Customer Reviews

Tain

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Horslips - The Tain

Tracks are:
1. Setanta
2. Maeve's Court
3. Charolais
4. The March (part 1)
5. The March (part 2)
6. You Can't Fool the Beast
7. Dearg Doom
8. Ferdia's Song
9. Gae Bolga
10. Cu Chulainn's Lament
11. Faster Than the Hound
12. The Silver Spear
13. More Than You Can Chew
14. The Moriggan's Dream
15. Time To Kill

This is the original and out of print older version of this album on CD. A nice collectible piece for the Horslips fan that has everything, but for a first time fan I recommend picking up the newer remaster on Demon records which was released under direct supervision by the band after they
reacquired their back catalog.

Great stuff by a great band: one of the best folk rock records ever made.

This album is a great gem that nobody in the US probably heard of. Coming out of Ireland Horslip's third album is an amazing listen that reminds one of Jethro Tull at some points, but pulls away from that idea to create a great concept album. The story is of Irish mythology, one trying to prove they are the richest in the land with a prize bull, or something along those lines, but that's not important. The album pulls you in with a wonderful melding of Irish folk sounds and great rock. The band unfortunatly didn't last very long, and one should consider listening to some of their other work. If your a fan of progressive rock, Jethro Tull, and concept albums, this is highly recommended.

I did not enjoy this album as much as "book of invasions" which was my intro to the group. As much as the irish tilt is evident and the music is good, it lacked the theme quality of "invasions". Still, it carried the consistency of its irish rock genre. I was uncomfortable with several song lyrics, but that's just me.

This classic Celtic band that preceeded U2 had the imagination and mastery of setting tales to music, and "The Tain" by Horslips is a disc that no rock 'n roll enthusiast should ignore. Full of hard driven rock, gentle melodies, and songs that tell a story, this collection could make you roll your eyes and ask yourself how you missed it, thirty plus years ago. It is (roughly) an hour of music that you will enjoy again and again, as if it is a new release. ROCK ON !

Not as whimsical as 1972's 'Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part', Horslips managed to produce, in 1974, the best if not the only Irish folk-prog-rock album. They sound rather like Tull at times, but by 74 Tull were sounding boring most of the time. This is more like 'Aqualung' crossed with early Lindisfarne. AMG says it's possibly the most advanced concept album ever, being based on Celtic myth cycles. Who cares. Just get this album,and if you think it sucks, email me at lupercal@yahoo.com and I'll give you.... hang on that's a stupid idea: how do I know you've even listened to it? Well, anyway...

Horslips went on to evolve into folk-punk-new-wave in the late 70's, while Ian Anderson was diddling around with synths, and other early 70's folk bands had collapsed. Do yourself a favour and discover early Horslips.

While I am not reviewing the newer, band-approved, Demon Records re-mastered edition but my older CD (and the LP which wore grooves into my brain, such was my re-playing of it in the late 70s), the comments here should work for whatever version you have, as the tracks are not changed or supplemented. I listened to the CD carefully a couple of times recently, to see how it held up vs. my recollections of when it first came out in the 70s. While the musical intensity is bettered slightly on their later thematic return to Irish legend, "The Book of Invasions," the narrative cohesion of the tale told in the "Táin" works to this album's advantage a bit more.

Their second album, after the '72 debut folk-prog "Happy to Meet" success and before the mixed reaction to the more "pat" folk-rock of '74's "Dancehall Sweethearts" and 75's "The Unfortunate Cup of Tea" LPs, sticks to what the band did best: combine a rethinking of trad Celtic themes and influences with an assured, ballsy, and literate rock delivery. It helps to read drummer Eamon Carr's notes about the Táin Bo Cualigne, as they call it, "Ireland's most exciting saga." Knowing more about the actual story of Fergus and Maeve, Ferdia, the Brown Bull, Cuchullain/Setanta, and what the Gae Bolga, The Morrigan, and Dearg Doom might mean: this will enhance your hearing of the songs.

Many are instrumental that convey the visceral tension and the softer romance of this ancient legend; those with lyrics tend to be hard-rock, with touches as diverse as a bit of reggae, C&W hoedown, ELP-Yes flourishes on the keys (these not a Good Thing, but considering the time recorded, perfectly understandable), a bit of Floydian languor, an overdone predilection for swirly organ which earns baroque-church-Bach allusions, and lots of Tull-ish flute-guitar energy. The comparisons to the latter band here are marked and are inevitable, when any rock lineup has a flutist prominently featured and ye olde tales regaled!

Still, Horslips manages not to sound like an Irish clone of Tull. Fiddles, mandolin, bodhran, and fluid guitar hold up well with the bass-guitar pairing, which is playfully expressive. Vocals are handled smoothly and confidently. Lyrics at times, as always with the band on their own self-penned songs, tend to be clunky in rhyme and veer near cliché, yet the interest of hearing this ancient story told through energetic rock atop folk foundations does make for a fresh approach. The ethereal or puerile ramblings of other groups trying to reach the mythic fall short, for Horslips was grounded in their sturdy Irish heritage even as they revamped it for young folks like myself, who I suppose (like me) were likely to then look further into the stories, and Thomas Kinsella's bold Táin translation with Louis deBrocquey's evocative drawings. For their second success, find 1976's "The Book of Invasions," with the most ancient origin stories from Irish tradition and again blended into a folk-rock confection.

Considering its appearance in the dark ages of circa 1973 rock, this holds up respectably, more than can be said for most contemporaneous efforts by far better known Anglo-American bands. Horslips not only deserves recognition for their pioneering role in making Irish music relevant and lively for the post-60s generation, but--in releasing their own albums, doing their own inspired tours, and compiling cover art, sleeve notes, and fertile ideas--serving as a DIY example for what would happen among those who heard Horslips in their formative years and would go on to start U2 and so many other Irish-raised musical champions the next decade. They showed you did not have to leave Ireland to make it in rock music.

I bought this cd as I'm going to their concert in December and want to brush up on their songs. This album contains the well known "Dearg Doom". This one could be my favourite album. Recommend.