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Episode 4


All the God’s Men &
Explicit Material

by Blue in Heaven

“Loved the first two [episodes]. Very well researched, really interesting, and so honest. Great podcast.”
Shane O’Neill


Episode 4 - Preview

All the God’s Men (1985) and Explicit Material (1986). Photograph by Paul McDermott.

All the God’s Men (1985) and Explicit Material (1986). Photograph by Paul McDermott.

“I remember being in a gaming arcade (playing space invaders) in Kinsale back in the 80s and Blue in Heaven walked in looking like the last gang in town. It was like a scene from The Lost Boys.”
Emmet Greene


Episode Notes

Episode four of To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited focuses on Blue in Heaven. The Dublin band hailed from Churchtown and released two albums on Island Records - All the God’s Men (1985) and Explicit Material (1986). These are very different records and sound at times almost as if they were created by two different bands, a fact summed up best by The New York Times when they wrote:

“Blue in Heaven originally seemed to be yet another brooding, post-Joy Division quartet, but on the new Explicit Material, the quartet, fronted by the singer-guitarist Shane O'Neill, has gone for a harder, more intense, and very ''live'' sound.”

Alongside Shane O’Neill in Blue in Heaven were Dave Clarke on drums, Declan Jones on bass guitar and Eamonn Tynan on keyboards.

In this episode Shane O’Neill, joins me for a long discussion. Our conversation takes in landmark Irish record label Mulligan Records (run by Shane’s father Seamus O’Neill and Donal Lunny); The Bothy Band’s live album, After Hours; his first band Amuse (with future Into Paradise mainman Dave Long); early punk gigs in Pearse Street’s Magnet bar; his love of the original five-piece version of Micro Disney and in particular the band’s guitarist Giordaí Ua Laoghaire; how Five Go Down to the Sea?’s Finbarr Donnelly once saved Amuse from a beating by a load of punks; the Edge producing Blue in Heaven’s first demo, signing to Island Records; playing gigs with U2 and New Order; working with producer Hugh Jones, Stiff Records boss Dave Robinson and Island Records boss Chris Blackwell; recording in Blackwell’s Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and much, much more.

A lot of our conversation is taken up with a discussion of Blue in Heaven’s time at Strawberry Studios when the band worked with the legendary producer Martin Hannett. The working methods of Hannett and how he achieved some of his trademark sounds are discussed in detail. We even talk about Shane’s Dirt Records (Revelino, Sack, The Idiots) in the 1990s and coming full circle we talk about the beautiful album Moll & Zeis that Shane released this year alongside his old friend, Dave Long.

Blue in Heaven – All the God’s Men (Island Records, 1985). Images from Discogs.

Blue in Heaven – All the God’s Men (Island Records, 1985). Images from Discogs.

I came to Blue in Heaven late. I was too young to see them live and I had been slightly suspicious of The Blue Angels, their second incarnation so I didn’t go back to investigate the first band. Sometime in the mid-90s I found Blue in Heaven’s two long players in a secondhand record shop and took a punt. It wasn’t much of a risk - secondhand vinyl was really cheap in the 90s as people swapped out record collections for CDs - the fools. As a huge fan of all things Joy Division/New Order and anything related to Factory Records I was aware that U2 had recorded their second single ‘11 O’Clock Tick Tock’ with the Factory producer Martin Hannett but it was a complete surprise to me to find out that another Dublin band had recorded a full album with him.

Blue in Heaven’s All the God’s Men was recorded in Stockport at 10CC’s famous Strawberry Studios in the winter of 1984 with Hannett at the helm. Hannett’s unique production style is all over the recordings on All the God’s Men.

Press advert for All the God’s Men. Image from ebay.

Press advert for All the God’s Men. Image from ebay.

The album’s beautiful sleeve - a photograph of the band members surrounded by representatives from all of the world’s religions - belies the dark, brooding sounds within. The recording process, though difficult at times due to Hannett’s alcohol and drug issues, ultimately produced a great record that sounds incredible. The album was promoted heavily by Island Records with the tagline: “A new force from Dublin joins hands with Manchester’s seminal gothic producer.”

Blue in Heaven - Explicit Material (Island Records, 1986). Image from Discogs.

Blue in Heaven - Explicit Material (Island Records, 1986).
Image from Discogs.

There was a rethink for album number two. A new approach, a rawer more stripped down back-to-basics style. Explicit Material was recorded in Compass Point Studios on the island of New Providence, ten miles west of Nassau in the Bahamas in December 1985. Explicit Material was produced by Island’s Chris Blackwell and engineered by Eric ‘ET’ Thorngren. Not only were the recording conditions of the second album obviously completely different from that of All the God’s Men, its overall sound is different as well. If All the God’s Men owes a debt to the “raincoat” sounds of Joy Division, Magazine, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Sound, then Explicit Material’s rawer rock sound is straight out of Iggy’s playbook.

Press advert for Explicit Material. Image from ebay.

Press advert for Explicit Material. Image from ebay.

 
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Blue in Heaven’s two albums have never been issued on CD and as of 2021 aren’t available on streaming services. It’s a total shame because here are two of the greatest Irish albums of the 1980s. They’re out there though, they can be found on secondhand vinyl and are definitely worth tracking down.


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ecause the music is unavailable digitally I couldn’t end this episode with a song choice from Shane so instead I asked him to pick a song from each album. Shane’s choices, ‘Old Ned’ from All the God’s Men and ‘Just Another Day’ from Explicit Material, are available below.

Blue in Heaven
Sir Henry’s Cork - 04 December, 1988
Image: Sir Henry’s Exhibition FB page

 

For Further Reading/Listening:

To Here Knows When column in The Goo on All God’s Men & Explicit Material


The great blog The Fanning Sessions Archive has a number of Blue in Heaven posts that are well worth checking out:

Blue in Heaven in Concert 1985

Blue in Heaven - Fanning Session (1985)

Blue in Heaven - Fanning Session (1988)

For anyone interested in further details of Martin Hannett and Strawberry Studios, I wholeheartedly recommend Paul Hanley’s Leave the Capital. The former Fall drummer’s book tells the history of two Manchester studios: Pluto and Strawberry. In so doing he weaves together the story, “of Manchester music through the prism of these two studio’s key recordings.” The story takes in The Smiths, Joy Division, The Fall, The Stone Roses and much, much more. It’s without doubt one of finest music books I’ve read in recent years. Watch a short promo video below.

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In my intro to this episode I mention two quotes from Mark Prendergast. Mark wrote about music for The Irish Times and other publications in the early 80s. The quotes come from his great book Irish Rock : Roots, Personalities, Directions (O’Brien Press, 1987). I often see Irish Rock in secondhand book shops and it’s well worth picking up. It was one of the very first authoritative accounts of Irish rock music.

Dave Long and Shane O’Neill released the beautiful Moll & Zeis in 2021. ‘Albert the Painter’ taken from the album is below.

In 1985 two great friends of mine Paul Cussen and Pádraig Collins published a music fanzine in Limerick called In the City. For one issue the two dynamic 18-year-olds interviewed U2’s Adam Clayton, Tuesday Blue, Light a Big Fire, Blue in Heaven and others. Below I’ve reproduced their Blue in Heaven interview.

In the City 1985, images from Pádraig Collins. © Paul Cussen and Pádraig Collins

In the City 1985, images from Pádraig Collins. © Paul Cussen and Pádraig Collins

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and finally…

After the interview the members of Blue in Heaven kindly signed Pádraig’s copy of ‘Julie Cries’.

“Fuck your paper” - Shane