Books

Book review: Real to Reel is a gorgeous retelling of Claddagh founder’s love affair with trad

Sumptuous coffee table book and album set recounts the story of Garech Browne,

Garech Browne. ‘Thanks to his moneyed background and a cavalier attitude to what usually constitutes a working day, the subject was “a good old-fashioned cacophony of contradictions”’

There are coffee table books and there are coffee table books. Even though this reviewer didn’t get a finished copy (“Due to the high retail price of the set, Claddagh Records hasn’t made any physical promo copies available,” is the gut-wrenching note we receive from the PR company), turning over one PDF page after another of Real to Reel is still a sumptuous feast for the eyes.

And for the ears, also. The book arrives with a vinyl album called Masters of Their Craft, which features not only 17 remastered tracks from Claddagh’s justifiably acclaimed catalogue but also a previously unreleased poem by Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and TS Eliot Prize-winner, Paul Muldoon.