BRAND NEW UK ISSUE CD

ALL ORIGINAL 60'S TRANSATALNTIC LABEL RECORDINGS

The Dubliners were the first group to take Irish folk music into the pop charts beyond their native Ireland. Between 1967 and 1969, they had two hit records on the Major Minor label—‘Seven Drunken Nights’ (No 7, UK Pop) and ‘Black Velvet Band’ (No 15, UK Pop)—appeared on TV’s Top Of The Pops in support of these 45prm singles and recorded five albums, including a “live” set at the Royal Albert Hall. What remains surprising about this achievement is they did it without diluting in any way their uncompromising sound or attitude.

Taking their name from the James Joyce book of the same title, The Dubliners began life in 1961 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group. Their first three albums ‘The Dubliners’ (Transatlantic TRA116), ‘The Dubliners In Concert’ (Transatlantic TRA124) and ‘Finnegan Wakes’ (Transatlantic TRA139) were recorded between 1964 and 1966 and are probably three of the hardest hitting recordings from that era.

All the material on this compilation is drawn from the Transatlantic Label Years from 1963 -67 and includes some of their best-loved and most influential songs, among them ‘The Rocky Road To Dublin’, ‘The Wild Rover’, ‘The Holy Ground’, ‘Hot Asphalt’ and ‘McAlpine’s Fusiliers’. How influential The Dubliners have been on such groups as The Pogues is evident on the vocals and rough and rowdy approach to such songs as ‘McAlpine’s Fusiliers’.