Update Dec. 2002

I can't believe what a poor year it has been music-wise. OK The 'Boss' returned with his best album in 20 years and with the E Streeters in tow, but apart from 'The Rising' what else is going to make this year's Top 10?

Well 2 albums are likely to be 'odds & sods' collections. Ryan Adams released Demolition this year to bridge the gap to the official follow-up to Gold. Made up of demo tracks recorded here & there over the last year or so, it pales beside Gold but then most things would. Steve Earle too released a compilation of stuff collected over his career. Sidetracks is a must for any Steve fans filled as it is with several gems. His new Jerusalem is also a Top 10 stand-out, ranking alongside The Rising as a post-911 masterpiece.

Speaking of Ryan Adams, his Lost Highway stable mate Tift Merritt's 'Bramble Rose' is an almost certainty. Ryan himself delivered the gig of the year at the Olympia a few weeks ago. 

Another Top 10 artist from 2001, Lambchop delivered another gem this year in 'Is A Woman'. They also put on a superb show at the Olympia during the year.

So that's 6 contenders and I haven't broken sweat. Paul Weller's Illuminessence might make the boat as well as could The Jam At The BBC. But it's now I'm running into trouble. Oasis' Heathen Chemistry was just not up to scratch as were a few other albums by artists I've bought in the past. Other contenders, include Queens Of The Stone Age whose 'Songs For The Deaf' has been a grower. Shelby Lynne's lil' sister, Alison Moorer also delivered a solid piece in her 'Miss Fortune' album and fellow 'country' gals, the Dixie Chicks released 'Home', a definite improvement on their previous effort. Actor/comedian Jack Black was part of the Tenacious D outfit whose self-named album certainly was entertaining but I would have to doubt its longevity.

Veteran Christy Moore returned to live gigs earlier in the year with a string of them in Vicar St. The album recorded there with Donal Lunny and Declan Sinnott deserves Top 10 consideration. And there my friends, barring a late late contender are the candidates. 

With buying DVDs now as well as CDs, I'm less inclined to buy on the spur of the moment and I've found myself several times lately, with a few CDs in hand heading for the cashout desk only to turn around at the last minute. Usually discouraged by a lengthy queue.

So what DVDs did I pick up this year? Well I've got this thing about boxed sets. so I continued on a few sets I was collecting and now have the entire Buffy series 1-5 and Angel 1 & 2. I also got 24 and The West Wing, series 1 of each. I have all 5 Kevin Smith 'Jay & Silent Bob' movies, signed by the director. Evil Dead I & II. Naturally, I got Lord Of The Rings (extended version) and I also picked up Apocolypse Now: Redux. Also this year, I picked up Spider-Man and Star Wars II, Red Dwarf series I, Babylon 5 and Farscape season I, and the first Highlander & Austin Powers movies. Throw in Planet of the Apes, the remake and the box set of the original 5, the Godfather boxed set, and O Brother Where Art Thou? and that's a lot of DVDs.  So that spending would curtail my music budget anyway, even if it had been a better year.

As for the gig scene, again I didn't get to as many as I used to. Lambchop, Jay Farrar, Ryan Adams and the Costello/Earle/Harris/Prine landmines gig just about covered it.

There were a few I missed and should have done such as Jason Ringenberg but maybe next year. Already in my pocket are precious tickets for Bruce in May and R.E.M. are supposed to visit in July.   

  Update: June 2002

It really is a slow year for me, music wise. I can't remember when I bought so little new music. I mean since the last update, I've been to one extra gig, we saw Lambchop back in May, my second time seeing the band and the third time to see Kurt Wagner. As always he delivered a cracking show. Needless to say I cannot recommend their latest album highly enough. Other than that I picked up a Jason & The Scorchers compilation of rarities & out-takes, very good but for the completist like me.      

I also picked up Jim White's 'Wrong Eyed Jesus' album, it's a few years old now but I's got the follow up to it last year and liked it and this was the first time I'd seen the older album so I grabbed it. Other than that....

Update: January 2002

Maybe it's me but there does seem to be less & less good music out there. The best albums I've picked up lately for the 'freebies' on the cover of Uncut. The recent issue had the third in their series Sounds of the New West (similar to the Loose collections), The previous issue had two  CDs filled with Rolling Stones tribute covers, both excellent. 

Other than that, all I've picked lately was the Radiohead live album, the excellent debut by Irish band Skindive, the soundtrack to the Lord Of The Rings movie, and two internet-only CDs by Calexico, a band I've raved about before.  

The Waterboy's gig back in December was excellent, they are definitely back in form. But once again, Steve Earle has been involved in contender for gig of the year. Only 14 days into the new year, Steve along with Declan (Elvis Costello to you), Emmylou Harris and a man I had never seen on stage before, even though he was at the opening night of the Point Depot as a venue, Mr John Prine, anyway all 4 of them served up an absolute treat. Getting their point across about landmines, they entertained a packed Point Theatre for nearly three hours. Can the man do no wrong? 

Having said that, John Prine, probably stole the show. Although my personal highlight was a duet on a Gram Parsons song from the man who introduced me to GP's music, Elvis, and the lady that Gram discovered and went on to preserve his legacy, Emmylou Harris. OK I know it was Chris Hillman who first heard Emmylou but it was Parsons who picked her to sing on his last albums and it was his band that went on to work with her after his death. It was a special moment for me. Please check out http://www.vvaf.org/campaign/index.shtml for more information on this worthy cause.

Update: December 2001.

This updating is getting harder. 

Well the Eels were great, I picked up a limited live album by them at the gig and later got their current album. I also got my hands on the latest version of The Who Live At Leeds. I have the original on vinyl. Some time they reissued that on CD with some extra tracks. Now you can get a double CD with the entire show including the complete Tommy live. Wonderful stuff. There are those who call the original 40 minutes the best live album ever, well now there is over 140 minutes of it.

Other stuff I've picked up which you should check out;

Ryan Adams' Gold. The critics are raving about this and if anyone is going to bring alt.country into the mainstream it's this guy. DO NOT call him Bryan....

Also look out for the 'last' album he recorded with his old band Whiskytown, called Pneumonia. And sticking with the alt.country fan the Loose - New Sounds Of The Old West series is now on Vol 3. Get all of them. 

Finally The Radiohead & Mercury Rev albums, Amnesiac & All Is Dream, respectively are worth checking out.

I don't have as many  pre-Xmas gigs lined up as last year but I am going to see the Waterboys for the first time in years this December and then just after the New Year, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris & Elvis Costello are playing the Point. 

Update: September 2001.

Two months since an update. Deary, deary me!!!

Is it me or this just nothing much out there. I got the final Whiskeytown album, great stuff as you would expect. Ryan Adams' 2nd solo effort is due shortly. How prolific is this guy? Also got a copy of the new set from the Pernice Brothers, brother Joe being another prolific dude. 

What else? Well, everyone is raving about the Strokes and their debut album. A bit short at 37 minutes but good nonetheless, very retro. Other than those all I've got to report is picking up the soundtracks to Gladiator and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

No gigs to note either although I do have a ticket to The Eels in a few weeks.

Update: July 2001.

I'm really slipping up this year and not getting very much goodies. I'm not sure whether it's me or a dearth of good stuff out there. I did finally pick up a copy of Loco by the Fun Lovin' Criminals. Their 1st album is still their best but it's not bad and it was in a three for the price of two sale. In the same deal I got the new Bonnie 'Prince' Billy which is on a par with his last effort and I also got the Avalanches. I didn't know much about them other than the track Ian Dempsey is playing regularly. I think it needs a few listens.  The previous week I picked up the debut from Lift To Experience, an Uncut album of  the month recently. I can see why. It does take a few listens but there is definitely something there.  

Another quiet month, there really isn't much happening musically at all. Apart from the new R.E.M. album which I quite like and the Gorillaz, there wasn't much else to shout about. I did pick up the Johnny Cash 3 disc set Love, God & Murder which HMV were doing as 3 for £22. Well worth it! 16 or so songs on each spanning his career & chosen by the man himself on the three subjects he knows best. 

I also finally got my hands on a copy of an album I was looking for a long time and had resigned myself to never seeing, a compilation, New Sounds of The Old West. I had Vol. 2 but I thought Vol. 1 had been deleted. I had trouble enough getting vol2 and was surprised to see it in a rack in Tower Records the other day. The bigger surprise was finding a copy of vol1 right behind it. It made my day. Both discs contain some great alt.country artists and a few rare tracks by some of them. I can't recommend them enough.

It's been a very quiet month. I only picked two new CDs. In fact the pattern of buying more DVDs than CDs has continued. The other point is that there really is nothing of note coming out these days and I have managed to get most of the back catalog stuff that I was looking for. I do have a wanted list but it's really a glorified 'would like to have' list. There are still a few albums I'd like but I'm not really prepared to hand over full price (£16 app.) for them. Lately I have been more interested in the '2 for £25' sort of thing that Virgin and HMV regularly do. And as they do the same in the DVD section, I end up spending my money there. Also HMV sometimes have new artists on their recommended sections and a pound or two cheaper. I picked up Kings of Convenience and Turin Brakes there last month for £11.99 each, having only heard a track by each of them on an Uncut sampler. Two excellent albums. 

It's been awhile since I revamped this part of the site and I'm in the mood for a major overhaul. The problem is that not much has changed over the last year or so. Fair enough I went to quite a few decent gigs last year and saw a few 'old friends' and a few new ones. Musically my tastes haven't changed that much and I'd have to say that the biggest change in my purchasing patterns as been with DVDs. I was lucky enough to win a DVD Player towards the end of last year. I had no plans to buy one in the first place being content to purchase the odd VCR tape or else tape any movies I wanted from the TV, mainly from the movie channels. 

Since getting the DVD player, I have bought an average 3 DVDs a month which has curtailed my CD purchasing. I had the usual post-Xmas slump, bought a few in February, a quiet March and April so far has meant that I only got 12 new CDs this year so far and of those only half of them could be considered new or recent material. So I'll content myself with a few additional add-ins to this page and a few updates to the other pages associated with it. 

The Old Stuff, i.e., pre-2001..

Music is a very big part of my life. It's been the second longest continuing hobby I've had, where others have come and gone, the music has always been there. I love listening to it, going to see live bands, watching them on TV, etc.  The only problem? That there is so much of it and I get so little time to listen to it all.

I reckon I bought my first record when I was around the age of 12 or 13, something like that. It was "Mama We'er All Crazee Now" by Slade, I think... One of their hits anyway. 

Damn near drove my dad 'Crazee' playing it over and over again.... As soon as I came in from school it was on the old record player. Unfortunately for my dad, as a teacher, he just happened to be home at the same time....

With an increase to my 'pocket money' I had the luxury of affording a new single every other week or so. Soon, if my dad had to listen a racket, well at least let it could be varied. With odd jobs & extra pocket money, I soon had the best record collection of any of my school pals. The record player soon migrated to my room and the rest , as they say, is history.

Over the years I've managed to accumulate over 1200 albums and 2500 singles. If it wasn't for occasional offloads to 2nd hand shops and the obligatory 'losses' at parties it could well be a lot higher than that. 

My collection includes something from many different types of music, classical, opera, pop, metal, country, blues, R & B, 50s, 60s, Glam rock, Punk, Indie, AOR, Soul, the list goes on. In fact you can safely say I like almost all types of music, the exceptions being dance, country 'n' Irish, and most especially manufactured talentless pre-pubescent pop such as Steps and their ilk....

For years I was also a regular concert-goer, attending gigs all over the place from small little clubs to the weekender affairs like Féile and Lisdoonvarna. I'm not as regular a gig-goer these days but I still try to see several bands every year.

If I had to list my favourite artists they would probably be:

R.E.M.

Played support to U2 in 1985, third on the bill. I thought they were great that day. Over the years, they've gotten better every time I've seen then. Again I'm in possession of all their official and many unofficial releases. However I did miss them when they played Dublin last year. Shame on me.

Worked on their next latest album, Reveal, in Dublin among other places.

Bruce Springsteen - The Boss!

 I've got every album, (some twice, on CD as well as vinyl), loads of bootlegs and singles, I've seen him live 5 times including the last tour when he reunited with The E St Band. Check out the live album from that tour... 

And for all those who were there, who could ever forget Slane '85, 'The River' by the river?

Elvis Costello 

The former angry young man of punk. Told me to call him Declan the first time I met him. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen him perform live. Got all the albums, some more than once, and a few bootlegs as well. 

The Waterboys

Mike Scott and his 'band of merry-men' from their 'Big Music' days to the 'raggle taggle' and back again have built up a great body of work. Again I have all their albums and a few bootlegs. Mike took a few years out with a few solo efforts, not bad, but in the end I guess he realised that the Waterboys name was a big selling-point and the 'reunion' album was on a par with their earlier work.

Currently touring, in Dublin this December, will be there. Fisherman Blues II, AKA, Too Close To Heaven, out now. From the sessions (159 different songs over 300+ days) which produced the classic 1988 album. Do not miss it!

Neil Young

One of rock's great survivors, from Buffalo Springfield, through CSN&Y, with Crazy Horse, the Stray Gators, the Shocking Pinks, the Blue Notes, Pearl Jam and Booker T & The MGs and now back to CSN&Y again. This guy has done it all. Went through a shaky period mid to late 80s. Recovered and has gone from strength to strength since. I've seen him perform with Booker T's boys, Crazy Horse and Pearl Jam as his backing band. Blew me away every time. I've got virtually all his official releases (I skipped some of the more dodgy stuff) and a lot of unofficial stuff. 

Played Dublin again this year but I missed the tickets.

This is me at Slane when Neil Young played with Booker T & The MGs. I think that's Pearl Jam in the background.

Oasis

They might be the world's most famous self-destructive band, or the biggest pair of feuding siblings since Cain and Abel but when Noel and Liam Gallagher get on stage they have the world at their feet.

I saw them support REM in Slane and later they headlined in Cork, magnificent every time.

Saw them again at Lansdowne Rd last year, it was a major event. Write these boys off at your peril. Forget the Wembley gig on Sky, the new live album is from the previous night which by all accounts was almost as good as Dublin and certainly the CDs bear that out.

Rumoured to be working on a new album already.

Jonathan Richman  

With or without the Modern Lovers, Mr. Richman is one of the most truly original and innovative talents of the 20th century and probably even the 21st. Only caught the guy live once before last year but it was one hell of a gig. Last year, even thought he was hitting 50, he could still rock with the best of them. Vicar St. was the venue for a marvelous two hour performance. 

If you have yet to see him live then just get the Modern Lovers Live album. It's the next best thing. You should also check out There's Something About Mary to see and hear Jonathan. He's the best thing about that movie (Cameron Diaz excepted. Natch!)

Steve Earle

Mr 'Red Neck' himself. Blew me away with his live band the Dukes a few years back. Then he went one better. The gig of the year, 1999, Steve  & the Del McCoury Band (see the pic above).

 Three hours of Bluegrass, country,  folk, acoustic rock and one of the best nights out I've had in some time. Went on to buy a bunch of CDs by Del and his boys as well. Also heartily recommended. I've virtually  a complete collection of Steve's output bar an early 'country' album.

Last year's gig with the Dukes was another powerful performance. On the eve of the All-Ireland Final he 'upset' a few Kerry fans, including my pal, Paudie, by wearing a Galway jersey but by the end of the gig he was well forgiven.

Playing next year in the Point with Emmylou and Elvis. Picked up a live album recently from a charity concert he did with Guy Clark & Townes Van Zandt. Excellent stuff.

Horslips 

Forget U2, Thin Lizzy, Ash, or the Corrs. None of them would be where they are today without Horslips. In an era of showbands and alcohol-free dance halls, these guys brought rock & roll music out to the country. All of us ex-country boys grew up on Horslips. They taught us that there was more to music than badly covered chart hits. Take the link (click on the picture) to their official website. 

I've all their albums, some on vinyl and CD, I've even got The Táin on cassette as well. Most of my vinyl collection is autographed. All their stuff is now available on remastered CDs.

Rumours of new recordings and/or reunion gigs....

Most people trace its roots back to The Byrds' album, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, when Gram Parsons brought a country sound to the more poppier Byrds. From there Parsons went on to form the Flying Burrito Brothers and then go solo before his premature death. Long before Lynyrd Skynyrd were toting the Stars'n'Bars across the length and breadth of the US of A, Parsons was using the symbol of the old Confederacy as a stage backdrop in places as far north as Chicago. Let's face it, a conventional Nashville star he was not. While I do not support those for whom the old Confederate flag has a different meaning (Cork hurling fans included) I hang the flag in my house in tribute to Parsons.

Recommended listening;

• The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (get the extended play version with more Parson's vocals)  
• Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace Of Sin / Burrito Deluxe (available  on 1 cd)
• Gram Parsons - GP / Grievous Angel (also available on 1 cd)

In his short career, Parsoms left behind a body of work that was not just enjoyable in its own right but would serve as an inspiration for numerous artists over the last twenty-odd years. Even luminaries, like Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones were to show his influences. Check out 'Dead Flowers' or 'Wild Horses' to see what I mean.

Later Elvis Costello would make the leap of faith from punk to good old country boy. With his 'Almost Blue' album, Elvis went more conventional than Parsons had ever done, recording in Nashville with legendary producer, Billy Sherrill. He did however cover Parsons' Hot Burritto #2, renaming it I'm Your Toy.

For me, Elvis' album was a turning point. Up to then, country music to me had always been 'country and Irish', old geezers in stetsons singing about Glenamaddy or Kinnegad or wherever.

Well, Mr Costello changed that for me. It wasn't an overnight epiphany, in fact for a long time, I considered 'Almost Blue' a novelty item. Then in trying to find a sound to fill the void left by the punk rock implosion of the early 80s, I came across an album by a band called The Long Ryders, 'Native Sons'. Oddly enough on a label associated with Elvis Costello, the album was the beginning of a new found interest for me. My initial interest in the band stemmed from Neil Young whom the Ryders were being compared to. I had spurned Neil Young as an 'aging hippy' until I heard a friend play Powderfinger at a party one night. A purchase of 'Rust Never Sleeps' later and two lines in particular, "The king is gone but not forgotten. This is the story of Johnny Rotten', and I was hooked.   

Anyway a few years later a 'new sound' was being touted by the music press, the so-called "Paisley Underground". Along with the Long Ryders, other bands like Green On Red, the Dream Syndicate, the Del-Lords, the Beat Farmers, etc., were all hailed as exponents of this sound. Some like the Ryders and the Beat Farmers were more obviously country orientated. There were even a few Irish bands such as the late great Stars of Heaven with my old buddy Stan Erraught on guitar. And then there was the band that mixed punk rock and country & western and cranked it up. From the moment I heard 'Lost And Found' by Jason & The Scorchers I was hooked. 

The Scorchers were amazing, Jason looked like a terrible Nashville wannabe, stetson, fringed shirts, the works. But it worked, their sound was not like nothing else. Sadly, the band broke up after a few albums. Their one and only Irish appearance was legendary and I missed it....

Then a few years ago, miracles of miracles, they gave it another go. A double live album and a few studio outings have emerged since then and 1999's Temple Bar gig was bettered only by Steve Earle's amazing show that year. Currently the Scorchers are on hold while Jason promotes his new solo album but the word is that they will be back.

Anyway for a few years, I had a new genre of music to listen and a new generation of bands. Sadly only Green On Red kept the flag flying from those early days but now they too seem to have called it a day.

However, a new generation appeared. This new movement took its name, 'No Depression', from an old Carter Family song (from the 20s or 30s) and later an album title from the band, Uncle Tupelo, now considered the starting point for the movement. 'No Depression' or 'alt.country' is hopefully here to stay for some time to come.

I came across the music via a magazine I have no qualms about plugging, Uncut. Each month the magazine includes a CD sample of artists reviewed or featured within it. A feature article on Wilco, and its history prompted me to pick up one of their CDs. That was quickly followed by the rest of their back catalogue. Wilco had evolved from Uncle Tupelo. That band had left four great albums behind them before evolving into two other outfits, Wilco and Son Volt. So I then completed my Uncle Tupleo collection. I still have a few Son Volt CDs to pick up but I have all the rest. From there, & with the continued help of Uncut magazine, who were kind enough to print a letter I sent them, I branched out into more & more of this great 'new' sound. 

So other bands and/or artists to check out are;

• The Handsome Family, (no not the three geeky brothers!!!), a husband & wife team, quite brilliant.... Their last two albums are quite exquisite.
• Whiskeytown, Now defunct, bur there is still a live album promised, at least two solo careers spawned from this group, fiddle player Caitlin Cary and their main man
•  Ryan Adams, two beautiful solo albums since splitting up Whiskeytown, the 2nd, Gold, is a must, album of year 2001, the man also played the gig of the year 2002.    
• Calexico, a duo, also members of Giant Sand, mixing Tex-Mex, country, blues, everything bar the kitchen sink
• Neal Casal, a great singer-songwriter, met him last year (2001) at his gig in Vicar St, genuine nice guy, toured during the summer with
• Lucinda Williams, singer-songwriter extraordinaire, a string of great albums 
• Lambchop played a magical Dublin gig in September 2000 with their full 13-piece band (and another earlier this year, 2002). Also saw the main man, Kurt Wagner, play a suberb solo set a few months later, another catalogue full of gems, their album, Nixon, was selected as Uncut's album of the year 2000 and who am I to disagree (except I did).
• Josh Rouse, another excellent singer-songwriter, has worked with Kurt Wagner as well 
• Freakwater, don't know too much aboiut them but I have a couple of their albums and I can heartily recommend them
• Golden Smog, an alt. country 'super-group' comprising, at times, members of Wilco, Soul Asylum and the Jayhawks, essentially jam sessions that led to three fine albums
• Hazeldine, again, I'm not very familiar with them other than the few albums I've got but I do like what I've heard  
• The Pernice Brothers, Joe Pernice on his own. or with his other outfit, Chappaquiddick Skyline. All vehicles for Joe's tremendous talent check them all out 
• Will Oldham, like Joe Pernice, produces output under several personas, Palace Brothers, Palace, Palace Music or Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. It's the last named that I'm familiar with 
• Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, suberb album last year, their is a back catalog but I'm not familiar with it 
• Willard Grant Conspiracy  I am a big fan of these guys, caught these guys live last year, 2001, just before Xmas, magnificent. I'd recommend anything by them you can get your hands on
• Jess Klein supported the Willards, suberb stuff. Recommend her album highly, which I bought that night, so good it made a late late entry into my end of year Top 10
• Chris Mills, only know one album by this guy but it's quite good
• Yo La Tengo, been around awhile but starting to get attention at last
• Revenants (Irish exponents of the genre)
• Jubilee All Stars (another great Irish outfit)
• Grandaddy, with Lambchop & Ryan Adams probably the closest to being superstars of the genre
• Western Electric (with ex-Long Ryders), just one album so far.
• Wheat, another outfit to only produce one album so far
• Shelby Lynne,  her earlier stuff was pure Nashville, give it a miss, but the latest 2, WOW!!! Won a Grammy for "Best Newcomer"! Yeah! a decade too late but still deserved.
• Alison Moorer, Shelby's sister. Closer to Nashville than most but still worth a listen.
• Dixie Chicks, again more Nashville but show signs every now & then of that alt.country feel
• Alison Krauss, bluegrass fiddler and the star of that genre
• Tift Merritt, stable mate of Ryan Adams and allegedly recommended to his manager by the man himself
• Jim White, don't know about this guy much other than the 2 albums I've got kick a$$.
•    

Look for stuff by the following, no longer extant, oufits 

•  The Long Ryders
• Green On Red
• The Stars Of Heaven

Also check out the following links

• http://www.insurgentcountry.com/
• http://www.nodepression.net/
• http://freighttrainboogie.com/

And the following record labels are usually good bets for this sort of stuff

• Slow River Records
• Glitterhouse 
• Domino
• Loose
• Lost Highway Records

The Boss at The RDS in Dublin. His first tour without the E St Band

Mr Young at Slane Castle with Steve Cropper, he of Booker T and the MGs fame and also the Blues Brothers.

(click on the pictures to see them bigger)

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last update Dec 11 2002