Planxty
(18/100 Greatest Irish Albums)

Now colloquially known as “the black album”, Planxty’s debut was a seminal record, which took Irish folk into a new and decidedly more creative realm. Christy Moore had brought the talents of Donal Lunny, Liam O’Floinn and Andy Irvine together for his own Prosperous album in 1971. But with the formation of Planxty, the whole proved to be even greater than sum of the parts – and the evidence is there on what was at the time a stunning first outing. No one had combined folk songs and traditional airs in quite this way before. With Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine on board, Planxty had a unique feel for rhythm, counter melody and harmonies. Combined with Moore’s way with a ballad and Liam O’Floinn’s mastery of the pipes, the result was mesmerising. Including stand-out cuts like ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’, ‘West Coast Of Clare’ and ‘Tabhair Dom Do Lamh’, it was arguably Ireland’s finest ever folk record.