Celtic Legacy‘s first album was written long before the band had either a line-up or a fanbase and recorded before it even had a name. It was only after the two founding members had spent almost a year writing and demoing the material that they then decided to put a band together and record everything properly.
Plans were drawn up with a recording line-up in place by early 1998. A studio was booked, finance was secured and the new, as yet un-named, group started work. However, as detailed in the booklet for Redux, nothing went smoothly and the first album became a series of fires that needed putting out to see things over the line.
While sounding primitive by today’s standards, the album found some favour with those who heard it. Tracks like Lost Soul, Celtic Legacy and Glen Corr – The Spirit of the Vagabond showed much promise, with Glen Corr especially becoming a stage favourite. Although it didn’t receive any critical acclaim or attention, the debut album did attract the interest of one man in Germany who was to have a lasting impact on the band from this point. Vladimir Hrubik not only sold all remaining copies of the 1000 that were pressed, he persuaded the band to carry on and record a follow-up, his sales of the album providing the money that funded the recording of Resurrection.
Of course the first thing on the agenda was finding a brand new line-up to do the work as the musicians that recorded this album soon moved on and replacements tended to move on just as quickly. This set a pattern that would come back to haunt the band between releases.
But if the debut album didn’t exactly light any fires, the music on the next album would prove to be glorious!
Celtic Legacy
Tom Branagan – Vocals
Dave Morrissey – Guitars/Keyboards
Dave Boylan – Bass/Vocals
Phil McEvoy – Drums
Ciara Roe – Violin
Special Guest
Peter Fitzpatrick – Piano
Produced, by Michael Richards & Dave Morrissey
Engineered & mixed by Michael Richards
Recorded at Trackmix Studio
Released 8h May 1998