“Their heyday is gone but their importance has grown – this is a reminder of what an inspirational band they were”: Horslips At The BBC

In the early 70s Horslips’ modus operandi was to ally their love of The Beatles, Jethro Tull and Deep Purple with the tunes, instrumentation and legends of traditional Irish music. As guitarist Barry Devlin once said, the aim was to “make it grand rather than little.”

There was no guarantee that the Dublin band would make the blend work –but they did so, and in suitably grand style, as this collection of BBC sessions shows.

An In Concert broadcast from 1973 features music from their concept album The Táin, ambitiously based on an Irish saga thought to date back to 500BC. On Ferdia’s Song, violin and tin whistle are seamlessly integrated into the full band sound. It segues into Dearg Doom in which hard rock riffing hints at jig-like forms.

And from another contemporaneous session, Faster Than The Hound weaves Celtic themes into a tune that nods back to The Beatles’ psychedelic heyday. Typically, these BBC recordings from the early 70s are pretty unadorned sonically, but they make up for that with spontaneity and energy.

An In Concert from 1979 includes tracks from another concept album, 1977’s Book Of Invasions: A Celtic Symphony (which breached the UK Top 40) and 1978’s The Man Who Built America (which snuck into the lower reaches of the Billboard charts). The material was just as strong, particularly The Power And the Glory with its fiddle lines and swirling keyboards.

A bonus disc features alternative mixes of their last album Short Stories, Tall Tales, from 1979. Here a more straight-ahead melodic rock approach yields some decent tracks – but the magic is in short supply. After much hard slog and no significant commercial breakthrough, they decided to call it a day.

There’s a stylistic overlap between Horslips and Thin Lizzy, and they were an acknowledged inspiration to U2. But maybe their failure to approach that level of popularity was because, while they had four serviceable vocalists in the band, none had the charisma of Lynott or Bono.

Horslips and Ulaid - Slán Le Máigh/Sideways to the Sun - YouTube

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But that isn’t the end of the story: Horslips caused a stir by reforming for an orchestral concert in 2011 in Belfast. Recorded by Radio Ulster, the vivid orchestrations add fine detail and great heft to songs from Book Of Invasions and The Táin.

Their last recording, 2019’s Sideways To The Sun, has a poignant valedictory feel emphasised by uilleann pipes, and there’s also a DVD featuring a Whistle Test session and a documentary film.

Horslips’ heyday is long gone, but their importance has grown and this set is a reminder of just what an inspirational band they were – and still are.

Live At The BBC is on sale now via Madfish.