Customer Reviews

Moving Hearts

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The first Moving Hearts album was in some ways a continuation of Donal Lunny and Christy Moore's work with Planxty and the Bothy Band, but it also moved traditional music on by light years in so far as it showed how traditional, rock and jazz music could be successfully blended.

The band continued, in one form or another, for five or six years after this release, but they never came close to the peaks they achieved on this record.

I've been trying to get hold of this record on CD for some time now, and it's a crying shame that subsequent less musically successful albums are readily available, but the one that defined their sound can hardly be got for love nor money.

If you think you know Moving Hearts' sound from "Dark End of the Street" or "The Storm", you have to find this first record to hear where that later stuff was coming from. The more people demand it, the more justice will be done to the original concept of Moving Hearts.

How this Band were formed and where the musicians came from, has never really been explained in depth. In time to come and I hope it's soon, someone will write a book about it because, "What a Band"!
The singing of Christy Moore was well known through his solo and Planxty days, but this was a whole new concept. 1981 was when it all happened, as far as I was concerned, when this album hit the airwaves and the Hearts were playing live in the Baggot Inn in Dublin. It was like music had been reinvented for me, as these guys were on a par with anyone.
Davy Spillane had perfected his travelling ways on the Uilleann Pipes and as Finbar Furey once said, "Liam O' Flynn was a very traditional piper, I,(Finbar)was a bit of a rebel, but Davy was like the devil himself on the pipes'!! Jim Page's Hiroshima Nagasaki, is the first song and it will show you on this their first album, the level of musicianship and how high the bar was that they had set for themselves. How could they possibly live up to this? Yet song after song they did it. The albums, and they are few, are something that many of us "Heart" fans will take with us through life. Their music was superb, their influences showed through sometimes and influenced us. A set of songs on here that are still fantastic today. This is music to be cherished and passed on to others. Be an influence yourself. Find this music and pass it on to others. They will thank you for it. Somehow "the Suits" will have to sit up and take notice and re-release this and the other albums by Moving Hearts.

Why is it that the defining album of the band is unavailable? By his own admission, Christy Moore said that thet were up against it from the start with the release of Moving Hearts. It encapsulated the change in his and Donal Lunny's music, whilst still containing all that is best of their traditional music and moves the politics of Planxty into the twentieth century.

This is possibly Moving Hearts finest album.In fact it is their finest.Dark End Of The Street was only ok mainly because it was too Declan Sinott influenced.The Hearts Live was badly recorded and sounded like a third rate album despite the great tunes and songs also Mick Hanley was now in the driving seat as vocalist instead of the bold Christy Moore.Theres history in the songs chosen,as it was around the time of the H Block hunger strikes and The Hearts were great supporters of their cause.I have this cd for manys the year.I find it unbelieveable to see the price of it here when I have seen it in Bargain Bins here in Cork for a song.In fact if anyone out there wants an original copy from the bargain bin just let me know,i'll pick a few up and send them on.I'd give it 10 stars.