Horslips: More Than You Can Chew

50th Anniversary – 35 Disc Super Deluxe Box Set

Over 350 Audio Tracks with 16 Hours of Unreleased Material and 4.5 Hours of Unreleased Video

• 33 CDs containing 506 audio tracks – 252 of which (16 hours) are previously unreleased

• 2 DVDs containing 59 video tracks (and two documentaries) – of which 42 (4½ hours) are previously unreleased

• 2 books – On The Record (a lavish new history of Horslips) and Lyricography

• 5 vintage 8 x 10 photos each signed individually by all five members

• 1 folder of fan club facsimiles from the 70s

• 1 poster

On St Patrick’s Day 1972, Horslips released their debut single, ‘Johnny’s Wedding’ – inventing Celtic rock in a single bound. 50 years later, Madfish are delighted to announce that they are releasing, in July 2022, More Than You Can Chew – a stunning 35 disc box set overflowing with music, film and printed matter encapsulating their entire career.

The set has been curated by Bert Jansch/John McLaughlin biographer (and longstanding Horslips fan) Colin Harper in close collaboration with the band members. The audio, including most of the film audio, has been restored and (re)mastered by IFTA award-winning engineer Cormac O’Kane. Herculean Horslips biographer Mark Cunningham has written the books, with fresh input from the band, and, wearing his day-job designer hat, has lovingly designed the set under the oversight of Horslips’ de facto art director Charles O’Connor.

In addition to the previously unreleased content, More Than You Can Chew includes two albums new to any digital medium: Tryal (1983) by the Host (a post-Horslips band featuring Eamon, Johnny and Charles) and Breaking Star Codes (1983) by Barry Devlin.

More Than You Can Chew audio/visual in more detail:

• 13 CDs – all 12 original 1972–80 albums (Live being a double) in mini-LP slipcases, in their original form and newly mastered

• 1 CD – Tracks from the Vaults Vol.2 – all of the single mixes and non-album tracks not included on the original TFTV (1977) compilation plus previously unreleased outtakes

• 8 CDs – anthologies of previously unreleased live and rehearsal recordings 1973–80, including The Last Time – the stunning final concert at the Ulster Hall 8/10/80 in full

• 3 CDs – 2 reunion-era Horslips albums: (1) Roll Back / (2) Live at the O2 (double)

• 1 CD – RTÉ Sessions 1971 – all previously unreleased

• 1 CD – RTÉ Sessions 1972 – all previously unreleased

• 1 CD – RTÉ Sessions 2004–12 – almost all previously unreleased

• 5 CDs – selected post-Horslips adventures:

1. Barry Devlin Breaking Star Codes (1983) – unreleased on CD;

2. The Host Tryal (1983) and non-album single sides (1983–85) – unreleased on CD;

3. Johnny Fean & Eamon Carr Live & Studio 1984–86 – a new self-curated anthology of previously unreleased solo, duo and Host recordings from the period;

4. Jim Lockhart Picking Up The Pieces – a new self-curated anthology of his TV/radio soundtrack music (1980s-00s) – almost all previously unreleased;

5. Charles O’Connor’s Resolution Suite Angel on the Mantelpiece (1995).

• DVD1 – The RTÉ Vault 1973–79 – c.160 minutes (50% previously unreleased material)

• DVD2 – The Reunion Era 2004–2019 – c.160 mins (95% previously unreleased material)

Deluxe Edition Bundle

Alongside More Than You Can Chew, there will also be available a unique limited edition frameable reprint of Horslips’  second-ever poster from a show at the Talbot Hotel in Wexford in June 1971

As Barry Devlin has  highlighted, “Even back in the day when 25p got you 90 minutes of high - concept, low - rehearsal  Horslips toons, there was no doubt about the band's commitment to getting the image right.

This quirky, striking design is a monument to Charles O’Connor’s hard graft hand drawing. Every line and circle painstakingly inked in.. and all of it a foretaste of design elements and memes that would crop up throughout Charles's series of ground breaking record covers”.

Limited to 250 copies, and only available online, the posters are numbered and individually signed by Charles O’Connor and measure 514mm x 672mm