EXPERIENCE THE ENDURING LEGACY OF HORSLIPS WITH THE NEW 5 DISC SET HORSLIPS – AT THE BBC
4CD + DVD SET COMPRISING LIVE PERFORMANCES, BBC TV FOOTAGE AND RARE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
Few bands have left as distinct a mark on the musical landscape as Horslips. Emerging in the early 1970s, they more or less created ‘Celtic Rock’, drawing from Irish traditional music and British/American rock, crafting a sound that was both timeless and radical.
The BBC captured the band in the 1970s and again during their unexpected Indian summer return in the 2010s. At The BBC gathers these vital recordings – spanning nearly 50 years – into one definitive collection.
Disc 1 (1973–74) – Live BBC performances from Radio 1 In Concert, Old Grey Whistle Test, and John Peel Show, capturing Horslips’ early energy and innovation.
Disc 2 (1979–2019) – A 1979 Radio 1 In Concert set, a 2010 unplugged session, and their final 2019 recording, Sideways to the Sun.
Disc 3 (2011) – The BBC Radio Ulster mix of their orchestral concert with the Ulster Orchestra, featuring The Táin, The Book of Invasions, and I’ll Be Waiting.
Disc 4 (1979 Bonus Disc) – Unreleased Short Stories, Tall Tales studio mixes from Windmill Lane.
Disc 5 (DVD) – Old Grey Whistle Test clips, 1974 documentary footage & 2011 fan-shot concert videos.
Disc 1 begins the journey in 1973–74, landmark years in which Horslips took their fusion of mythology and musicianship to the airwaves and concert halls of Britain. Included are performances from Radio 1’s In Concert, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Radio 1’s Sounds of the 70s, 2nd House (BBC 2) and Radio 1’s John Peel Show, showcasing the group in full flight, brimming with invention and zeal.
By 1979, fresh from the inevitable hard slog of trying to conquer America, Horslips returned to Radio 1’s In Concert with a set that captured their ability to fit in with the times and the power of their live performances. Disc 2 continues with an unplugged ‘comeback’ session from 2010 and a BBC NI performance in 2019 of ‘Sideways to the Sun’ – written about magical Irish beings disappearing from mortal sight – which would, perhaps fittingly, prove to be their last official recording.
Disc 3 presents Horslips’ unique 2011 performance with the Ulster Orchestra at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, in its previously unreleased BBC Radio Ulster broadcast mix. Including epic suites from classic albums The Táin and The Book of Invasions and fan favourites like the eight-minute ‘I’ll Be Waiting’, a showcase for late guitarist Johnny Fean (d. 2023), many – including band members – view this concert as Horslips’ finest hour (and a quarter).
Disc 4 is a bonus disc, comprising recently discovered 1979 ‘working mixes’ of the album Short Stories, Tall Tales, recorded at Dublin’s Windmill Lane. They offer an intimate glimpse into a band in transition, shifting from the US FM rock that had influenced recent albums towards the spikier, sharper British New Wave sound.
At The BBC is completed by a DVD bringing together clips from The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1974 documentary material and magical fan footage of two songs from the 2011 Waterfront Hall concert, synced to sparkling BBC audio.
Presented in a deluxe hardback book package with rare photographs and extensive liner notes by band biographer Mark Cunningham, legendary BBC producer Jeff Griffin and curator Colin Harper, At The BBC is a celebration of a band whose influence still echoes through the decades. The mastering is shared by Eroc in Germany and band associate Cormac O’Kane who mastered the acclaimed 2023 Horslips box set More Than You Can Chew.
Horslips – 50th Anniversary Box Set
More Than You Can Chew
Out Now!
ORDER NOW
The standard set comprises of:
- 33 CDs containing 506 audio tracks – 252 of which (16 hours) are previously unreleased
- 2 DVDs containing 59 video tracks (and two documentaries) – of which 42 (4½ hours) are previously unreleased
- 2 books – On The Record (a lavish new history of Horslips) and Lyricography (have a guess)
- 5 vintage 8 x 10 photos each signed individually by all five members
- 1 folder of fan club facsimiles from the 70s
- 1 poster
Limited to 250 copies, and only available online from Burning Shed and the band’s official store, the More Than You Can Chew boxset plus a numbered and individually signed (by Charles O’Connor) 514mm x 672mm poster of the Horslips’ second ever gig is also available.
Horslips’ More Than You Can Chew – a stunning 35 disc box set overflowing with music, film and printed matter encapsulating their entire career is out now!
On St Patrick’s Day 1972, Horslips released their debut 45, ‘Johnny’s Wedding’ – in a single bound, inventing Celtic rock – with a press launch at Captain America, a Dublin diner. Over the next eight years they toured the world, recorded 12 albums and collapsed in a heap with a last hurrah at Belfast’s Ulster Hall in October 1980. After lying in darkened rooms for a week or two, the five members – Eamon Carr, Barry Devlin, Johnny Fean, Jim Lockhart and Charles O’Connor – got on with their lives, enjoying many adventures in the worlds of music, media, U2-mentoring and bric-a-brac retailing in the Whitby area. In 2004, the Fab Five found themselves onstage in Derry with a bijou skiffle set at a fan-curated memorabilia exhibition. The love in the room was overwhelming. Over the next five years, Horslips recorded a reunion album and made a handful of Irish TV and radio appearances until, in 2009, they ran out of excuses and opened the doors to the general public with sensational arena concerts in Belfast and Dublin. Twenty-nine years – the longest tea-break in history – gave way to a ten-year victory lap, undertaken at a leisurely pace with huge smiles and glad-handing all round. The Indian summer concluded by stealth at the end of 2019 – retrospectively announced in October 2021 – the legendary beast gently felled, like much else, by lockdown. Fans were glum yet grateful for a comeback that had outlasted the career proper. Like the Spanish Inquisition, no one in the fan community was expecting a box set the size of a tombstone, or a tombstone the size of this box set. Fans can now be even more grateful – if considerably poorer.
The set has been curated by Bert Jansch/John McLaughlin biographer (and longstanding Horslips fan) Colin Harper in close collaboration with the band members. The audio, including most of the film audio, has been restored and (re)mastered by IFTA award-winning engineer Cormac O’Kane. Herculean Horslips biographer Mark Cunningham has written the books, with fresh input from the band, and, wearing his day-job designer hat, has lovingly designed the set under the oversight of Horslips’ de facto art director Charles O’Connor.
In addition to the previously unreleased content, More Than You Can Chew includes two albums new to any digital medium: Tryal (1983) by the Host (a post-Horslips band featuring Eamon, Johnny and Charles) and Breaking Star Codes (1983) by Barry Devlin.
