Andy Irvine & Paul Brady Andy Irvine/Paul Brady (Special Edition) 180g LP (Purple Vinyl)

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the July/August 2022 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Special Edition release of the Mulligan Records classic Andy Irvine/Paul Brady. Long thought of as one of the seminal releases in the Irish music canon, the album has been praised by artists such as Bob Dylan (who recorded Paul Brady's arrangement of "Arthur McBride And The Sergeant"), Bono, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Liam O'Maonlai (Hothouse Flowers), and Radie Peat and Daragh Lynch (both of Lankum).

In 1976 Andy Irvine and Paul Brady, fresh from the demise of the Irish supergroup Planxty, entered legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales with mystic producer/bouzouki player Dónal Lunny and fiddler Kevin Burke to record what has become an Irish music classic. Andy Irvine/Paul Brady propelled them to be viewed as one of the most accomplished Irish traditional duos who have ever recorded. All these years later, perhaps no record more pointedly reflects the time and the spirit of innovation within one genre of music.

This Special Edition marks the first time the vinyl album has been pressed since 1981. For this ultimate version, the ten-track album was remastered from the original analog tapes, which were transferred at 192k/32 bit to maintain the highest resolution, mastered with the best combination of classic analog and state-of-the-art digital equipment, and packaged as a gatefold LP. Also included is a 12,000-word essay by noted music journalist Gareth Murphy (Cowboys and Indies - The Epic History of the Record Industry and Siren Song: My Life in Music [with Seymour Stein]), and interviews with Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, Dónal Lunny and Kevin Burke, as well as testimonials from artists including Glen Hansard, Liam O'Maonlai, Brian MacGloinn of Ye Vagabonds, Daragh Lynch of Lankum, Consuelo Nerea Breschi and Lucie Azconaga of Varo, PJ Curtis and more.

Irvine and Paul Brady (former Planxty members) team up for one of the greatest albums ever of traditional Irish songs. Their unique sound will stay with you long after the music has stopped.

...an elegant and heartfelt collection of traditional folk tunes that fast achieved classic status when it was released in late 1976... Gingerly remastered by Randy LeRoy, the music sounds revivified and entirely present, capturing every detail of these spirited reels and yarns.

Guitar, bouzouki, and mandolin create the tangy counter-melodies and intricately weaved rhythms that drive the songs; fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, bodhran, and other instruments fill out the sound. Irvine had flings with Bulgarian music, as the disorienting, asymmetrical instrumental break on 'Plains of Kildare' reveals. 'Bonny Woodhull' is a textbook on how to make sparks with the accompaniment to a straightforward love song. On Brady's famous solo, the dark-humored anti-recruitment 'Arthur McBride,' his guitar sings, strums, and dances all at once. The impeccable musicianship never overshadows their unfeigned humanity, and this splendid reissue (taken from the original masters and including a 12-page book) proves that again for a new generation.