The Belfast Gigs [Import]

Product Description
CD reissue of 1980 live album by Irish folk-rock band. Remastered at Abbey Road from original master tapes, with repackaging by the group themselves. 2001 release.

The Belfast Gigs,Horslips,Edsel Records UK,British Folk-Rock,Folk-Rock,Hard Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Average customer rating: Horslips - The Belfast Gigs- original CD release on Outlet/Homespun records.

The Belfast Gigs Horslips Manufacturer: Outlet Recording Co. ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music ASIN: B000Q71R6I

Product Description

Horslips - The Belfast Gigs - original release on Outlet/Homespun records in 1989.

Customer Reviews:

Horslips - The Belfast Gigs- original CD release on Outlet/Homespun records........2007-05-03

Horslips - The Belfast Gigs- original CD release on Outlet/Homespun records.

Tracks are:
1. Trouble With a Capital T
2. The Man Who Built America
3. Warm Sweet Breath of Love
4. The Power and the Glory
5. Blindman
6. Shakin' All Over
7. King of the Fairies
8. Guests of the Nation
9. Dearg Doom

This is the original and out of print older release of this album on CD. A nice collectible piece for the Horslips fan that has everything, but for a first time fan I recommend picking up the newer remaster on Demon records which was released under direct supervision by the band after they reacquired their back catalog.

Average customer rating: It won't replace the studio versions fitting epitaph for a fine folkrockband (in this case more rock than folk) The emperor`s not wearing any clothes... An Irish Hard-Rock Classic belfast gigs

The Belfast Gigs Horslips Manufacturer: Edsel Records UK ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Irish Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00005A7KM Release Date: 2001-04-10

Tracks:

1. Trouble With A Capital 'T'
2. The Man Who Built America
3. The Warm Sweeet Breath Of Love
4. The Power And The Glory
5. Blindman
6. Shakin' All Over
7. King Of The Fairies
8. Guests Of The Nation
9. Dearg Doom

Album Description

CD reissue of 1980 live album by Irish folk-rock band. Remastered at Abbey Road from original master tapes, with repackaging by the group themselves. 2001 release.

Album Details

CD reissue of 1980 live album by Irish folk-rock band.

Customer Reviews:

It won't replace the studio versions.......2006-09-08

The reviews by other Amazonians are all over the pentatonic scale; I guess I'll drift towards the golden mean of three stars. But, as with than the generally lackluster studio (two-star-rated by me on Amazon; probably 2.5 if I could finesse it) Unfortunate Cup of Tea, or Short Stories CDs, this live collection rouses itself towards a couple of spirited moments. It hovers between 2 & 3, since like those two LPs, the rock nearly eclipses the folk. These two albums likewise are regarded as the band's least successful studio efforts. And, for a band that could so masterfully combine these two approaches, the live tilt to the hard rock guitar/ bass/ keys /drums standard line-up for arena performers does dull the shine of these five fine musicians considerably.

It's a pleasure to hear at the start of Dearg Doom the return of traditional flourishes, albeit briefly; similarly, the King of the Fairies stumbles since the wonderful fills of the original that balanced the courtly with the thunderous on this live LP suffer when the hard-rock instrumentation has to carry more awkwardly the intricate melody. Tellingly, only the best song from their final LP, Guests of the Nation, is played on this album; not the norm for a band touring after their latest studio effort. These songs tend more to lumber away rather than rise up.

That's the disappointment I have with this LP. I'm no fan of live albums, and few of the few I have measure up to, and nearly never surpass, the original studio versions. (I have not yet heard the Horslips Live double-LP [now on 1 CD] 1977 release; most fans rank that concert recording considerably below The Belfast Gigs.) There are moments that come alive more than I had remembered from the vinyl copy I had played 25 years ago: Shakin' All Over does rumple itself loose as it progresses so the guitars of Johnny Fean and Charles O'Connor find the groove and draw it out lovingly. Éamon Carr's drums-- although I miss his talents unheard here on bodhrán and percussion-- thump along effectively in this sound mix.

Vocals are rather hasty for many songs, but Trouble With a Capital T does show that sprightliness survives in spots. Dearg Doom-- although the promising opening flourishes only make me long for the original Book of Invasions CD or the single as heard on Tracks From the Vaults renditions-- falls into a marching stomp. But, towards the end, DD detours into a snarling proto-punkish riff that the band seizes, if a bit too late. For the album comes to a close abruptly after a mere nine songs.

This album's therefore for completists rather than casual fans. Coming at the end of a career that found the band split between its rockists and its traditionalists, the Americanized smoothing out of the band's own quirky and experimental and humorous edges does make for a live document that reminded me strangely of another late 70s band when they, in the mid-90s, reformed for stadium concerts. The result is more souvenir than monument.

Filthy Lucre by the Sex Pistols as with the Belfast Gigs for Horslips shows bands that are far removed from their stifled club and pub beginnings, who deliver workmanlike, pumped-up, and brisk songs they once recorded in more eccentric and clever fashion but in the arena prefer to dash through more than meander within. The results on such live CDs are not embarassing, but neither are they going to replace the albums from a couple decades earlier. Their fans still will play those original records while such live versions are heard a couple of times and then kept high on the shelf rather than their studio counterparts found often in the disc player.

Fair warning: as with the Pistols, so Horslips: managers and labels ripped off the bands with inferior recordings that cashed in after the groups' folded. Make sure you buy the Horslips-supervised remasters of their albums from the Edsel/Demon 2000-era releases, not the Outlet/Homespun muffled tapes of tapes of tapes. I admit that this sharp remaster captures the ambiance of the concert venue well, and you do feel as if you are in the audience as the band plays its final gigs.

fitting epitaph for a fine folkrockband (in this case more rock than folk).......2006-07-06

After playing together for a decade and recording somewhat 10 (very good) albums Horslips split up, due to lack of succces in combination with intern strubbles about the musical direction (rock or folk). Before doing so they played 3 concerts in Belfast in the spring of 1980, from which this album is a registration. Not fully as I presume because it only contains a mere 9 songs, one of them being (a rousing, that is) cover of
"Shakin All Over". Being a rockband blended with lots of Irish folk (or vice versa, dependable on the kind of songs they wrote and recorded) this is far less a folk(rock)album. Admittedly you can actually hear some folkinfluences here and there but overall this breathes rock with a capital R. Hard driven rock with soring guitars, thanks to the courtesy of the remarkable John Fean (who is also capable of fine acoustic playing as demonstrated on the several studiotracks elsewhere) with great playing from his bandmates in fine form, they performed stomping versions of better known songs (3 of the excellent "Book of Invasions"). They showed their craft as a peoplesband and although knowing this was the last of a series of concerts they never let down and delivered. As so this is a fitting epitaph of a band now sorely missed. Still there are the albums to enjoy.

The emperor`s not wearing any clothes..........2003-12-13

I am au fait with all of this band`s albums and I can assure anyone unfamiliar with Horslips that, as an earlier reviewer stated, the studio versions of these tracks are far superior to the live versions on either the double album "Horslips Live"(from 1975) or on this later effort, "The Belfast Gigs"(their final album, released in 1980)which, although better than the earlier live album, which was appallingly bad, fails to do justice to any of the tracks and makes up with noise and improvised sloppiness what it lacks in substance and musical dexterity.
I never saw these guys play live but I suspect that there was more than a little truth behind a contemporaneous music critic`s claim that "Horslips couldn`t really play..."
The fans who rave about "The Belfast Gigs" are those fans who think that Horslips could do no wrong and are therefore not prepared to be objective and realistic about how good, bad, or indifferent Horslips really were, at different times.

An Irish Hard-Rock Classic.......2002-11-03

This live album was Horslips final realease before they broke up in 1980 and they went out with a bang. Belfast Gigs, their hardest rocking album, captures Horslips rocking out with the amps cranked up on some of their great tracks, a true Irish classic.

belfast gigs.......2002-03-09

Yes, this album is a big improvement on the other(earlier) Horslips Live album in terms of production values and overall sound quality. Not that that would be difficult, considering how bad the first live album was. However, all of the tracks(apart from Shakin` All Over, which is a cover, of course, and not a Horslips song - another minus!) are inferior to their original studio versions. There is energy and enthusiasm here, sure!... but, musically, the studio versions are a hell of a lot better!

Average customer rating: Not up to the studio versions, but satisfactory

The Belfast Gigs Horslips Manufacturer: Demon Records UK ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Irish Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B0007SMDZ0 Release Date: 2006-03-07

Tracks:

1. Trouble (With a Capital T)
2. Man Who Built America
3. Warm Sweet Breath of Love
4. Power and the Glory
5. Blindman
6. Shakin' All Over
7. King of the Fairies
8. Guests of the Nation
9. Dearg Doom

Album Description

CD reissue of 1980 live album by Irish folk-rock band. Remastered at Abbey Road from original master tapes, with repackaging by the group themselves. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews:

Not up to the studio versions, but satisfactory .......2006-09-08

Buyer's note: this album exists in an inferior earlier issue on Homespun/Outlet and a band-approved re-release from the 2000s on Edsel/Demon. Be sure to buy the latter version!

The reviews by other Amazonians are all over the pentatonic scale; I guess I'll drift towards the golden mean of three stars. But, as with than the generally lackluster studio (two-star-rated by me on Amazon; probably 2.5 if I could finesse it) Unfortunate Cup of Tea, or Short Stories CDs, this live collection rouses itself towards a couple of spirited moments. It hovers between 2 & 3, since like those two LPs, the rock nearly eclipses the folk. These two albums likewise are regarded as the band's least successful studio efforts. And, for a band that could so masterfully combine these two approaches, the live tilt to the hard rock guitar/ bass/ keys /drums standard line-up for arena performers does dull the shine of these five fine musicians considerably.

It's a pleasure to hear at the start of Dearg Doom the return of traditional flourishes, albeit briefly; similarly, the King of the Fairies stumbles since the wonderful fills of the original that balanced the courtly with the thunderous on this live LP suffer when the hard-rock instrumentation has to carry more awkwardly the intricate melody. Tellingly, only the best song from their final LP, Guests of the Nation, is played on this album; not the norm for a band touring after their latest studio effort. These songs tend more to lumber away rather than rise up.

That's the disappointment I have with this LP. I'm no fan of live albums, and few of the few I have measure up to, and nearly never surpass, the original studio versions. (I have not yet heard the Horslips Live double-LP [now on 1 CD] 1977 release; most fans rank that concert recording considerably below The Belfast Gigs.) There are moments that come alive more than I had remembered from the vinyl copy I had played 25 years ago: Shakin' All Over does rumple itself loose as it progresses so the guitars of Johnny Fean and Charles O'Connor find the groove and draw it out lovingly. Éamon Carr's drums-- although I miss his talents unheard here on bodhrán and percussion-- thump along effectively in this sound mix.

Vocals are rather hasty for many songs, but Trouble With a Capital T does show that sprightliness survives in spots. Dearg Doom-- although the promising opening flourishes only make me long for the original Book of Invasions CD or the single as heard on Tracks From the Vaults renditions-- falls into a marching stomp. But, towards the end, DD detours into a snarling proto-punkish riff that the band seizes, if a bit too late. For the album comes to a close abruptly after a mere nine songs.

This album's therefore for completists rather than casual fans. Coming at the end of a career that found the band split between its rockists and its traditionalists, the Americanized smoothing out of the band's own quirky and experimental and humorous edges does make for a live document that reminded me strangely of another late 70s band when they, in the mid-90s, reformed for stadium concerts. The result is more souvenir than monument.

Filthy Lucre by the Sex Pistols as with the Belfast Gigs for Horslips shows bands that are far removed from their stifled club and pub beginnings, who deliver workmanlike, pumped-up, and brisk songs they once recorded in more eccentric and clever fashion but in the arena prefer to dash through more than meander within. The results on such live CDs are not embarassing, but neither are they going to replace the albums from a couple decades earlier. Their fans still will play those original records while such live versions are heard a couple of times and then kept high on the shelf rather than their studio counterparts found often in the disc player.

Fair warning: as with the Pistols, so Horslips: managers and labels ripped off the bands with inferior recordings that cashed in after the groups' folded. It's a shame that both bands wound up in lengthy battles in court that for H. kept them for many years from controlling their creation. But, a happy ending ensued. I grant that this sharp remaster captures the ambiance of the concert venue well, and you do feel as if you are in the audience as the band plays its final gigs.

Rock Music:

1. The Best of The Guess Who, Vol. 2 [Import]
2. The Best Years of Our Lives
3. The Globe Sessions [Enhanced]
4. The Singles [Import]
5. Tomorrow [Import]
6. True Voices [Import]
7. Twenty [Import]
8. Upstyle Down [Import]
9. Velvet Underground & Nico [Import]
10. Watch and Pray

Rock Music