MUSHROOM - Prog Folk • Ireland

Mushroom biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1175)

Formed in Dublin in the early 70's, MUSHROOM* were one of Ireland's leading pop bands from '70 to '74. In fact, they had a huge hit with their first single "Devil Among the Tailors" from their LP "Early one morning" which reached no. 2 in the Irish top 20 charts in 1973, selling over a 100,000 LP's and singles; another song, "Kings and Queens", reached number 13 the following year. They band comprised five musicians among whom were violinist Pat Collins and guitarist Aengus McNally, son of actor Ray McNally; the other three contributed to the band's acid folk sound with organ, moog, harpsichord, bass, drums, tin whistles, chimes, bodhran and vocals. As far as comparisons go, HORSLIPS comes immediately to mind.

Their album features traditional Celtic folk-flavoured melodies that are given both a delicate and hard-rocking treatment: delicate in the form of melodic, mellow ballads, and hard rocking when Collins's fiddles battle it out with McNally's fuzzy, blazing guitar, particularly on traditional instrumental jigs. Although not as sophisticated and instrumentally accomplished as a FAIRPORT CONVENTION or a STEELEYE SPAN, for example, MUSHROOM's release is still worth a spin despite the average sound quality, if only for the pleasure of hearing some vintage psychedelia given a nifty Celtic folk treatment. Note: the CD version includes the band's famous mid-70's singles in the form of 3 bonus tracks.

1973 - Early One Morning

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