RTÉ Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album

*2026 pressing Solid Red Vinyl released Friday 6th March | Pre-Order now

Gatefold solid red 180g vinyl, original printed inner sleeve and records labels

Consistently hailed as one of the greatest Irish albums of all time, The Táin's influence on the subsequent 5 decades of music coming from Ireland is immeasurable. Featuring Horslips' most successful and now legendary track Dearg Doom, this album has informed the careers of everyone from Thin Lizzy to U2 to poet Seamus Heaney.

This special red vinyl release, pressed in Ireland by Anthem Vinyl, is only the second authorised vinyl pressing of the epic masterpiece since the band's own Oats Records copies were issued in the 1970's. Pressed in Ireland by Anthem Vinyl.

Bruce Eder from AllMusic says "The most ambitious and successful of their early albums, Horslips' most progressive creation, and maybe the most successful rock concept album ever done, The Táin is rock put into the service of epic storytelling (or is it the other way around?)."

TRACKLIST

SIDE ONE

1. Setanta

2. Maeve's Court

3. Charolais

4. The March

5. You Can't Fool the Beast

6. Dearg Doom

7. Ferdia's Song

8. Gae Bolga

SIDE TWO

1. Cu Chulainn's Lament

2. Faster Than the Hound

3. The Silver Spear

4. More Than You Can Chew

5. The Morrigan's Dream

6. Time to Kill!

PRESS RELEASE

🏆 RTÉ Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album 🏆

And the winning album is…

The Táin by Horslips

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album, in association with IMRO & IRMA, has just been announced on RTÉ Gold by Will Leahy. The winning album is: The Táin by Horslips. A concept album centred on Irish mythology, The Táin was the band’s second full-length offering and was released on their own label in Ireland in 1973 as well as RCA in the UK and Atco in the US.

“We can’t believe it, really. We knew at the time that The Táin was a different kind of album. And we could see that Dearg Doom had a great riff going on. We just didn’t think that it would sustain in the way it has. Both Italia 90 and ‘Saipan’ have served to keep the album and the single surfacing but even without that, there seems to be an inbuilt determination to survive in both. 50 years is a good innings!” – Horslips, 2026

The panel chose The Táin by Horslips as their Classic Irish Album for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize and explain further – “Horslips lasted 10 years – 1970 to 1980. Their impact was immense. They literally changed the course of music in Ireland in the seventies, not just because they fused traditional Irish music with rock and in so doing inspired many local and international acts or that they released 10 albums in that 10-year period leaving a legacy much bigger than that of the defining band of the so-called Celtic Rock genre.

The judges for this year’s prize are Dave Fanning (Radio and TV Broadcaster), Caroline Henry (Artist Management), Stevo Berube (Artist Management & Music Publicist), with Paul Russell (Radio producer, formerly RTÉ 2FM) as the chairperson.

The album was played in full on RTÉ Gold.

“Dearg Doom” was arguably the most popular track on the album and was included in Tom Dunne’s 30 Best Irish Hits compilation, released in 2003.

Horslips: Jim Lockhart, Eamon Carr, Barry Devlin, Charles O’ Connor, Johnny Fean

A few of the band members will attend on March 5th to collect their award.

#rtechoiceprize

Release Date: Friday 7th November

2025 Remaster LP

Gatefold Sleeve | Winter White Colour Vinyl | 140g LP

"Knowing it would take us over a year to write The Book of Invasions, we had the perfect opportunity to record an acoustic album of personal favourites, something we’d always hoped to do at some stage. While it would be probably the first time a rock band recorded an “unplugged” album, we thought to give it a unique twist by making it a seasonal record. Everyone in the band had fun suggesting tunes and songs and it was a joy to hear the arrangements take shape.

Getting back to Trend Studios in Dublin, where we’d recorded our first demos and early singles, and work again with larger than life studio engineer Fred Meijer, was another important milestone. The album was well received and impressive sales meant that Barry and I had to fly from London mid-tour to attend an event and collect a gold album on behalf of the band. There’s a curious timeless quality to the record that befits a true labour of love."

- Horslips' drummer Eamon Carr

TRACKLIST

SIDE A

1. Rug Muire Mac Do Dhia

2. Sir Festus Burke / Carolan's Frolic

3. The Snow That Melts the Soonest

4. The Piper in the Meadow Straying

5. Drive the Cold Winter Away

6. Thompson's / Cottage in the Grove

7. Ny Kirree Fo Naghtey

SIDE B

1. Crabs in the Skillet

2. Denis O'Connor

3. Do'n Oíche Úd I mBeithil

4. Lullaby

5. The Snow and the Frost Are All Over / Paddy Fahey's

6. When a Man's in Love

Release Date: 25th June 2025

EXPERIENCE THE ENDURING LEGACY OF HORSLIPS WITH MADFISH’S NEW 2LP SET HORSLIPS – AT THE BBC

GATEFOLD 2LP BLACK VINYL SET COMPRISING LIVE PERFORMANCES AND RARE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL FROM THE CELTIC ROCK PIONEERS

===

Few bands have left as distinct a mark on the musical landscape as Horslips. Emerging in the early 1970s, they more or less created ‘Celtic Rock’, drawing from Irish traditional music and British/American rock, crafting a sound that was both timeless and radical.

This 2LP collection gathers a carefully curated selection of performances captured by the BBC during the band’s groundbreaking 1970s heyday and their powerful return to the stage decades later.

LP1 showcases Horslips in full flight during a 1974 BBC Radio 1 In Concert broadcast, capturing the mythic energy of their classic albums The Táin and The Book of Invasions. Tracks like “Dearg Doom,” “Charolais,” and “You Can’t Fool the Beast” bristle with invention and intent. The disc also includes sessions from Sounds of the 70s and The John Peel Show, preserving the raw brilliance of one of Ireland’s most visionary bands at the peak of their creative powers.

LP2 moves forward to 1979, with a triumphant return to Radio 1’s In Concert, where tracks such as “The Power and the Glory” and “Sword of Light” demonstrate the band’s ability to evolve while staying true to their roots. The album closes with rare recordings from BBC Radio Ulster (2011) and BBC NI (2019) – a poignant reminder of Horslips’ long shadow and final flourish, including the elegiac “Sideways to the Sun.”

Presented on double black vinyl in a beautifully designed gatefold sleeve, At The BBC is a celebration of a band whose influence still echoes through the decades. The mastering is shared by Eroc in Germany and band associate Cormac O’Kane who mastered the acclaimed 2023 Horslips box set More Than You Can Chew.

===

TRACKLIST

DISC 1

A.1. Setanta (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [02:17]

A.2. Maeve`s Court (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [01:39]

A.3. Charolais (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [04:06]

A.4. The March (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [01:14]

A.5. You Can`t Fool the Beast (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [05:19]

A.6. The Clergy`s Lamentation (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [03:50]

A.7. More Than You Can Chew (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [03:32]

B.1. Ferdia`s Song (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [03:27]

B.2. Gae Bolga (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [00:23]

B.3. Dearg Doom (Radio 1 in Concert 9/2/74) [04:13]

B.4. Ferdia`s Song (Radio 1 Sounds of the 70s 4/3/74) [03:32]

B.5. More Than You Can Chew (Radio 1 Sounds of the 70s 4/3/74) [03:46]

B.6. The Clergy`s Lamentation (Radio 1 Sounds of the 70s 24/9/73) [04:14]

B.7. An Bratach Ban (Radio 1 John Peel Show 16/10/73) [02:25]

DISC 2

C.1. DJ Alan Black intro / The Man Who Built America (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [04:13]

C.2. The Power and the Glory (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [03:57]

C.3. Trouble (With a Capital `T`) (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [03:31]

C.4. Loneliness (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [05:01]

C.5. Sword of Light (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [06:07]

D.1. Warm Sweet Breath of Love (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [03:58]

D.2. Dearg Doom (Radio 1 In Concert 24/2/79) [05:53]

D.3. King of the Fairies (Belfast (BBC Radio Ulster 17/3/11) [04:54]

D.4. Sideways to the Sun (BBC NI, 2019) [05:06]

===

Released: 1973

RTÉ Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album 2026

Consistently hailed as one of the greatest Irish albums of all time, The Táin's influence on the subsequent 5 decades of music coming from Ireland is immeasurable. Featuring Horslips' most successful and now legendary track “Dearg Doom”, this album has informed the careers of everyone from Thin Lizzy to U2 to poet Seamus Heaney.

Bruce Eder from AllMusic says "The most ambitious and successful of their early albums, Horslips' most progressive creation, and maybe the most successful rock concept album ever done, The Táin is rock put into the service of epic storytelling (or is it the other way around?)."

TRACKLIST

1. Setanta

2. Maeve's Court

3. Charolais

4. The March

5. You Can't Fool the Beast

6. Dearg Doom

7. Ferdia's Song

8. Gae Bolga

9. Cu Chulainn's Lament

10. Faster Than the Hound

11. The Silver Spear

12. More Than You Can Chew

13. The Morrigan's Dream

14. Time to Kill!

15. The Táin Live Extended Sequence [My Father's Place, New York, 1974]

PRESS RELEASE

🏆 RTÉ Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album 🏆

And the winning album is…

The Táin by Horslips

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize Classic Irish Album, in association with IMRO & IRMA, has just been announced on RTÉ Gold by Will Leahy. The winning album is: The Táin by Horslips. A concept album centred on Irish mythology, The Táin was the band’s second full-length offering and was released on their own label in Ireland in 1973 as well as RCA in the UK and Atco in the US.

“We can’t believe it, really. We knew at the time that The Táin was a different kind of album. And we could see that Dearg Doom had a great riff going on. We just didn’t think that it would sustain in the way it has. Both Italia 90 and ‘Saipan’ have served to keep the album and the single surfacing but even without that, there seems to be an inbuilt determination to survive in both. 50 years is a good innings!” – Horslips, 2026

The panel chose The Táin by Horslips as their Classic Irish Album for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize and explain further – “Horslips lasted 10 years – 1970 to 1980. Their impact was immense. They literally changed the course of music in Ireland in the seventies, not just because they fused traditional Irish music with rock and in so doing inspired many local and international acts or that they released 10 albums in that 10-year period leaving a legacy much bigger than that of the defining band of the so-called Celtic Rock genre”..

The judges for this year’s prize are Dave Fanning (Radio and TV Broadcaster), Caroline Henry (Artist Management), Stevo Berube (Artist Management & Music Publicist), with Paul Russell (Radio producer, formerly RTÉ 2FM) as the chairperson.

The album was played in full on RTÉ Gold.

“Dearg Doom” was arguably the most popular track on the album and was included in Tom Dunne’s 30 Best Irish Hits compilation, released in 2003.

Horslips: Jim Lockhart, Eamon Carr, Barry Devlin, Charles O’ Connor, Johnny Fean

A few of the band members will attend on March 5th 2026 to collect their award.

#rtechoiceprize