Horslips celebrate their 50th anniversary with 35-disc box set

By ( Prog ) published

Horslips' More Than You Can Chew is due out through Madfish in July - watch the visualiser for the live version of Sure The Boy Was Green

Horslips vintage group shot against black background
(Image credit: Ian Finlay)

Horslips are to release a 35-disc box set, More Than You Can Chew, via Madfish on July 29. And to coincide, they've realised a live single for Sure The Boy Was Green - watch the visualiser below. It was recorded during a three-night run at Belfast's Whitla Hall and mixed for possible inclusion on The Belfast Gigs, but was never released at the time.

The band, regarded as the founding fathers of celtic rock, released their debut single, Johnny’s Wedding, on St Patrick’s Day in 1972 but split in the autumn of 1980. Several reunions and a comeback album have followed from 2004 onwards. All all 12 original 1972–80 albums are included in the new set, along with two side-project releases from the band's interim period - the Host's Tryal and Barry Devlin's Breaking Star Codes, both from 1983.

In total the standard box set comprises 506 audio tracks spread across 33 CDs (252 of which are previously unreleased), two DVDs, two books (On The Record and Lyricography - both written by Mark Cunningham), five signed photos, a folder of fan club facsimiles from the 70s and a poster. The project has been curated by Bert Jansch/John McLaughlin biographer Colin Harper in close collaboration with the band themselves. The audio has been restored and remastered by engineer Cormac O’Kane. 

Pre-orders are available now from https://Horslips.lnk.to/MoreThanYouCanChew

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Natasha Scharf
Natasha Scharf
Deputy Editor, Prog

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.