After the Break

After The Break
Studio album by
Released1979
Recorded18–30 June 1979
StudioWindmill Lane Studios, Dublin
GenreIrish folk music
Length47:57
LabelTara Music, Shanachie Records
ProducerDónal Lunny
Planxty chronology
Cold Blow and the Rainy Night
(1974)
After The Break
(1979)
The Woman I Loved So Well
(1980)

After The Break[1]: 253–271  is the fourth studio album by the Irish folk music band Planxty, recorded at Windmill Lane Studios from 18 to 30 June 1979[1]: 260–262  and released the same year. It was the band's first of two releases on Tara Records.

As its title suggests, this was the first album released after the group's initial split in 1975 (although Dónal Lunny and Christy Moore had resigned, separately, earlier). The album was produced by Lunny and engineered by Brian Masterson, who had worked with the band since their earliest shows.[1]: 262–263  It is the first of two albums to feature future Chieftains member Matt Molloy on flute, who had earlier been playing with Lunny in The Bothy Band.

Two other pieces recorded at the time, "Lord McDonald/The Chattering Magpie" (a set of reels) and "The Bonny Light Horseman" (a song by Andy Irvine) were not included on the LP, but were later released on the Tara Records compilation High Kings of Tara, in 1980.[2] However, these two recordings were subsequently added to the CD and digital versions of After The Break.[3]

The album closes with the Bulgarian dance tune "Smeceno Horo" brought to the group by Irvine, who has called it "the closest I ever got to melding two traditions together".[1]: 266 

  1. ^ a b c d O'Toole, Leagues (2006). The Humours of Planxty. Ireland: Hodder Headline. ISBN 0-340-83796-9.
  2. ^ High Kings of Tara LP, Tara Records, TARA 3003, 1980.
  3. ^ Planxty - After The Break CD, Tara Records, TARACD 3001, 1992.