The Iron Behind the Velvet is an album recorded by Christy Moore in 1978, after the first breakup of Planxty. It was produced jointly by Brian Masterson and Moore, and recorded and mixed at Lombard and Keystone Studios, Dublin.

It features his brother Barry Moore (Luka Bloom) on guitar & vocals, as well as Planxty's Andy Irvine on mandolin, bouzouki, vocals and more. Also appearing are Noel Hill on concertinas, Tony Linnane on fiddle, Gabriel McKeon on Uilleann pipes, Jimmy Faulkner on guitars and Rosemary Flanagan on cello.

The final track on the present CD, "John O'Dreams", was produced by Dónal Lunny and recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in 1980; therefore, it did not originally feature on the 33rpm, vinyl LP version of The Iron Behind the Velvet.

Instead, the song was first released—under the title "John of Dreams"—on the compilation album High Kings of Tara, then subsequently re-released on the CD version of The Iron Behind the Velvet. Lunny (bouzouki, synthesizer) and Jolyon Jackson (cello, synthesizer) accompanied Moore (vocals, guitar) on the recording of this track.