TÍR NA NÓG

This debut for the Irish duo of vocalists/guitarists is their most understated and most Celtic sounding, but that's more in the melodies than the arrangements. In particular, the opener "Time is Like a Promise" and "Our Love will not Decay" strip the emerald beauty to its essence. Like all early 1970s prog adjacent English folk groups, TIR NA NOG included an epic, though at 5:21 the eponymous number, while brilliantly presented, is more grandiose in spirit. Their most popular tune was probably the country ish and upbeat "Daisy Lady", and my personal pick would be the picking clinic that is "Looking Up", curiously reprised on the very next album. A few too many of these pieces just never take off, and "Piccadilly" takes a shocking kraut rock turn in the latter half which I could do without.

Compare to DECAMERON, AMAZING BLONDEL (listen to the closing number), MAGNA CARTA, and SIMON and GARFUNKEL but yet with their own identity already well established at this early stage. Like many of their contemporaries, the recent decade or two has been kind to them and their fans.