Blog
The Go-Betweens, Leonard Cohen, U2 and Boston Celtics’ Reggie Lewis
A few words on The Go-Betweens, Leonard Cohen, U2, Boston Celtics’ Reggie Lewis and my greatest vinyl find.
Top 10 Reissues of 2024
The third and final Top 10 of 2024. This one is a countdown of my favourite reissues from 2024, including three collections of previously unreleased songs.
Top 10 Irish Albums of 2024
Top 10 Irish Albums of 2024. Best Irish Compilation of 2024, Best Irish Single of 2024 and two Special Mentions. Songs from all ten of these albums were featured on Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM throughout 2024 and Episode 990 featured some of my favourite songs from these albums.
Top 10 Vinyl Finds of 2024
A Top 10 of secondhand #VinylFinds I purchased in 2024. These were picked up in record shops in Manchester, Sydney, Tarragona, Dublin and Cork. There are a couple rare collectables here but mostly it’s just a bunch of records I couldn’t leave behind.
Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus
A few words on Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus taking in: Paul Hanley’s Sixteen Again: How Pete Shelley & Buzzcocks Changed Manchester Music (and me), Joy Division, Buzzcocks, The Fall, John Cooper Clarke, The Lobby bar, Leeside Music on Cork’s MacCurtain Street, price stickers, Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’ and Joe Dolce’s ‘Shaddup Your Face’.
Oasis - Knebworth setlist
An Instagram post by Alan McGee mentioned that today was the 28th anniversary of Oasis’ gig at Knebworth. Oasis played two shows at the famed venue on the 10 and 11 of August 1996 to a combined audience of 250,000, a weekend that is often described as the climax of the Britpop movement. After Knebworth the band flew to Cork for two gigs at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on 14 and 15 August.
Top 10 Irish Songs*
Top 10 Irish songs taking in: “best of” lists, subjectivity, lost 80s classics, cover versions, The Royal Showband, an orange and cream 1970s Fidelity turntable and keeping music evil. Last week the Irish Independent published a “best of” list titled “The best Irish songs of all time”. Their list was subtitled “ranked: the definitive top 50”. Let’s agree on one thing straight away, “best of” lists are ridiculous, they’re also simultaneously highly entertaining and incredibly frustrating.
*Today
Peter Watkins’ Privilege
A few words on Peter Watkins’ Privilege taking in: Paul Jones, Manfred Mann, Jean Shrimpton, Terence Stamp, Tom Jones, Patti Smith, Mike Leander, Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema series, Punishment Park and The War Game. “A film so bizarre, so controversial, it shall crucify your mind to the tree of conscience.” They don’t write taglines like that anymore.
The Smiths - Rarities
A few words on Smiths’ rarities taking in: Leeside Music on Cork’s MacCurtain Street, green and white price stickers, kitchen sink dramas, Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, Albert Finney, Billie Whitelaw, Rita Tushingham, Yootha Joyce, Colin Campbell, Murray Head, Terence Stamp, Viv Nicholson, Pier Paolo Pasolini and James Dean.
The Smiths - Singles
A few words on The Smiths’ singles taking in: Woolworths in Enniskillen, Prince’s ‘Girls & Boys’, Owen Paul’s ‘My Favourite Waste of Time’, Nina Simone, New Order, misheard lyrics, cover stars, B-Sides, Vinyl Matrix Etchings, 7” singles from 1986 and more. By 1986 I was spending all my pocket money on singles and in the first six months of that year I had bought four. Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ had been a huge hit all over Europe in late-85 and hit the top spot In both Ireland and the UK in March.
The Smiths - Bootlegs
A few words on The Smiths taking in: vinyl bootlegs, CD bootlegs, Diana Dors, Doris Day, Margaret Sullavan, Hattie Jacques, Jean Howard, Glenn Miller and 1950s “Marlboro Baby” advertisements. The most beautiful bootleg in my collection is Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals a double LP that came out at the end of 2010 featuring previously unreleased studio demos, outtakes and instrumentals. The cover is a still of Diana Dors taken from 1956’s Yield to the Night. It’s a beautiful sleeve.
Steve Albini - An Appreciation
Steve Albini - An Appreciation, taking in: Big Black, Shellac, The Wedding Present, Pixies, Nirvana, Palace, Slint, Low, Connolly’s of Leap, Nancy Spains, Sir Henry’s, Bandicoot Promotions, Zeitgeist magazine, Adrian Crowley, Nina Nastasia, Palace Music, Magnolia Electric Co, Bikini Kill, Dirty Three and The Auteurs.
Morrissey - Bootlegs
A few words on Morrissey bootlegs taking in: The Smiths, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Dublin’s National Stadium, The Stone Roses at Spike Island, FM broadcasts, cassette bootlegs, New Order, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lollapalooza 1992, vinyl bootlegs, DVDs, and “art vs. the artist”. Today is the 33rd anniversary of Morrissey’s second solo gig. His 27 April 1991 National Stadium show was his first solo outing since the December 1988 Wolverhampton Civic gig and the opening night of the European leg of his Kill Uncle tour.
Colin Blunstone and The Zombies
Colin Blunstone: “The Zombies were a school band really.” An archive interview with Colin Blunstone taking in: The Zombies; recording Odessey and Oracle in Abbey Road; 40th Anniversary celebrations of the album; recording his first solo singles in 1969 under the name Neil MacArthur; his first three solo albums (One Year, Ennismore and Journey); working on 1972’s ‘I Don't Believe in Miracles’ with arranger Christopher Gunning; good song-writing; taking care of his voice; the rights to The Zombies’ recordings and much more.
Julian Cope’s Postcards
Julian Cope’s Postcards taking in: Krautrocksampler, Cope’s Notes, Julian Cope and Donald Ross Skinner’s Rite, Faith magazine, 1993’s The Acoustic Tour, bootleg tapes, John Cooper Clarke, The Modern Antiquarian, Royal Kilmainham Hospital, Vinyl Dublin, stone circles, Gaulstown Dolmen and The Heavy Camel Corps of the Sudan campaign of 1885. There are only a handful of artists that I’ve stayed the course with; Julian Cope is one of them. I’ve been a fan for a long time - The Teardrop Explodes are one of my favourite bands.
Werner Herzog in Ireland
A few words on Werner Herzog, taking in: Skellig Michael and Skellig Bheag; Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry; Reek Sunday; Croagh Patrick; Popol Vuh; Joy Division; Ian Curtis; Factory Records; dead wax inscriptions; Fitzcarraldo; Aguirre; the Wrath of God; Heart of Glass; The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser; cinema lobby cards and secondhand records. I watched my first Werner Herzog film in 1990. I was enrolled on a Bachelor of Commerce in UCC but I spent more time in the Boole Library watching films than I did attending lectures. I watched Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) over and over. It remains one of my favourite films. Herzog’s films led me to the music of Florian Fricke and his band Popol Vuh.
“Records give you more of what you want” - CBS Records
In the last post about David Ackles I mentioned Moby Grape’s Moby Grape ‘69 album album that I found in a “3 for €10” box at the Dublin Flea outdoor market at Newmarket Square off Cork Street in Dublin 8 over ten years ago. I love the inner sleeve of this album. CBS give eight reasons how, “records give you more of what you want.”
David Ackles - American Gothic
A few words on David Ackles’s American Gothic, taking in Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Elektra Records, and digging for secondhand records in Dublin. For a few years (roughly between 2011-2014) I used to go to the weekend Dublin Flea outdoor market at Newmarket Square off Cork Street in Dublin 8. There was a great record stall there that had amazing bargains. I regularly found gems in their “3 for €10” box and there was always great records in the €5 crates.
Bill Drummond’s The Man
A few words on Bill Drummond’s The Man, taking in Big in Japan, Zoo Records, The Timelords, The KLF, The Triffids, Bar/None Records, The Wild Swans and Herbert James Draper’s 1898 painting ‘The Lament for Icarus’. In a recent post about Kathy McCarty’s Dead Dogs Eyeball (Songs of Daniel Johnston) I mentioned that in 1994 at the time of its release the only Bar/None records in my collection were They Might Be Giant’s self-titled debut and Bill Drummond’s The Man.
Top 10 Vinyl Finds of 2023
A Top 10 of secondhand #VinylFinds I purchased in 2023. These were picked up in a couple of record shops in Dublin and Cork and a record fair. There’s nothing particularly rare or collectible here just a bunch of records I couldn’t leave behind. These were all fairly cheap, most were around €10 with one or two just less than €20.