Ireland In 50 Albums, No 24: The Táin, by Horslips (1973)
Irish rock band Horslips, 19th January 1974. From left to right, Jim Lockhart (behind), John Fean, Barry Devlin, frontman Charles O'Connor and Eamon Carr (behind). (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Horslips were the High Kings of Ireland in the 1970s. They travelled the country’s roads gigging, from ballroom to ballroom, delighting Ireland’s youth generation. They toured around in an ostentatious white Range Rover, the only one in Ireland at the time. When word came that the band were passing through their locality, teenagers gathered at crossroads and waved as the band whizzed past in their white jeep.
One night, the band were en route to a gig in Navan. They sped past a speed checkpoint. It was raining so Barry Devlin, the band’s singer and bass player, who was driving, couldn’t stop quickly.
