Irish Rock Discography: Peggy's Leg

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Peggy's Leg

From: Dublin

Active: late 1972 - 1975

Style:

Lineup:

Jimi Slevin - guitar/vocals
Jimmy Gibson - guitar/vocals
Vincent Duffy - bass
Don Harris - drums/vocals

Peggy's Leg in 1973, l-to-r: Jimi Slevin, Vincent Duffy, Don Harris, Jimmy Gibson

Bio:

Formed by ace guitarist Jimi Slevin, ex of Alice / Brogue towards the end of 1972, Peggy's Leg were known for their adaptations of classical music. Their live set included covers of Yes and Emerson Lake & Palmer as well as music by Bach ("a blistering rendition of Bach's Sinfonia from Cantata Nr. 29"), Katchaturian ("Sabre Dance"), Rossini ("William Tell Overture") and Handel. Their self-released album came out in late 1973. Managed by John Donohue (Mushroom) who is credited with organising the recording of their self-released album that came out in 1973:

"This is one of the rarest albums of the seventies. Peggy's Leg were an Irish classical rock outfit and their sole album was recorded in just 23 hours. 500 copies were pressed originally and as most were sold to local fans, originals are extremely difficult to locate nowadays, particularly with the inner lyric sheet. The album consisted of six tracks and, aside from an unadventurous cover version of Love Sculpture's Sabre Dance, they comprised self-penned compositions which forged frantic heavy rock sections with soft dreamlike passages into a series of well structured songs. They also recorded a pretty frantic and indeed demented version of the William Tell Overture, which was put out on a 45."--PR blurb

Vincent Duffy left mid 1974. Martin Biseneiks joined on keyboards, followed by new bassist John Brady. Jimi left in 1975, joining the reformed Skid Row and later fronting Jimi Slevin & Firefly and recording several solo albums (one of which, "Freeflight", was co-produced by John Donoghue in his studio in Slane, County Meath). He was replaced by Eric Bell, but Peggy's Leg split a few short months later. Don Harris, who'd previously been with the Urge, went into session work and played with David Bowie in the early eighties. Vincent Duffy sadly committed suicide in 1983.

A bootleg reissue of Grinilla appeared on the Italian Kasoa label in the late '90s with a paste on cover. 500 copies were pressed but most were ruined by a reaction between the surface of the vinyl LP and the plastic inner sleeve in which it was housed. These are easily spotted. Beware dealers unloading 'bargain' copies -- there is quite a lot of noise during playback.
In 2001 it was reissued officially on CD by Kissing Spell. This digital remaster offered an interesting (if you like drum solos!) bonus track. This is now out of print but no doubt it will be licensed for release again, hopefully with the non-LP single tracks as bonus this time.

Peggy's Leg live on stage

Discography:

• William Tell Overture (Rossini) / Brownox (Gibson)
7" - Bunch Records - BS 101 - IRL 1973 - no PS

• Grinilla
LP - Bunch Records - BAN2001 - IRL 1973 - lyric sheet insert [500 copies]
LP - Kasoa Records - ??? - Italy 1994? - paste-on cover
CD - Kissing Spell - KSCD 915 - UK 2001

Compilation appearances:

• Just Another Journey
- Psychedelic Salvage Co. Vol. 1 - LP - no label - OMEN 1 - UK 1990 - insert
- Psychedelic Salvage Co. Vol. 1 - CD - no label - SALV CD1 - 1997

• Sabre Dance
- Psychedelic Salvage Co. Vol. 2 - LP - no label - OMEN 2 - UK 1990 - insert
- Psychedelic Salvage Co. Vol. 2 - CD - no label - SALV CD2 - 1997

See also: Metropolis, Jimi Slevin, Urge

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.

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