Seán Lennon's Hits and Myths: Spotlite Horslips

Title pages and two panels featuring Horslips from this 1993 cartoon history of Irish music. Seán Lennon has also done a work on Irish Gothic writers that I'd love to get my hands on.

CARR'S COCKTAIL SHACK - A Chaser

Speaking of radio on the Internet...

Alas, the telegraph wires must have been hit by an early snow up in the Rockies, as it was a rocky reception today. I did catch the very excellent following set:

Whatever Lola Wants, from Damn Yankees
a sweeper from the very lovely Lola the Vamp
Just Help Yourself, Tom Jones (ooooohhhh!!!!)

Then the guest cocktail of the week; klept Bono's 127 it was and featured:

Jim Beam Bourbon
Frangelica

...and the rest was lost in the Colorado drifts. Still, a few of those 127s and I bet I could even listen to that Zooropa thing of theirs. Hell, enough Jim Beam and the Hartz Mountain Canary Training Record probably rocks!

So, very little of the Shack today. But I fear not, there's always Brendan "Nevada Gulch" McLoughlin holding the reins of the Wells Fargo Wagon. That show will be in my player before a fortnight passes!

Hotpress reviews Emm Gyrner

Just posted:

Emm Gryner
Songs Of Love And Death

Singer-songwriter Emm Gryner hails from Canada, but she looks to the Emerald Isle for inspiration on Songs Of Love And Death, interpreting material from an eclectic mix of Irish acts.

The end results are rather hit-and-miss. There are a handful of forgettable mis-steps – maudlin piano versions of The Corrs’ ‘Breathless’ and Ash’s ‘Shining Light’ strip the originals of their pop dynamism, while Gryner’s slight-but-pretty voice lacks the depth and darkness to withstand the violent, gothic churn of The Virgin Prunes’ ‘Bau – Dachong’.

There is also plenty to enjoy on the album, though. A classy vocal performance, and some sprightly programming inject much-needed personality into The Thrills’ ‘Deckchairs And Cigarettes’ (that old expression about silk purses and sows’ ears springs to mind), while her rendition of Horslips’ ‘Dearg Doom’ replaces the original’s legendary guitar riff with some creepy, breathing-over-your-shoulder organ, removing any traces of rock bluster and adding a twisted PJ Harvery-esque menace. Elsewhere, Gryner plays up the melodic qualities in Therapy?’s ‘Nowhere’, re-casting it as a languid, campfire singalong.

Kilian Murphy
Rating: 6 / 10

All the review at link.

Andy Wilkinson, local reviewer of Roll Back, did a hilarious column on the Hot Press tendancy to rate everything 6/10.

Return of the Dancehall SweetheartsNew Preview on Official Site

Over at Horslips Official

A two-minute glide through Johnny's hypnotic guitar playing in the Epic that is Furniture at the National Stadium, 1973

For those of you who just come by this blog for things other than Horslips, this is your chance to see the real thing.

And don't forgot:

Johnny Fean at the Táin Festival tomorrow.

"The Best and Oldest Furniture"

HORSLIPS "Horslips Live" review on Prog Archives.com

For guitar fans, though, it is Furniture that stands out. A beautiful song written by keboardist/piper Jim Lockhart about growing up and leaving home, it is alchemically transformed into a masterpiece by Lockhart's mournful flute intro, CHarles O'Connor's hypnotic mandolin playing and Fean's heart-wrneching solo, first a resigned lament, then a scorching, pounding on the heart in the crescendo. It would be the finale for any other band, but not Horslips. After lightweight versions of Can't Fool the Beast and More Than You Can Chew, Eamonn Carr's shimmering cymbals herald the greatest Irish rock track ever, Dearg Doom...

More at the link. And who wrote this, I may ask? (And I ask with a great deal of fondness for the writer!)

CARR'S COCKTAIL SHACK ARCHIVES UPDATED

With apologies to the Mondo Irelando podcasts and the writings of Sir Fleming, which I do intend to review (he seems to be going on about Bruces this morning), Carr's Cocktail Shack shows through October 23rd are now archived.

This includes the not-to-be-missed ELVIS EXTRAVAGANZA - A Jungle Room Tribute on October 16th.

"Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts" DVD Preview on www.horslipsrecords.com

On the official Horslips site: 45 seconds of Blindman from the Dancehall Sweethearts album. Do follow the site advice and "DOWNLOAD on that link (right-click) TO YOUR PC and play. Right-click and download using "save (link) target as..".

Fantastic guitar there from Johnny Fean.