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Sleeve Notes
The Ar Stáitse series features archive footage from a host of top names in Irish music, live in concert. RTÉ recorded and transmitted these concerts on various dates in the 1970's. This first volume from the series brings you the best of Irish music from folk to traditional and Celtic rock.
The Dubliners
A unique Dubliners line up for this concert, with Ronnie, Luke and Jim sharing the vocals. Barney is absent on this occasion. He was touring Europe with Tony McMahon for the making of a television series called "The Green Linnet", and Ronnie, who was pursuing a solo career at the time, stepped in to restore the group to a five piece line up.
Although not shown on these video clips, I have memories of Charles J. Haughey spontaneously joining us on stage for an impromptu rendering of "The Monto".
John Sheahan, The Dubliners
Tommy Makem
"By October 1973, my father had been on his own for four years. Leaving the Clancy Brothers in 1969, after over thirteen years of success with the group, he wasted no time in reinventing himself as a solo act. When O'Shaughnessy penned his most beloved poem "Ode," he might have been describing Tommy Makem … a mover and shaker … a dreamer of dreams … a music maker.
This is a collection of honest songs from an honest man, who was at the top of his game every time he walked on stage. Enjoy."
Rory Makem
Jimmy Crowley
From the Cork Opera House in 1979, Jimmy & Stokers Lodge play a home town gig. With picture and sound fully restored they perform such favourites as 'I know My Love', 'The Bantry Girls Lament' and 'Do you want your old lobby washed down'.
On "The Coal Quay Market" — "This was a comic burlesque I collected in the Coal Quay, Cork, in the late seventies from Timmy McCarthy, whose family still keep a clothes shop on the southern end of Cornmarket Street. The slide that follows was learned from a dear friend of the band, Jackie Daly, who lived in Cork City back in the seventies, sharing many sessions with us at the Phoenix Bar, Union Quay "
On "I Know My Love" — "Song collector Tommy Munnelly (nach Maireann) said that if you cut up the words of this international song of unrequited love and threw them in the air, they would most likely come down in the right order, the lovely cliches and motifs being so fixed. There was once a harper who used to visit Cork each winter in the old days with his four beautiful daughters, all playing harps and busking the Opera House queues, and this song was a firm favourite. The dance hall in the Mardyke was the famous St. Francis' Hall, where most love stories began up to quite recently. "
On "The Bantry Girl's Lament" — "This is a song of love and loss from the Penninsular Wars given to me by Tim Lyons"
On "Do You Want Your Old Lobby Washed Down, Con Shine?" — "Originally this was a Cockney Music Hall comic and that somewhere along the way "Con Shine" replaced "sunshine". John Of Shea, better known in Cork as "The Singing Fireman" gave us this version which he had in turn from his father."
Jimmy Crowley & Stokers Lodge
Horslips
"Just seven months before RTE filmed this concert footage at the National Stadium in Dublin, Horslips had recorded a debut album — Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part — on the Rolling Stones' mobile studio in Longfield House in Co. Tipperary. Furniture, a song that incorporates the 18th century riff Oro, 'Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile, featured on that album. Reflecting the spirit of the times, the stage version often extended to five or six times the length of the recorded version.
Shortly before we began work on that album, with producer Alan O'Duffy, some people who'd heard us playing Comb Your Hair And Curl It in concert told us they recognised the tune from an old Irish song. They were kind enough to contact us with the lyrics and so our instrumental appeared on the album as Bím Istigh Ag Ól. (Trans: "I'm always inside drinking … ") 'Nuff said. Johnny's Wedding, our first single, had been a surprising hit for the band in '72, opening up a world of venues we were uniquely unprepared for. This necessitated the addition of a few judiciously chosen readymade rock'n'roll songs to the repertoire. It's Never Too Late had been a minor follow up hit to Canadian-American hard rock band Steppenwolf's better known Born To Be Wild.
Soon after this concert we revamped our repertoire with material that formed the basis for a more structured second album, The Tain. From what seems like aeons ago, this snapshot feels as it was discovered in a time capsule in an archaeological dig. But that doesn't make it any less intriguing."
Horslips
Andy Irvine
"I don't remember too much about this except that Paul played on my programme and I played on his. I do remember that Donal delayed his departure to USA with the Bothy Band to play with us. This was a very kind act as he knew I needed his support! Very glad the hurdy gurdy held up on 'As I Roved Out'! It was notorious for being unpredictable in hot, sweaty rooms. Mominsko Horo builds up a fine head of steam at the end! It was a pretty good moment altogether and great to play with two of my best friends and finest of musicians."
Andy Irvine
Freddie White
"That night I was sandwiched in between U2, who went on first (!), and The Bogey Boys who closed the show. Each one was then edited for three separate shows. There was a reviewer from the local paper (both shall remain nameless) who wrote the following day about the three appalling rock bands who assaulted her (oops) eardrums or words to that effect. It was obvious that she hadn't been there for the whole show. My late mother, to name but one, was incensed and many angry letters to the editor ensued! Amazing the difference on the effect of TV then compared to the present day. Then this show was greeted as an event whereas these days the telly is more of a drug."
Freddie White