Fans and the band members alike claim that the Horslips invented celtic rock which would be true, as Decca didn’t release Thin Lizzy’s version of a traditional Irish ballad, “Whiskey in the Jar”, as a single till 1972, a full two years after the Horslips formed, even though the first Horslips album, Happy to Meet – Sorry to Part, would come out in 1972 as well. It is widely considered to be the first celtic rock album ever recorded. With this, Horslips took the lead in Irish music of the time and created a unique blending of traditional Irish tunes and rock music done Faster Harder Louder. The album’s name itself is that of an Irish jig.
It is said that the band’s name is derived from “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” which the story says was transmuted into “The Four Arsemen of the Horslypse”, and abbreviated for reasons of good taste. I should note that the a horse lip is a facial deformity and the ‘Mad Pat’ song uses that meaning, not the former, in its lyrics. Neither story can be verified by using reliable sources.
But I am here today to talk about one of their later more traditionally oriented albums, Drive the Cold Winter Away.
Horslips was a large band akin to the later Moving Hearts as you can see here: Charles O’Connor–mandolin, fiddle, concertina, Northumbrian pipes, vocals; Jim Lockhart–keyboards, uilleann pipes, flute, tin whistle, recorder, vocals; Johnny Fean–guitar, banjo, vocals; Barry Devlin–bass, vocals; and Eamon Carr–bodhran, Arabian bongo.
I will note that they were an Irish celtic rock group as all of their lyrics and their source material for tunes is almost exclusively Irish, which makes it somewhat odd they used this tune by an English composer of note as the signature piece for this album. Now I admit that John Playford’s Dancing Master of 1651 is a centuries old favourite among the Neverending Session musicians as source for tunes but they will use anything from any tradition so long as they like it.
Track list is as follows: ‘Rug Muire Mac do Dhia (Mary Bore a Son to God)’, ‘Sir Festus Burke/Carolan’s Frolic’, ‘The Snow that Melts the Soonest’, ‘The Piper in the Meadow Straying’, ‘Drive the Cold Winter Away’, ‘Thompson’s/Cottage in the Grove’, ‘Ny Kirree fo Naghtey (The Sheep ‘neath the Snow)’, ‘Crabs in the Skillet’, ‘Denis O’Connor’, ‘Do’n oiche ud i mbeithil (That Night in Bethlehem)’, ‘Lullaby’, ‘The Snow and the Frost are All Over / Paddy Fahey’s', and ‘When a Man’s in Love’.
It mostly features vocals in Irish Gaelic with the notable exception of the final track, ‘When a Man’s in Love’ and ‘The Snow that Melts the Soonest”. The former piece is something that O’Connor had sung live for years before it was recorded for this album. Indeed the band on its official website note they wanted to make this album for over four years!
On whole, the album plays like it’s a cold winter night in our Pub with the Horslips playing music to warm their bones and ours. It is a superb acoustic album with excellent production on the remastered CD (and all of their albums are on iTunes in USA) that was marketed as a Christmas album when it first released but it really is just great Irish celtic rock music which has been toned back a bit. Thirty- five years on, I can still say that few, if any, celtic rock groups that followed are as good as the Horslips are. Yes, they are now back together and still kicking arse!
(Horslips Records, 1975)
Back when they were touring, Charles O’Connor told me that one night in a pub, in the days when the five of them were calling themselves “The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse”, someone dubbed them “The Four Poxmen of the Horsalypse”, and they thought that was so funny they decided it would have to be Poxmen or …Horslips.
Then again, he also told me (when I asked him for a complete list of their albums at a signing), that they had an album called “Love On The Moon”. A few minutes later he tracked me down somewhat anxiously to say they didn’t really; he just thought it was a great title.
So… I’ve always taken it with a grain of salt, but that’s what I was told at first hand.