HAPPY TO MEET, SORRY TO PART

The Celtic peoples of Ireland seem to have been the most resistant to contaminating their cultural traditions with the modernities of the 20th century which is why during the 60s the traditional Irish musical forms didn't find themselves merging with the world of beat, pop or psychedelia as much as the rest of Europe but by the time the 1970s came around it seems that even this proud nation had succumbed to the hybridization of art forms. The Dublin based HORSLIPS is credited as being the pioneer of Celtic rock and right off the bat didn't just create a cheesy standard rock style with Irish jigs and reels but dove right into the more complex world of progressive rock to create some of the most distinct progressive folk rock sounds of the entire 1970s.

When i first encountered the name HORSLIPS i couldn't decide if this was a play on words meaning "horse lips" or "whore slips" but as it turns out it was neither and rather a spoonerism on "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" which adopted the last word when changed to "The Four Poxmen of the Horslypse." Remember that for your prog music trivia night! HORSLIPS got its start as far back as 1970 in Dublin when Barry Devlin (bass, vocals), Eamon Carr (drums, percussion) and Charles O'Connor (fiddle, mandolin, vocals) met while working at a local adverting agency. The entire project began as a joke as the three wanted to create a parody band that supposedly represented the Harp lager brand of Irish beer but somehow became a serious project found other members and two years later HORSLIPS released its debut album HAPPY TO MEET - SORRY TO PART.

While HORSLIPS would develop its own unique mix of progressive rock, folk music and Irish jigs, on HAPPY TO MEET - SORRY TO PART the songs are primarily based on traditional Irish melodies that incorporate more complex song structures which include elements of prog rock. The album is considered to be the very first Celtic rock album ever released however is fairly unrepresentative of the more unique compositions that the band would evolve into throughout the 1970s. The album basically opened the floodgates for traditional Irish folk musicians to experiment and dabble with other musical genres and set Ireland on course to join the burgeoning world of prog rock and folk that had been gestating in neighboring England for several years at this point. Before then such things were considered sacrilegious and highly frowned upon even by the younger crowds.

Despite the plethora of Celtic instrumentation such as the concert flute, tin whistles, uilleann pipes and bodhán accompanied by more traditional rock and folk sounds from guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, concertina and rock bass and drums, the music on HAPPY TO MEET - SORRY TO PART is mostly on the mellow side with only a few upbeat tracks such as "Bím Istigh Ag Ól" delivering the energetic jig and reel ferocity that one would expect from festive Irish musical performances. The majority of the album is more on the dreamy contemplative side of the equation with lush Genesis styled pastoral tenderness favored over more raucous performances however the music is beautifully constructed and delivers a compelling fusion style that seems very common in the 21st century when Celtic sounds seem to have entered every nook and cranny of every musical genre.

This debut seems to get overlooked in favor of the band's more accomplished albums that follow but all in all HAPPY TO MEET - SORRY TO PART is a beautifully diverse album that delivers in content although sounding a bit inconsistent and unfocused perhaps but that works for my tastes. The band delivers as many highly complex prog tracks such as "Furniture" and "Ace And Deuce" as it does more traditional sounding jig oriented numbers like "Dance To Yer Daddy" or "The Shamrock Shore" which is closer to The Chieftains or Clannad. Irish music is utterly irresistible to my ears (having Irish blood in my veins) so i can't help but be mesmerized by this lucky charm that will give me shamrock dreams and Blarney Stone fortunes. Although HORSLIPS didn't really find popularity in its early days, the band has found a much larger and more loyal audience since the prog revival of the 1990s. While different than the albums that came later, this debut with more focus on traditional jigs and reels is well worth checking out.