5 Hand Reel

"For A' That" 1977
"Earl O' Moray" 1978





















The second album, "For A' That", was recorded now in courtesy of RCA Records in July 1977, at the height of the punk summer of discontent. The opening "Bratach Bana" was the first Gaelic song recorded using rock elements. As Dick Gaughan says in his notes to the album:"It seems odd in these days when it is now perfectly normal to sing Gaelic songs in a contemporary fashion that this was regarded as extremely daring and adventurous in 1977. We've come a long, long way since those days."

Much of Five Hand Reel's live work was on club, college, and Folk festivals of England and Northern Europe. They were very popular in Scandinavia and recorded an album of traditional Danish songs "Ebbe, Dagmar, Svend og Alan" with Danish folk singer and radio presenter Alan Kiltgaard. In England they were rather unpopular, though appreciated in the Punk clubs as a live act.

In 1978, Five Hand Reel's third RCA album, "Earl O'Moray", was recorded in Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales. It was rather different to the two previous LPs: a darker sounding, more seriously minded album with a rich passionate undercurrent.Creatively speaking, it was probabely their finest album.