This was the late Christie Hennessy’s 1972 debut album of which he originally pressed 500 vinyl copies. It is now getting a posthumous CD release. Over the decades the vinyl version became a rare collector’s item among folk fans. Incredibly, some have been willing to splash out more than €600 on a copy.
The album reveals that Hennessy’s early repertoire wasn’t confined to folk and/or Irish material. Indeed, proceedings open with a spirited rendering of the blues tune ‘Stagolee’. It also contains the original of ‘Don’t Get Yourself A Shovel’, which Christy Moore adapted for his first number one as ‘Don’t Forget Your Shovel’. Songs like ‘Messenger Boy’, ‘When I’m Walking Out With My Girl’ and ‘High In The Trees’ show that even at that early stage in his development, Hennessy had grasped the basics of songwriting as an art and was well on his way to illustrating his unique vision of life and love. He also takes trad tunes such as ‘The Galway Shawl’ and ‘Far Away In Australia’ and gives them the Hennessy spin. He is ably supported by Terry Kane, Paul Darby and Anthony Griffiths, the latter’s plaintive fiddle admirably bedecking ‘Far Away In Australia’. So, apart from their intrinsic value as historical artefacts, the recordings herein have a raw innocence that makes them worth hearing in their own right.