Subtitled The A-Sides/B-Sides and released in conjunction with Mark Cunningham’s Horslips – Tall Tales: The Official Biography, this collection of 23 Horslips tunes gathers together for the first time, their entire UK singles catalogue, along with an outtake and a live track. Sequenced chronologically and featuring original 45rpm mixes and edits – many of them previously unavailable on CD – it provides a fascinating overview of the Horslips story, as it played out over the best part of a decade.
Although it includes some of the band’s finest and best-known recorded moments, including ‘Dearg Doom’, ‘King Of The Fairies’, ‘The Power And The Glory’ and ‘The Man Who Built America’, there’s plenty more here to savour including a few curveballs and some tracks that might surprise the casual fan. ‘Nighttown Boy’ – a single from 1974 – owes more to early Roxy Music than ancient Irish melodies while 1975’s West Coast sounding (‘If That’s What You Want) That’s What You Get’ 45 from The Unfortunate Cup Of Tea album sounds like it could’ve featured on the Almost Famous soundtrack, and is evidence that the band weren’t always confined to a Celtic Rock groove.
Of the B-sides, the epic ‘Furniture’ is always worth hearing again as are tunes like ‘Faster Than The Hound’ and ‘The Snakes Farewell To The Emerald Isle’ as once famously played by RTÉ radio just after the announcement of the death of President De Valera! Rarities include the medieval sounding ‘Sir Festus Burke’, with its lovely harpsichord intro, and the Lizzy-esque rocker ‘Bridge From Heart To Heart’ (an outtake from Aliens), which contains a nice nod to ‘Carrickfergus’ on the flute solo. Recorded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1978, the live track ‘Red River Rock’ (a version of the 1959 Johnny & The Hurricanes hit) is all cheesy, roller-rink organ, blistering guitar and breakneck rhythms, showcasing yet another, rarely seen side to the band – a penchant for garage psyche rock!
Essential!

Key Track: 'The Power and The Glory'