Album Review: Horslips, Drive The Cold Winter Away

Legendary Irish Celtic Rockers – indeed, the band invented the genre – Horslips, continue the major enhancement of their extensive archive. Following hot on the heels of 2023’s More Than You Can Chew 35-disc boxset, and last year’s Horslips At The BBC, comes this 50th anniversary reissue of Drive The Cold Winter Away.

The band’s fifth album, DTCWA was something of a sonic deviation. Shoehorned between the electric rock and traditional Irish fusion of The Unfortunate Cup of Tea, and the epic rock of The Book of Invasions, Drive The Cold Winter Away is a snug acoustic folk interlude – a rare, unplugged album of the period, containing carols and seasonal tunes of winter.

'Rug Muire Mac Do Dhia' beautifully sets the sacred winter mood, before ‘Sir Festus Burke/Carolan’s Frolic’ doubles down on the ecclesiastical vibe. ‘The Snow That Melts The Soonest’ slightly shifts gears into English folk, while the two-reel medley of ‘Thompson’s/Cottage In The Grove’ gets the listener to their feet.

Elsewhere, the Manx Gaelic ‘Ny Kiree Fo Nagtey’ showcases the band’s intellect, while the mighty jig ‘The Snow And The Frost Are All Over/Paddy Fahey’s’, and the pastoral folk of ‘When A Man’s In Love’, bring proceedings to a superb conclusion.

8/10

The 50th anniversary reissue of Drive The Cold Winter Away is available here.