'An infrequent conversation between fans of music, some of it long-lost’
Ron Sexsmith 'Other Songs' [Interscope Records] **** Ron Sexsmith is a Canadian singer and writer who, for the sake of reference, follows a line laid by his fellow country-people – Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. Add to that some of the production values that once set Crowded House apart from the dogs [‘Hello... Continue Reading →
Teenage Fanclub ‘Songs From Northern Britain’ [Creation Records] ***** Teenage Fanclub should be far bigger than they actually are although, head over heart, this is as big as it’s going to get. D’ya know what I mean ? This is their fifth album and it’s certainly as good, if not better, than their last,... Continue Reading →
It was Eamonn Crudden of the Dead Elvis label – among numerous other things – who first turned me onto the Wednesday Works imprint, a small mail-order project that was run by a young dairy farmer from his front-room in Curraghmore, outside of Elphin, Co. Roscommon. At the time – the summer of 1996... Continue Reading →
‘Well, the Jacks are back. And what an All-Ireland we have for you tonight’. As opening gambits go, Bono’s introduction to the partisan hordes at Croke Park just after 8.30 p.m. on a sticky June evening in 1985 had a familiar peel. Eight years previously, Phil Lynott had marked Dublin’s All-Ireland football semi-final victory over Kerry with... Continue Reading →
I started contributing to The Irish Examiner, then The Cork Examiner, back in the late 1980s and I really hadn’t a clue. I wrote oodles of copy for my local paper over the years, much of it impenetrable and most of it salvaged by the excellent sub-editors I never met and know now by reputation only. I... Continue Reading →
The Blackpool Sentinel 
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