Vinyl Record

Horslips - At The BBC

Horslips - At The BBC on 2LP vinyl. A 2025 Irish record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

2LP · Irish · 2025

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 2025 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection Irish shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

At The BBC is Horslips heard through the medium that suited their strangeness: live broadcast, archive session, public performance and late-career reflection. Horslips were never just an Irish rock band adding fiddle for flavour. Their real project was more ambitious: to make traditional Irish tunes, mythic cycles and Anglo-American rock power feel like one grand, unstable machine. BBC recordings catch that machine in motion. The set reaches back to the 1970s, when material from The Tain and The Book of Invasions showed how the band could turn saga, riff and reel into progressive rock theatre. Deirg Doom remains the emblem because it makes an old melodic motif feel electric and dangerous, but the wider appeal is the band's range: flute and fiddle colours, hard-rock momentum, folk melody, radio introductions, and the sense of a group pushing Irish material onto a larger stage. Later Radio Ulster and BBC NI material adds a different kind of weight, showing the long shadow of the songs after the initial charge had passed. What makes At The BBC valuable is not just rarity. It demonstrates why Horslips' importance has grown: their fusion was not decorative, but structural. They made Celtic rock feel like an argument with scale.

The release matters because it gathers broadcast material across decades, offering a live and archival view of one of Celtic rock's defining bands. For collectors, it complements the studio albums by showing how Horslips' mixture of Irish myth, traditional melody and rock force worked outside the fixed album frame.

This is a strong collector title for listeners who already value The Tain, The Book of Invasions or Horslips Live. It is less a beginner's greatest-hits route than a historically rich expansion, useful for hearing the band in broadcast conditions and for tracing how their reputation survived beyond the 1970s.

Celtic rock with progressive structures, traditional Irish motifs, fiddle and flute colour, hard-rock guitar force and live broadcast energy.

Recommended for: Horslips collectors expanding beyond the studio albums; Fans of Celtic rock and Irish progressive rock; Listeners interested in archival BBC rock sessions.

What kind of material is on At The BBC? It gathers BBC broadcast performances and archival material, including 1970s-era songs and later appearances tied to the band's legacy. Is this the best first Horslips record? For a newcomer, The Tain or The Book of Invasions may be clearer starts; At The BBC is especially rewarding once the band's core albums are familiar. Why are Horslips important? They helped define Celtic rock by making Irish traditional themes and instruments part of the structure of ambitious rock music.