Blue Skies & Bad Salads: Pugwash's 1st US gig before Adoring Crowd in Hamden Ct.

I don't know for sure, but I would guess that most people reading this post are familiar with the legendary gig of the Sex Pistols at Manchester. They say that of the 50 people in attendance, most were inspired enough by the show to form bands of their own. The concert was lovingly re-enacted in the wonderful Tony Wilson/Factory records bioflick 24 Hour Party People. (If you haven't seen this movie go see it now.) Cut to decades later, and a running joke is that if you added up all the kids that claimed to have been there that night, there would have been enough people to fill a soccer stadium!

Anyway, if the Irish Pop geniuses Pugwash go platinum or viral, or they wind up with the first track on a Hunger Games or Transformers soundtrack, I just wanted you to know that I was there before the levees broke. This past Sunday evening. I was in attendance for their first US show at the Outer Space in Hamden, Ct.! One of the lucky 50 in attendance, in other words. It was a bit of a haul to drive from NY across the Nutmeg State, but I'm glad that I did. It was my first visit to the Outer Space, but I'm pretty sure it won't be my last. I think they could become my new Maxwell's. Good bands, nice varied craft beer selection, and they serve up food (which at least looked pretty good) from the kitchen.

If you are not familiar with Pugwash, they are a pop band from Ireland led by Thomas Walsh. They have pout a number of albums out, which are mostly hard/expensive to obtain, at least in the U.S (until now, anyway--I'll elaborate later). Their music is influenced greatly by the classic pop acts of the sixties and seventies, like Beatles, ELO, Move, Idle Race, Beatles, and more recent artists like Swindon's finest, XTC. But I do believe they do navigate their way in the pop world in their own distinct way. Live they reminded me a little of The Smithereens, sort of an updated more guitar-centric version of the aforementioned artists.

I have found in my experience with live shows, that bands are rarely funny. And sometimes the moments of humor are entirely unintentional. Exceptions to this are bands like Mekons, and the amazing Billy Bragg, whose between song patter is at times superior to the music. I'm mentioning this now because Pugwash is a band that likes to horse around a bit on stage. I know that national stereotypes can at times be hurtful, but Thomas Walsh has a bit of that gift of gab we've heard so much about. Of course with the brogue, the entertainers and audience seemed equally baffled more than once.

It goes beyond saying Tink and Tanks instead of Think and Thanks. Walsh said "this next song is off our Forest album". ?. It took a few seconds for me to realize he said 1st album.

For example: guy next to me keeps shouting out for some reason "play Christy Moore"! Finally Walsh responds. "We're not playing Christy Moore, because noone plays a Christy Moore song better
than Christy Moore! Next time you go see Christy Moore, ask him to play one of ours and see how he does. And you know I know him. I ran into him once when he was putting out his garbage bins one morning. These things do happen you know.........

Another guy wanted them to perform Mayor of Simpleton. But no. According to Walsh, "you know Partridge stole all the good bits from me....."

They liked to take the piss between their songs also, playing little jokey snippets of covers, like
the soft-rock classic Mandy, Cream's Sunshine of Your Love, and Sgt. Peppers LHCB. The ultimate of course was their little run through the theme song of "King of Queens". I think they were a little disappointed they didn't get a bigger response from the audience, because I bet they practiced this one in anticipation of America.

USA, USA!!!!

Getting back to originals, you should know that in conjunction with Pugwash's US tour, Omnivore Recordings has released a career-wide anthology of their music "Rose in a Garden of Weeds", the first North American release of their music. And if you enjoy a well-crafted rock tune, you really can't go wrong with this. And if you manage to see Pugwash live, the nice gentleman at the merch table will happily assist you in selecting repressings of Pugwash's ultra scarce first two albums, Almond Tea and Almanac, and their latest full length album, Olympus Sound (which was nominated for a Meteor Choice Award for best Irish album). Or a T-shirt or two. If you can't get to a gig, maybe you should check out Facebook.....




So in conjunction with the compilation record, Pugwash performed songs from their early days to now. Songs like Apples, or Be My Friend (Jeff Lynne's favorite), Take Me Away. They did It's Nice to Be Nice, from their Jollity album. They performed their contribution to Colin Farrell's movie "Pride and Glory", Anyone Who Asks. Nice. They finally did bow to pressure and played a cover, a bangup version of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky. And to fully explain the title of this post, Pugwash sang Dear Belinda, a Sad Ballad--or Bad Salad.........




Pugwash are probably completing their NY show as I type, but they will be playing other select venues in the States. I really enjoyed myself that night. They are definitely worth seeing live.

And before Pugwash came on stage I got to hear 2 Balkan Brass bands, two more than I have ever heard live before. While I didn't come to the Outer Space for this reason, I enjoyed listening to them. One was a local group & the other was a group from Boston, Cocek! Brass Band, who actually wrote their own original songs. They were a lot of fun to hear, and the elaborate interweaving stuttery horn parts were amazing. And it was fun watching the people who came to see these bands, because this music was in their DNA, and they were dancing around, really enjoying themselves, which is a beautiful thing. One of the principles I adhere to when I go see a show, is never write another band off. Opening bands are sometimes brilliant, often interesting--which is one of my favorite kind of surprise! And I like to be polite, I suppose.




So, now that Pugwash has visited the States, can the Duckworth-Lewis Method be far behind?
Come on, you aficionados of Rounders, surely you must know of Walsh's Cricket-themed side band with Neil Hannon! They recently released their 2nd album!

Dublin's #1s Release 1st album! Gritty Pop Punk from Dublin

A few weeks ago my package arrived from Deranged records in Vancouver. Yes, finally the #1s have released their debut album. Highly anticipated in some circles--guilty as charged am I. So let me jump on this bandwagon, if one in fact exists.

I've already done a post extolling the virtues of this Dublin 4-piece. If you like The Undertones, The Clean, The Records, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this today! Sure there is nothing terribly new here, but what they do here, they do well.

Look at the cover quickly and you would think they were posing for the cover of Tiger Beat magazine. Like 4 dapper young Danny Bonaduces. The things you have to do for world domination.

This a pretty great debut, compiling a lot of the great singles they have made, some of which are probably impossible to get. Most of the songs are pretty energetic and gritty. Though rough around the edges they have a keen pop sense, like early Teenage Fanclub somewhat, though I detect a little Dinosaur Jr influence in the terrific song Sharon Shouldn't (see prior post).

They don't sound much like U2 or Cranberries, so they probably won't be appearing on any Irish music documentaries on public television anytime soon.

I'll just post one song here, the brashly melodic Heartsmash! I think the song is about unrequited romantic infatuation, but it could also be about Professional Wrestling.




Great stuff here. Eddie Kenrick on vocs, Sean Goucher on guitar, Cian Nugent bass, and Conor Lumsden, drums. Buy the album, buy the t-shirts and beer coozies.  The album is available from Deranged Records and Static Shock Records in Europe. Well done. 10 songs in 20 minutes--tight editing here.

Cian Nugent appears to have a few albums out himself, he of Cian Nugent & the Cosmos. I'm listening  to a few of his songs right now. The music is quite different from #1s. It sounds like contemplative instrumental folk music. Not bad at all, really, but what I've heard seems pretty laid back.

The Undertones had John Peel in their corner. Since such influential giants like Peel no longer walk the earth (sadly), the little guys like me have to pull their weight. So check these guys out. You'll be glad you did!

Welcome to this Place, it's got so dull....Power of Dreams' Immigrants, Emigrants, and Me!

So, I'm listening to the first album by Dublin's Power of Dreams, Immigrants, Emigrants, and Me, released in 1990 on Polydor. And once again I scratch my head in wonder.



100 ways of killing, 200 ways of breaking........

I  have often been perplexed, that in the wake of the international transcendence and ultimate global domination of U2, i.e. Bono and Soggy Bottom Boys, why I suddenly did not come face to face with a glut of Irish bands in that era. So many, that there would be dozens upon dozens of terrible bands signed plus a handful of keepers.

Certainly with Nirvana breaking out in the 1990's, record people invaded Seattle like Seal Team 6. I have this image of industry executives parachuting in, with the Space Needle in the backdrop, briefcases filled with contracts, with the intention of signing every band in a 50 mile radius. Congregating in a fashion similar to the results of throwing red meat into a Shark tank.

I can't honestly believe that some of that did not happen on the Emerald Isle. Of course we had Fatima Mansions/Microdisney, Frank and Walters, A House, My Bloody Valentine, Roller Skate Skinny and of course a band that should be known by those that read this blog, Whipping Boy. Yeah, there were others, I know.

But I've listened to Immigrants, Emigrants, and Me, this aforementioned 1st album for about my 10th time, and I am fairly amazed that this album did not strike a chord with the music fans in the U.S. I was not aware of them until recently at all. The explanation I keep seeing in my investigations, is that there was a timing problem. That what happened was a so-called "U2 backlash", where people were fed up with the band, and consequently some otherwise worthy bands were ignored. But in a country like mine, where so many people take a great pride in their Irish heritage, I would have thought they would have gone down as smoothly as a well-drawn pint of Guinness.



One listen to this album, and I think you would agree that the songs were made to be sold in mass quantities and given heavy radio rotation. The band plays melodic, moody pop, with anthemic choruses. You could make some comparison to U2 in their sound, but I could also make comparisons to REM, The Smiths, even the Hoodoo Gurus, so I suppose it means that their music was relevant to the music of that era. I mean, they do have their own special charisma. I like how they sing out "tink" instead of "think" on their songs.

From top to bottom a very solid album, with some especially nice tracks, like Stay, Where is the Love?, and The Jokes on Me. I particularly like the tune Mother's Eyes, with its melancholy jangle.




From what I've found out, Power of Dreams was big in Ireland, U.K., Japan and in a few European countries. In many lists of the best Irish rock albums of all time (by critics and polling within Ireland), you would likely find this album featured prominently. Not in the top five (there you would probably find Whipping Boy rubbing shoulders with Van the Man and Bono), but nonetheless, being on the list is a testament to the quality of the music, and the enduring reverence for a nearly 25 year old album by the music fans of Ireland.

Power of Dreams:
Craig Walker: Guitar/vocals
Keith Walker: Drums
Michael Lennox: Bass

So if you were interested in Irish bands, or good 90's bands, I would highly recommend Power of Dreams Immigrants Emigrants and Me. The music is top notch pop. The only thing I could say negatively is that there is a tendency in most songs to have choruses where one line is repeated over and over again, which gives the otherwise excellent songs a certain songwriting pattern. A few years ago deluxe 2 disc version of this album came out in limited qualities, but that has long sold out. Finding a copy of that may be cost prohibitive. I have been trying.

These days, the band members are involved in various other projects, though there have been reunion shows now and again. Craig Walker has a band called Mineral, but still is continuing with Power of Dreams, as you can see by checking out the bands functioning website. Maybe this band has slipped through the cracks as it has for me, but it isn't too late to make up for lost time!

Dublin's Likely Lads---#1's Poised to Conquer--Sharon Shouldn't

While you were busy the last few weeks organizing your Grammy party, you may not have realized music has already moved on.

Here is a big fat slice of punk-pop excitement from Dublin's #1's. I think they have a few singles out, maybe a cassette. And I think a beer coozie, which tells me they mean business.  No long-player out yet, but you've gotta love this song and the video accompanying it! Yeah, you've heard it before (maybe from a little group from Derry), but it still sounds great!

I think you'll be hearing a lot more from these 4 likely lads soon.

The 7" Single is on Sorry State records and also Alien Snatch records for those interested.




I first heard about these guys via Music Ruined My Life, a terrific music blog which is well worth
checking out.

Addendum:
I neglected to mention originally that I thought these guys had a little Kiwi punch in their arsenal. Check out their version of The Clean's Odditty! Yowza!

Light the Darkness, Light the Night...and Sing! Shane Howard--Clan

I've known about Shane Howard for a little while, thanks to a great Blog called That Striped Sunlight Sound, a website dedicated to Australian music. Always enlightening, well worth visiting! He's quite famous in Australia, but not so much here in America, unfortunately.

He was originally a member of Goanna, the first pop group to deal with the issue of Aboriginal rights in Australia. Their song Solid Rock is one of the great Australian protest songs, and was a huge hit at the time. The song was the first time a commercial group used the didgeridu on a song. As a solo artist Shane has recorded a number of albums, some of which are available through his own webstore. It has been 30 years since this landmark album was released, and he has just completed an Australian tour in celebration of this event.



But I want to speak a little bit about Clan, Shane's wonderful but long out print album released in 1996. I was fortunate enough to snag a copy on eBay. It's a special album, seemingly a bit of a concept album, beautifully executed, powerfully thematic, incredibly heartfelt and personal.

I wanted to say something about Clan about the time of Saint Patricks, to illustrate another aspect of the Irish diaspora than the Ellis Island experience. And here we are in mid-April. I recall reading about the history of Australia for the first time from Robert Hughes' book The Fatal Shore. But what really spun my head around was when I read True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey, which impressed on me mightily the treatment of the Irish in the early years of white settlement of Australia. Both books are highly recommended reading in my estimation. Carey's book is some of the finest literature, and was the winner of the Booker Man Prize, his second.

So when I saw great praise for Clan on Striped Sunlight Sound, I kept an eye peeled for a copy.
When I finally acquired the disc from halfway around the world, I was completely delighted.

Part of the album is about his heritage as the descendant of Irish immigrants who arrived in this new land (to them) in the wake of the Irish Famine of the mid-1800's.

As he states eloquently in the album liner notes,

"This is the story of my people, my ancestral clans. The story of dispossession of land by an overwhelming force; the story of famine, resistance and uprisings, of exile and survival-the struggle of the oppressed; the burning desire not for revenge but for equity and justice."

Telling this story involved the history of Ireland, the immigrant experience of the Irish people in Australia, and the state of Ireland today.

What makes this recording an album for the ages is the connection he makes with the Aboriginal experience in the wake of contact with Europe. He was struck by the continuities between the two sagas. In some ways a case of history repeating itself.  As he states,

"Here we are, as Australians, descended of migrants of many cultures, now living on Aboriginal country under a British colonial political system. How do any of us non-aboriginal people make sense of ourselves and who we are and what we are doing here?

So Clan is the story of two Clans, and how their stories intertwine in Australia.

This is heavy stuff. As Americans, you can't help but think of our unfortunate legacies here. These are things that are not easily or perhaps even possibly resolvable. Growing up, Howard lived near Aboriginal settlements, but did not really know much about the people. Ultimately, he learned a new narrative about Australia, not just about oppression, but also about people who have a history stretching well beyond our own meager one. Whenever I see exhibitions of Aboriginal art I find myself deeply moved. I don't pretend to have any expertise or understanding, but they reach at some level that I intrinsically know but can't explain. I even bought an artwork a few years ago from a dealer in New York. It was money that should have gone toward a new car, but I can be impulsive once in a blue moon. I am very glad I did it, in retrospect.

So Clan, begins after an introductory No Man's Land, has Silvermines, a fantastic historic tale about a young woman leaving her homeland for an unknown place, told in the first person, about lives turned upside-down, but the ancestral bonds remain.

Set upon the open seas to the corners of the world
Lambs to the slaughter into this hell we've hurled
My only dream was to survive I was just a girl
Hide your face and hide your fear in these dark and tangled curls.

Tarerer follows, a song about the Tarerer Gundidj Clan of the Dhauwurd Wurrong nation, a people Howard grew up nearby.

Rounded up like cattle
Herded unto mission land
Defending your own country
From this cruel and greedy hand...

Howard was inspired by his visit to Belfast in 1993 to write the plaintive ballad Free as Stone. As he states in the preface to the song, he walked through the city on a cold Sunday morning and "the city was absolutely deserted, except for armoured parol cars and footsoldiers in battle fatigues."

Rebel Song is about uprising in the gold fields of Ballarat in the 1850's. Howard's great-grandfather was arrested there in 1854, so the story is a personal one. The songs on the album are basically folk songs with a Celtic touch to them, with fiddle, mandolin, whistles and bodhran. Melding all these themes together in an album does not strike me as an easy task, but I really think he pulled it off.

Often sad, there is a also a lot of themes of empowerment on Clan. One of my favorite songs is Give A Little, a song that makes you want to keep going, even in the face of impossible odds. Don't Say Okay is another inspirational number, with great imagery, reminiscent of one of Alejandro Escovedo's ballads.

The ghosts are back again at the window
They're back again tonight
Looking in on us so we have to get it right....

Clan is a beautiful album, a work that Shane Howard should be extremely proud of. An album definitely in need of a reissue. For me this is an album that practically popped out of nowhere, so I knew at some point I would need to try to spread the word in my own small way. Sorry the videos are not that representative of the record.

St Patrick's Day Eve--The Frank & Walter's--Still Saving the World a Song at a Time!

Though Cinco De Mayo is making serious inroads, I still believe St Pat's is America's #1 drunken holiday. Like we need excuses. Of course we could always start a new Scandinavian holiday like Bjorn Kristian Ulvaeus day--no doubt consumer survey polls would probably come out positive. But I digress as usual. This weekend is about Ireland. Beer, not Cerveza or Aquavit.

So with that in mind I was going to do a short silly post, but I decided to give a fine band more credit and make this post slightly longer...

Frank and Walters---a terrific Irish Band from Cork!!! They've been around for more than 20 years but are still making great music. Here's a great tune from the early days. Indian Ocean.....






Here's something from their most recent album from 2012--Greenwich Mean Time....Trust in the Future.









And here is something a little silly that I mentioned earlier...





Very very good band. Slainte!!

Like a Version--Whipping Boy---Caroline Says

Thought I would post this little version of a Velvet Underground classic,

by the recently resurrected Irish band Whipping Boy. Nothing new, just a B-side from an old single, but I was listing to this the other day and thought it was worth posting.

I've heard that Whipping Boy began as a Velvets cover group, and it does not entirely surprise me.

What are ya Wearin'?--Kevin Barry's Dirty Old Town of Bohane

Just finished reading Kevin Barry's first novel, City of Bohane. Not the easiest read at first. The novel is a lot of things at once, fairly audacious in the least. Not an easy project to complete, I would wager.
The novel is speculative fiction, set in the near future, the year 2053, in a city on the west coast of Ireland, namely Bohane.

Not a lot of explaining in the novel as to the Bohane world of the future. In some ways, its very much like what we know, but things are obviously altered. There doesn't seem to be much use of the energy sources we rely on these days, hence a lot of walking and public transport. It seems a darker place, without ready electricity, garbage pickups, proper sewage. No computers or cellular communications. No Facebook "friendships".Bohane reminds me a bit of places like Somalia, where central authority and order as we know it have ceased to exist. It is clan vs clan, neighborhood vs neighborhood. The language at first was difficult for me to fathom, which complicated my attempts to fathom Barry's shambling Malthusian society. Think of James Joyce, Anthony Burgess, Irvine Welsh and the new Scottish School, as to the language. In some ways I think of the great J.G. Ballard's novels like Concrete Island, and High Rise. In his novel, the evolution of language and accompanying slang continues as one would logically expect. Even people who remember the near past, before things change have a fuzzy memory, and people often misremember things as much as they recall. Much like that old childhood exercise where you have children whisper a message to each other--when the message reaches the final child it is quite different, often unrecognizable from the original.

I also think a lot about the E-network, and of course Adam Ant, Bow Wow & the New Romantics, and all that punk-rock pirate foppery. There are constant detailed descriptions of the clothing that everyone wears in the book, making you wonder at times whether this was set in Italy instead of Eire.

K Beez wit the Remedy...

And just the outrageous ostentatiously colorful garb described, particularly the Fancy Boys who are for the most part running Bohane at the start of the novel, reminds me of the whole Adam Ant deal. I could see a film adaptation of this with Joan Rivers asking the characters "who are you wearing".And even though for a lot of people Adam Ant signifies some of the more ridiculous aspects of the 80's, some of his music is quite interesting and pretty clever. Mostly the early stuff--I like the drums. And as this novel, suggests, as much as the world changes, as long as there are people, there will still be celebrity and celebrity worship, pomp and pageantry, propaganda as produced by newspapermen like Dom Gleeson, and sociopathic politicians like Logan and fixers like Ol' Boy Mannion. And of course the cruelty and viciousness, the profane vitality, the human on human violence seen in the brutality and machinations of the main characters in the novel. A cautionary tale yet also a celebratory of life at the same time. There is no shortage of nostalgia and warmth, even in the tough, uncertain world the characters of the novel inhabit.

Turn off the cellphone, and do us all a favor.

Don't want to spoil the book for those of you who are interested, so let me just say that I recommend it pretty highly. I've read a few good books the past few months, but this is up at the top of the list, along with Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. Not as excited about A Visit from The Goon Squad, though I wanted to be. Though not a bad read, definitely worth reading. Maybe if I read it again I will enjoy it more. But take City of Bohane out for a spin. It's a cool blend of science fiction, linguistics, popular culture, sociology, history, political science all thrown together in a big sweaty, smelly heap. I can't wait to read his next short story collection, Dark Lies the Island. His earlier collection, There are Little Kingdoms was pretty brilliant. Barry is definitely well on his way.

In Walks the Ghost of an Irish Band---And They Thrilled!! Whipping Boy's Third

I fell pretty fortunate that I managed to get a copy of Whipping Boy's final album back when it originally came out. Their story has to be one of the stranger sadder outcomes. As arguably the best alternative Irish band of the 90's (I think so--sorry Bono), it seems appropriate to bring them up the day after the St Patrick's day celebration. I have memory's of St Patrick's Day having attended a Catholic College. I remember walking into the dining hall and momentarily thinking I stepped out onto a golf course, the room being awash with wall-to-wall Kelly Green sweaters. And later that evening a fair amount of green vomit.

They were a Dublin band that had released a magnificent 2nd album, Heartworm on Columbia (I've blogged about that one already). Critical reviews ensued; they even had some hit songs, at least in Great Britain and Ireland. When the period rolled around to record a sequel, they were dropped by their label. Despite their inability to land another deal, the band continued onward and they ultimately put together the album that was to be their swan song, the eponymous album with the cheese grater cover. I wish that they made five more.

Who released this album? They did. In 2000 on their own Low Rent label. Unfortunately the lack of success and problems with the music industry led to their untimely demise.

I heard about this album through a glowing review in Big Takeover Magazine. In order to get a copy I was instructed to e-mail guitarist Paul Page, and he would send me the ordering details. And he did just that. After sending him a check for $17 and a wait of a few weeks, my Cd arrived as promised. And as I might have expected, it was another one of those strange musical anomalies---another great disc from a fine band--but an album that never was picked up by any labels of any size. I would imagine that today such a DIY venture would have had a much better chance of success, given the growth of e-trade on the Internet (well, aside from the problem of some people not paying for music). I would say that equaling Heartworm would have been quite a feat---this album probably falls a little short of those heights. Nonetheless, this is an excellent disc, that unfortunately is pretty scarce. Right now just one is selling on Amazon for $45. Heartworm is selling for as little as one cent used.

For a self released album, it seems some cash was sunk into this, or else they were able to get their hands on some interns. Strings are not an uncommon occurrence on this album, and the songs on the album run from beautiful ballads to fairly noisy shoe-gazey rockers. The first tune So Much For Love, is simply exquisite. Fearghal McKee writes a mean lyric--So Much For Love reminds me a bit of a contemporary rendering of The Pogues' Fairytale of New York meeting up with Echo and the Bunnymen's Sevens Seas.




All she wants is to be remembered
Every Day.
All he sees is his own reflection
Standing in the way.

She said, "I wish we could kiss
like we used to.
I wish we could be.
I wish we could just make time
Stand still for me.....

Mutton is a another great pop tune, with loud guitars and cynical lyrics seemingly attacking the vapidness of modern society.

All I want is to Spend, Spend, Spend...
All I want is to Shop till I drop....

Throughout this record you will find a real mastery of dynamics. Another good example of this is the dark ballad One to Call My Own, that alternates between loud and quiet, and incorporates strings once again to great effect.

Pat the Almighty is a superb character portrait of a hypocritical legendary impresario on the local scene. I wonder whether this is a composite of people the band rubbed shoulders with, or an actual person? Either way, it's a memorably damning biography of self centered behavior.

The album finishes strong, though I am less familiar with the end because I have the unfortunate habit of going back and listening to the first half of the album again. But after the aforementioned One to Call My Own,  you get the great orchestrated tune Puppets, which sounds like it could have been an extra song from Heartworm. After this comes Who Am I?, which is probably my second favorite tune on this album, sounding like Trash Can Sinatras collaborating My Bloody Valentine.



The Ghost of Elvis is another excellent tune, sounding like an allegory on the vicissitudes of the music business and the public's changing tastes--easy come, easy go, as they sing. The album ends huge with the epic 5:17 of No Place to Go; anthemic chorus, pianos, strings, white noise. All you might want in a closing song. Whipping Boy's Third---Probably one of best albums you could have bought in 2000, all in all, if you only knew where to look.
But that was it for Fearghal McKee, Paul Page, Myles McDonnel and Colin Hassett. The band has reformed and done shows, as recently as last year, but I don't believe the complete original lineup participated.

Well happy post-St Pat's to everyone. Hopefully I have given some credit to one of the most undeservedly underrated bands of recent years.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 46--Ash!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All to Hear!

Ash---I Wish It Could be Christmas Every Day

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 18--Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All to Hear!

Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan---What A Wonderful World

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 11--Tim Wheeler and Emmy the Great!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Tim Wheeler & Emmy the Great




A new Christmas Classic--being released on 12/27 here?
I love it when a plan comes together.

Just received this as an import. Definitely my pick for Christmas Album 2011. Tim Wheeler is frontman of Irish Punk Pop veterans Ash.

Marc Carroll--World On A Wire--St Patrick's Day approaches.....can't remember my own name...

Marc Carroll is a singer songwriter from Dublin whose third album World On A Wire is the focus of this pre-St Patrick's Day post. It is a fairly introspective outing, where Carroll basically goes it alone except for the strings. Though some of the songs are somewhat overly idealistic for my tastes, overall this is an album that is a cut above most. Upon listening to it now for the fourth time it has grown on me.

I was taking a dim view until I got to song four, Together We're Strong with breezy liquid jangle guitar and melodious vocals. I would not have minded if it had been edited down a bit, but overall an excellent song.
Up until then the album had a bit of a muted lethargic feeling to me. I've gone back and softened my opinion upon further listens to this disc.

The follow up to this song is the stripped down piano and cello ballad It Isn't Always Easy.

Isn't it a wonder to find goodwill and grace
You can walk a millions miles and not even see a face
And isn't it a wonder that we ever stayed true
When it isn't always easy to know what to do...

Very nice. Hugh Jones recorded this album so I would be quite surprised if the recording was not pristine. The Dylanesque And You Are? is another poignant tune, musings on the elusiveness of fame. Talk Again is
also a pretty good tune, a brief electric folk musing.

The final song is a very traditional sounding tune, Till These Bars Break, sounding like a tune right out of the Richard Thompson playbook. Carroll appears to be quite the accomplished guitarist in a addition to being a rapidly developing songwriter. When he plays guitar, it is more than merely play by the numbers background accompaniment. Another of my favorites is the consoling solo acoustic tune, Press On. Though too much harmonica tends to get on my nerves, it's inclusion here fits pretty organically.

So all in all, not a bad introspective emotive rainy day album. Maybe not the best suited for leprechaun hats, green beer, and kissing bulldogs--perhaps an album suitable for playing more than one day a year in March.
One of these days I'll have to pick up his latest, The Dust of Rumour which has garnered some positive accolades from the critics. I understand he has a 5th album due out soon. I think Marc Carroll is definitely someone to keep your eye on. Though there are some great tunes on here already, I believe that his best work is still forthcoming.



Note:This song is from the Dust of Rumour album.

Everybody Has A Song In Them!!--Damien Dempsey--The Rocky Road--A Classic For St Patrick's

The Rocky Road is the most recent album by Irish Folk Singer Damien Dempsey. It is a collection of mostly traditional Irish music, and it makes a perfect accompaniment for St Patrick's Day festivities. Dempsey's booming powerful voice is impressive and the songs he chose to perform range from historically themed to love songs. Though he is a huge star in Ireland, winning scads of Meteor awards over the past decade he is not so well known on our shores. I saw a review of this album in Uncut Magazine and decided to give it a try, and believe me, I was well rewarded. He is an artist with a lot of passion, socially conscious, with great empathy for the less fortunate. Just recently he made his acting debut in the film Between The Canals, playing a fictitious Dublin crime boss. The film is being released in Ireland this month.

On The Rocky Road, Dempsey is ably backed by veteran musicians, including John Sheahan and Barney McKenna from The Dubliners playing fiddle, and Banjo & Mandolin respectively. Eamonn DeBarra plays whistle/Flute/Bodhran/Harmonium/Piano. John McLoughlin is on bouzouki/mandolin/guitar and John Reynolds plays drums. Dempsey leads with The Rocky Road To Dublin, and he does justice to a great old classic. He reminisces about the song in his liner notes...

"At these house parties I've heard my mother and father, both brothers, uncles, aunties and grandparents sing their favourite songs unaccompanied. Sometimes we didn't always hold the tune or our voices cracked but you weren't left alone till you sang at least a verse of something and once you sang with passion it didn't matter how good or bad your voice was, the room would love you. Everybody has a song in them and the singsong is a vital and wonderful link to our past that I hope will carry on through the ages."



It really is a great quote and it just says so much about tradition in this country. When I listen to Irish music I can't help but feel the great level of profound sadness in the songs. But then I think of people, family, friends, being together, singing together, commiserating. People doing this today, as they did a century ago, maybe back before recorded history. And then I think of a culture where it is expected that people participate and perform and how finely honed these lyrical gifts have developed in a culture. And this is from a group who've had an extremely raw deal handed to them over the years as we all know. Music can form an indelible bond and can even help create a national identity.

I also appreciate that on this album he performs the Shane McGowan classic A Rainy Night in Soho. Because Shane is a great songwriter and he is part and continuation of the great Irish musical tradition. McGowans lyrics can contain such profound imagery and expressiveness that hold up with just about anyone out there. But I will say one thing. I saw him perform on Randall's Island one summer about ten years ago and he was so stinking bagged that he could barely stand much less perform and was rude to an adoring audience. It was pretty embarrassing and sad. There is nothing charming about somebody who is a complete wreck and no longer a young man. I hope that he has managed to straighten out a bit--it's a waste of profound talent, like lightning captured in a whiskey bottle.



Some of the other highlights include the ironic Schoolday's Older, where school end's and time to begin hard labor, toiling as a colliers in the mine pits. Very nice fiddle riffing on this number. Dempsey goes a capella on The Twang Man, a traditional number loaded with slang from 200 years ago. Quite moving is the song The Foggy Dew recounting the 1916 Irish uprising. But one of my favorite moments is the proud defiant tone of The Hot Asphalt. Also great is The Hackler From Grouse Hall/The Monaghan Jig and the lovely ballad Night Visiting Song.

So if you like traditional music or are simply looking for something new to listen to on St Pat's this could be just the thing for you. And if you like this album, Dempsey has plenty more nontraditional albums that are equally great like Shots and Seize the Day, or Live at the Olympia. Seriously, this guy has a fantastic voice, is supremely talented, tough yet tender hearted; one of the good guys. Check him out or lose out.

Whipping Boy--Heartworm--A Fire That's Wild And Glorious

They built portholes for Bono, So he could gaze...

Whipping Boy was a great but somewhat unsuccessful Irish band from the 1990's. Heartworm, their sole major label album, was critically acclaimed, but did not sell enough in the eyes of Columbia to merit a followup.



Barefoot And Blind

 Which is too bad. They did put out a fantastic self-finance eponymous album , but internal strife and lack of commercial success led to an implosion. A tragedy for them and all music fans, as they deserved a much better fate. Because folks, there is a world of contemporary Irish music beyond Bono and the Cranberries that more people need to know about. Whipping Boy was one of the greatest Irish bands ever, and when they sank, most of the world didn't notice the ripple.

You Lead Me Astray

I picked up Heartworm in a used Cd shop years ago for $3.99. You can probably get a copy of it now for under a dollar through Amazon, a bargain that I would encourage you to not overlook. Their second album is currently a rarity. It just seems crazy that a label would drop a band that had a relatively successful album with hit singles. You probably could make the argument that Whipping Boy are not exactly a singles band. Their music is dark, moody, passionate, literary, touching on difficult subject matter. But with a very Irish sensibility--there is very much a point of origin for these songs. Their musical style is heavily influenced by the shoegazer movement. Vocalist Feargus McKee has a talking singing delivery and a commanding presence at the mike, not unlike a Hibernian Lou Reed. Rounding out their lineup is Paul Page (guitar), Myles McDonnell (bass,backing vocals), and Colm Hassett (drums).

The album begins with the huge single Twinkle. Poundingly loud and dreamlike, it is a dark and jaded love anthem. The second tune is the bittersweet warts n all nostalgic narrative of When We Were Young. "The first time you got drunk, you drank Pernod and dry cider, smashed a window in as police came round the corner." Darkness and brooding thoughts cast a dark cloud across this album. Struggling through the difficulties of everyday life and resulting deteriorating relationships are a recurring theme. Paul Page's guitar work is a revelation on this album, huge explosive bursts of power at times, then fading into quiet elegant restraint. Reminiscent of a classic band like The Who (I'm reminded of Quadrophenia), Whipping Boy are masters of dynamics.

Another single from this album was the gripping, revelatory We Don't Need Nobody Else, which is as much a short story as a novel. The song received criticism for misogynist lyrics--I personally don't see it that way. It tells a story, and highlights the grim irony of claiming to love someone yet turning around and being the agent of their harm. Destroy what you love, including yourself. What is happening in the song is that the narrator betrays himself by demonstrating that he is not the person he imagines himself to be. By no means is this any celebration of violence against women.

More accurate is that this is a gut wrencher of an album, full of cynical opinions, withering self-criticism, abject sadness, human failing. Uncompromising. Tripped starts out slowly and builds with a crescendo to a powerful conclusion. "I've lost my faith in all things good, just like mother said I would. She tripped, she had nothing left to give." The Honeymoon Is Over Is Another tale of the cruelties we perpetrate in relationships. A bit of a contrast is the dreamy stream of consciousness of Personality with lovely string accompaniment. Another winner is the pounding Welleresque shoegaze pop of Blinded. The beautiful noise intensity of Fiction is very much in the vein of  Kiwi eardrum destroyers Bailter Space.

Now I Know The Distance Between Us

The album conclude with the epic string filled Morning Rise. Starting with steady gravitas, the song builds gradually to a sad but hopeful finish. "I look down and all I see, is nothing staring back at me". Puzzlingly, there is a song appended to the end entitled  A Natural. It's basically a spoken word disquisition on mental illness. A sad and strange ending to a special album. Overall, Heartworm is a sonically amazing set of songs with difficult challenging subject matter, an introspective and poetic look at the difficulties of everyday life.Whipping Boy made quite a statement here, an album that can stand toe to toe with any of the more celebrated classics of the 90's. Yet relatively unappreciated and forgotten. Don't you make the same mistake. Hopefully their third album will be reissued someday soon. But more about that in a future post.