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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 #VinylFinds 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.
Dead Dog’s Eyeball
I’m on a bit of a Daniel Johnston kick. Last week Joyful Noise/Shimmy Disc announced Daniel Johnston in the 20th Century: “the first comprehensive collection of Daniel Johnston’s influential and revered 20th century discography, available for the very first time in 24bit lossless audio.”
I picked up all 14 albums on Shimmy Disc’s initial 48-hour “pay as you want” deal. I know some of these albums but it’s been a revelation wading into the complete collection.
I’m not sure when I first heard the name Daniel Johnston. Like many it might have been seeing the late Kurt Cobain sporting his Hi How Are You t-shirt in photographs. I do remember when I first heard Johnston’s music.
Robert Wyatt’s ‘Shipbuilding’
‘Shipbuilding’ was written by Clive Langer (music) and Elvis Costello (lyrics) and released by Rough Trade in August 1982. It was reissued in April 1983 in four different 7” sleeves. The sleeves all featuring sections from two of Stanley Spencer’s 1940s series of eight panels entitled Shipbuilding on the Clyde.
Top 10 Irish Albums of 2023
It’s been another incredible year for Irish music. Lankum have rightly topped a load of year-end lists with False Lankum. They get my top spot for Irish album of the year. Lisa O’Neill and John Francis Flynn, two other artists currently receiving a lot of justified attention, also make my Top 10. The other seven albums on this list are all worthy of your attention. Songs from all ten of these albums were featured on Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM throughout 2023 and Episode 940 (06 December 2023) features 12 of my favourite songs from these 10 albums.
Dark Star - Twenty Twenty Sound (Harvest, 1999)
My recent post about Hip-Pocket Records and my 4” Flexi-disc of ‘The Letter’ by The Box Tops got me thinking about other unusual records in my collection. Dark Star released a 5” clear vinyl version of their tune ‘Graceadelica’ in 1999. Dark Star were formed by Christian Hayes, David Francolini and Laurence O'Keefe after their previous band Levitation had disbanded. Terry Bickers had formed Levitation with the lads after leaving The House of Love.
The Box Tops – The Letter
‘The Letter’ by The Box Tops is one of my all-time favourite songs. It’s 1 minute and 53 seconds of greatness and still sounds absolutely amazing. I never tire of this track no matter how often I play it. My own copy of this 7'' is a 1974 French pressing of ‘The Letter’. But it’s not my only copy of the single.
American Spring
I was recently a guest on Keeping Track, Dave Hackett’s UCC98.3FM radio show. Dave asked me to pick seven songs to play on the show. It was really hard to pick the songs but I knew that ‘Fallin’ in Love’ by Spring was going to be my first choice.