Monthly Archives: April 2010

Another Feelgood Friday


When Oil City Confidential, Julien Temple’s film about pub rockers Dr Feelgood, was given a limited UK cinema release in February, I must admit that I read its excellent reviews with some envy. I would have loved to have seen Temple’s documentary, his, if you will, rockumentary on the big screen, but I knew that my local cinema would never screen such a wonderful film. I thought I’d have to wait until its June 14th release on DVD, so imagine my surprise and delight when I learned that BBC Four will be screening the film tonight. Oil City Confidential is the third in Temple’s trilogy of music documentaries about three of the most energetic and influential English groups of the seventies. It follows on from The Filth and the Fury (2000), about The Sex Pistols, and The Future is Unwritten (2007), about Joe Strummer, one of the founding members of The Clash. Dr Feelgood formed prior to both the Pistols and The Clash, but never attained the same level of fame and notoriety as the two leading lights of British punk

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Go Sligo!


It’s the place where Irish poet William Butler Years spent his formative years, but Sligo is not renowned for being one of Ireland’s musical hotspots. In fact, given that some of its most famous sons went on to form the boyband Westlife, it could be said that its musical balance is in the red. However, that might all be about to change. Taking their name from a Godspeed You! Black Emperor tune, The Dead Flags are a three-piece from Sligo and they play bouncy, radio friendly ditties that should see them put the town’s musical account back in the black. In the photo above, Kevin is in the middle, Billy is holding the red phone and Dave has got some china in one hand and a phone in the other. The trio have known each other for half a decade and decided to give the whole musical lark a go when frontman Billy Fitzgerald graduated as an architect around the time the Celtic Tiger was losing its roar. Unable to find work, Billy, bassist Dave and percussionist Kevin decided to devote more time to the band

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Jim From the Twins Wins


Congratulations to Jim Anderson from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who has just won the first ever competition given by Town Full of Losers. Jim used his Scrabble skills to successfully complete the crossword and guess the anagram in the title of the post. His was the first name out of my Cincinnati Reds’ baseball cap and his prize will be winging its way Stateside when the volcano in Iceland calms down. Jim was kind enough to fill me in on the names of a few up-and-coming bands from the Twin Cities. Thanks for the tips, Jim, and I look forward to checking them out. He also reminded me that Prince, The Replacements and Husker Du hail from Minneapolis, and informed me that The Jayhawks also originated there. Here’s a song from each of those four acts, but sung by somebody else. I hope you like ‘em, Jim!

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Too Much Too Young


Later with Jools Holland goes out again on BBC 2 TV this Tuesday and Friday and features a couple of old fellas amongst the younger generation. Jerry Dammers (bottom left, above) brings along his Special AKA Orchestra and they’ll play a song from his former group, The Specials, along with a cover of a Sun Ra tune. Jack Bruce (bottom right) was bassist and founding member, alongside Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton, of the first of the so-called supergroups, Cream. Band of Horses (top right) is the name of a countryesque American group who are promoting their upcoming third album, Infinite Arms. Their compatriot, Melody Gardot (top middle), is primarily influenced by jazz vocalists and her most recent album is called My One and Only Thrill. Kate Nash (bottom middle) is from the capital city of England and her second album, My Best Friend is You, has just been released. Fellow Londoner Ben Drew goes by the name of Plan B (top left) and his second album is also due. Below, four of these performers sing other people’s songs while the wonderfully monikered Spanky Wilson gives the cover treatment to one of Cream’s more famous hits

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Climbing the Ladder of Success


The majority of college students in Ireland haven’t had much of a chance to enjoy the unusual good weather we’ve been having lately as their end of term examinations are taking place this week. As I type these words, my thoughts are with my sister who is sitting in an exam hall in Co Cork where she is, no doubt, deep in concentration as she puts pen to paper. Úna is halfway through a four-year Business degree and has been immersed in her books over the last few weeks. She got high grades in her first year and kept up the good work by getting high marks in her first semester essays at Christmas. She has done her research and tried to figure out what areas might come up on the exam papers. I have no doubt that she is completely prepared and I’m sure she’ll continue to get top marks. The most impressive part of her journey as a student is that she also has a husband and two young boys to look after. These three fellas are a full-time job on their own, but Úna has been greatly assisted by her mother-in-law who takes the boys off her hands while she gets her head stuck in the books. I hope that you mostly get questions that fall into the purple circle in the graph and that the ones in the green circle are few and far between. I wish you all the best this week, Úna, and may you enjoy the summer holidays because you deserve them


The Future’s So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades) – Timbuk3

Volcanic Eruptions Interrupt Air Travel In Europe


It’s been a quiet few days for air travel in Europe as flights have been cancelled, airplanes have been grounded and passengers have been stranded at airports all over the continent. And it’s all a result of ash produced by volcanic eruptions on the island of Iceland that has been dispersed into the atmosphere. These particles of ash can be sucked into jet engines causing damage to the machinery and can also damage windscreens and landing gear. As a result, flights have been cancelled at the majority of European airports since Thursday and the disruptions seem set to continue for a few more days as the Eyjafjallajökull volcano keeps on erupting. However, every cloud has a silver lining as other forms of transport have benefitted from the airlines’ loss. Most people are making alternative plans by taking trains, boats and buses, but John Cleese has had to take a taxi from Oslo to Brussels that apparently cost nearly €4,000. And he still had to get the Eurostar back to London after all that. Here’s a cover of a Simon & Garfunkel tune from Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini and a song called Volcano by Damien Rice with a little help from Lisa Hannigan


Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel cover) – Emiliana Torrini

Volcano – Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan

Record Store Day 2010


Today is Record Store Day, an annual celebration of independent record shops around the world and, by extension, a celebration of the vinyl record. The 7″ single (played at 45 revolutions per minute) and the 12″ album (33 1/3 rpm) were developed in the 1940s and became the most popular form of music carrier within a decade. The success of the single coincided with the arrival of rock & roll at the end of the 50s, but the coming of age of the album format saw LPs outselling singles by the end of the 60s. The first big challenge to vinyl’s dominance of the music market was the introduction of the cassette tape at the end of the following decade. The possibility of portable music was heralded by the arrival of the Walkman in the early 80s, paving the way for cassette sales to overtake those of records by the end of that decade. Vinyl’s future was also challenged by the switch from analogue to digital in the shape of the compact disc in the middle of the 80s. The combination of the cassette and the CD led to the swift demise of the record, while the continuing popularity of the CD eventually killed off the humble cassette. The major record companies continued to profit from all these format changes, particularly when consumers upgraded their vinyl to newer (and more expensive) CDs

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