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Horslips - Short Stories / Tall Tales CD (album) cover

SHORT STORIES / TALL TALES

Horslips

 

Prog Folk

2.29 | 17 ratings

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Heptade
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Horslips started as the Irish Fairport Convention but had morphed by the end of the 70s into a very competent mainstream pop/rock group. Their later albums, mostly free of violin and other trad instruments, are regularly lambasted, but I disagree strongly. People have a habit of unfavourably comparing different phases of a band's career to the time when they first established their sound (see: Genesis), but perhaps it's best to take a given record on the terms of what it is offering you, not what the band was offering five years before. Taken on its own terms, Horslips' last record is a very nice album that fits in well with the kind of things that Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Graham Parker and the Cars were doing, while still retaining a noticeable Irishness in the melodies and chord changes. "Guests of the Nation" is the best known song here, a catchy number with Horslips' usual emotional lyrical content. Other highlights are "The Life You Save", a great Celtic rock number that Big Country could have done a lot with, and the acoustic "Rescue Me". This album contains songs that are moving and fun, with melodies that stick in the brain. Not as good as "The Man Who Built America", the best album of Horslips' melodic rock phase, but a strong 70s rock album that Horslips enthusiasts should not pass by.
Heptade | 3/5 |

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