Port of Call (1979) - "A delightful blend of traditional and original material written with both power and restraint and admirably performed." - The Daily Telegraph
"Halpin's material is startling for its sheer class and originality, strong enough to mark him down as one of the very finest writers to have emerged in recent years." - Melody Maker The Streets of Everywhere (1981) - "Dear Dirty Dublin, penned by Halpin, is sufficiently good to convince anyone who didn't know the place to go and live there." - The Irish Times "It's a mark of the record's quality that the strongest tracks are those by Kieran Halpin" - News Post. The Man Who Lives in Bottles (1983) - "A work of vision and astonishing maturity, this album reveals Kieran to be one of the country's finest songwriters. A personal triumph for him, it's the songs and voice that feature most prominently after repeated playings." - Hotpress Live and Kicking (1985) - "... the lack of technical sophistication is more than compensated for by the sheer quality of both the musicianship and the songs themselves...ignore it at your peril!" - Hotpress Crystal Ball Gazing (1989) - "In Irish contemporary songwriting we are blessed with such luminaries as Brady, Morrison and Jimmy McCarthy. It's about time that Kieran Halpin was admitted to their serried ranks. He is one of the best we've got." - Hotpress Mission Street (1991) - "... a Van Morrison for the '90s." - Billboard "Halpin's only claim to fame is that he is writing songs ten times more intelligent than anything you'll hear on MTV" - Sunday Press "The songs, however, are only part of the story, Halpin, more than most, has a voice that sells the songs. It's unusual for a contemporary songwriter to sound so Irish (Christy Moore apart) and it's rare for anyone to sound so hard. This has the effect of accentuating all the emotions." - Folk Roots "For myself and my companions it was Halpin who stole the show with an impressive selection of songs which encompassed a diverse range of topics, from the Berlin Wall to homesickness. Kieran captured our hearts with his emotive lyrics and mystic chords and is arguably one of Ireland's most underrated writers. "Too Long Away" is nothing short of sublime." - Olympia Theatre, Dublin 1990 "There is such a physical depth to Kieran's songs that many would take full rock band treatment and lose nothing of the intimacy" - Swansea Folk Club. |