the Shadows 9.Cuchulainin's Lament 10.Ace and Deuce 11.Blindman 12.Funiture 13.The Power and The Glory 14.Long weekend 15.My Love is in AmericaBonus Cd 1.Flower among them all 2.Furniture 3.The Musical Priest/ high reel 4.Trouble with a Capital t Recorded live in The Orchard Gallery Derry march 2004Video section ~ROLLBACK-CD|MOO23|~1662~9645~HORSLIPS ROLL BACK~