DRIVE THE COLD WINTER AWAY

A warning is in order: this is radically different from the other Horslips albums! After four rather hard rocking Prog Folk albums, Horslips released this collection of pure Celtic Folk music; mostly acoustic and instrumental and without drums. It is a high quality recording and it is a nice listen, but for those who expected anything like the band's three first albums or the couple of albums that came after it, it must be considered a disappointment.

The sound here is based on acoustic guitars, fiddle, mandolin, flutes, uilleann pipes, tin whistle and some very sparse keyboards and percussion instruments. The occasional vocals are alternately in English and traditional Irish language. Overall, I find this album an enjoyable listen, but it is hard to take it all in one listening session. The diversity and fusion of Folk and (Prog) Rock that was so successful on albums like The Tain and Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part is totally absent here. I think this is best considered as a side-project of the band rather than an entry in their regular discography.

This is by no means a bad album but, needless to say, this is not the best place to begin with Horslips (unless you have a thing for pure acoustic Celtic Folk music).

Primarily for fans and collectors this one

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