Bio:

Joe O'Donnell is a classically trained violin player from Limerick who is best known for his innovative playing in various folk-rock bands including Mushroom and East Of Eden. He also pioneered the development of the electric violin, making his own instruments.

Joe O'Donnell began playing volin at a young age. During the beat era he played with a number of groups most notably the Limerick bands Granny's Intentions (a short stint as guitarist) and Sweet Street (1967-69), with a pre Horslips Johnny Fean. Sweet Street folded when Joe moved to Dublin to study at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Joe was also briefly in an unrecorded, late lineup of psychedelic pioneers the Orange Machine in 1969, takling the band in a Jefferson Airplane direction.

In 1971 he joined The Woods Band who'd just released their debut LP on the Greenwich label. This band folded and Gay & Terry Woods signed to Polydor as a duo. Joe appears on their debut LP "Backwoods", released in 1972. He then joined the fourth, unrecorded lineup of UK folkrock legends the Trees. This was reputedly the most rockin' version of the band (see Ugly Things #25 for an extensive band history). Bootleg live recordings of this lineup do exist but I have not heard them.

In 1972 he joined pioneering celtic rock band Mushroom and appears on their 1973 LP "One Fine Morning" and on both singles, though he'd left by the time the LP was released, replaced by Pat Collins. Joe left Mushroom to replace Dave Arbus in East Of Eden in 1973.

During 1973-76 Joe was involved in a number of projects and I haven't worked out the exact chronology yet. He was a member of a East Of Eden, appearing on "Another Eden" (released only in Germany in 1975 but possibly recorded earlier) and spinoff singles and touring with the band; he was also in Headstone, the band formed by Steve Gould, Dave Kaffinetti and Mark Ashton of Rare Bird, with guitarist Steve Bolton (ex Atomic Rooster, who later played on Joe's solo LP). Joe appears on the second, self-titled Headstone LP from 1975 but I am unsure of his contribution to the rest of their discography; also in 1975 he guested on Henry McCullough's solo debut LP "Mind Your Own Business", released in October that year on George Harrison's Dark Horse label (via A&M).

In 1976 Joe appeared on Jade Warrior's "Kites" album (which also featured Clodagh Simmonds of Mellow Candle). The recordings were engineered by Tom Newman (ex July, co-owner of Manor House Studios with Richard Branson of Virgin Records, producer of "Tubular Bells", etc). Joe contributed to Newman's second solo LP "Faerie Symphony" released on Decca in 1977. Joe approached Jon Field (of Jade Warrior) and Newman about recording his own concept LP. This lead to a deal with Decca, who gave Joe full freedom in recording "Gaodhal's Vision", a fusion of Celtic music with rock and jazz. The album was produced and engineered by Newman & Field. The musicians included Rory Gallagher, Steve Bolton (of Atomic Rooster, Headstone, as mentioned above), Theodor Thunder and David Lennox (Rory Gallagher's band). Through Rory, Joe meet Rory's brother and manager Donal Gallagher, who became Joe's manager and secured a release from Decca. The LP came out instead on Rory's label Polydor Records.

"Gaodhal's Vision" was acclaimed at time of release and has remained of interest to collectors, not least due to Rory Gallagher's contribution. It was released in the UK and Ireland, France, Germany (in a gatefold sleeve) and the Peoples Republic of China! A single was released in Ireland to promote the album.

Musically it's not completely successful. At times it is reminiscent of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but at other times it strays into pomp rock territory. Mark J.Prendergast describes it as follows:

"Still on crossovers, that year also produced the first symphonic Celtic concept album in Joe O'Donnell's Gaodhal's Vision... The work spans classical, jazz and rock, and charts the journey of the Milesians from Egypt to Spain and thence to Ireland. The orchestral nature of the music conveys the atmosphere of the history, with flutes, violins and percussion forming the basis of the structure. Unfortunately, the overall effect is 'pomp' rock, with nice solos and instrumentation doing little to ease the bombast. The only redeeming feature of this album is the final cut, "Poets and Storytellers", which develops into something very special when Rory Gallagher applies a searing, fast-fretted guitar sound to the mix." from Irish rock: Roots, Personalities, Directions (1987)

side one:
The Vision
The Exodus
Caravan
The Battle and Retreat Underground
Tara

side two:
The Fair
The House of Hostages
For Trades and Hospitality
House of Warriors
The Great Banqueting Hall
Poets and Storytellers

CD track listing with bonus tracks:
Vision
Exodus
Caravan
Sea Crossing and Storm (previously unreleased bonus track)
The Battle & Retreat
Palace Of Tara
The Feish
Hostages
Hospitalities & Trades
Warriors
Great Hall
Poets & Storytellers
Lament For Coire Sainnte (previously unreleased bonus track)
Tribes (previously unreleased bonus track)

Credits:
Rory Gallagher - guitars (lead on "Poets and Storytellers")
Bill Smith - bass
Theodore Thunder - drums
David Lennox - jeyboards
Jon Field - flutes
Joe O'Donnell - violin, violectra 8-string violin

Notes:
Conductor: Fiachra French
Producer: Jon Field
Engineers: Tom Newman and Tom Nordon
Recorded at: The Argonaut and Decca Studios
Executive Producer: Donal Gallagher
All compositions by Joe O'Donnell.

Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic.