Girl power, twenty years on
The original Woman’s Heart concept was both an inspired artistic venture and a true marketing phenomenon. The idea was simple – take a selection of tracks from the popular female artists of the day and group them together under a common theme – the original Irish girl power! It turned into a veritable industry, spawning subsequent volumes and sell-out tours, while also hugely boosting the careers of the participants. Two decades later, the project is revisited on this double set – with one disc featuring a selection of the best of the original crop and the second shining the spotlight on the current, inspiring generation of Irish female talent. The original of the series veered towards more folk/traditional fare and included here from it are Mary Black (‘Sonny’), Dolores Keane (‘Caledonia’), Sharon Shannon (‘Blackbird’), Maura O’Connell (‘Summerfly’) Frances Black (‘Wall of Tears’) and of course Eleanor McEvoy, who penned the title track.
In contrast, the class of 2010 is much more diverse stylistically, veering from pop, rock, and indie to acoustica. Highlights include the wonderful Imelda May, who lets rip on ‘Big Bad Handsome Man’, Lisa Hannigan’s gorgeous ‘Ocean And A Rock’ and Cathy Davey’s charmingly quirky, ‘Little Red’. Demonstrating how much the commercial environment has changed in recent years, no less than three of the tracks here have been used in TV ads, including Paula Flynn’s take on Bowies’ Let’s Dance’, Heathers’ exuberant ‘Remember When’ and Julie Feeney’s divine ‘Impossibly Beautiful. Other highlights include Luan Parle’s jaunty ‘Sexy Sita’, Gemma Hayes’ poignant ‘Oliver’, Wallis Bird’s ‘To My Bones’ and Roisin O’s ‘Drifting’. Also well worth hearing are Michele Ann Kelly (‘Designer Love’), Lumiere’s ‘Fair and Tender Ladies’ and Maria Doyle Kennedy’s ‘Stars Above’.
Along with some truly great music, this set also provides a fascinating overview of where we were – and where we are now.
KEY TRACK(S): ‘ONLY A WOMAN’S HEART’, ‘IMPOSSIBLY BEAUTIFUL’
This Warm December sounds like a few sleepy songs bashed out and recorded just for the sake of it.
Read More This two-disc charity covers album offers a little something for all musical tastes and a few laughs from FM104's breakfast show.
Read More A battle of wits and humour as well as musical talent, Duke Special and Neil Hannon put on quite a show in a musical face-off with no declared winner.
Read More The ‘80s pop revival gathers apace with Nik Kershaw, T’Pau, Bananarama and – calm yourself ladies – Rick Astley making appearances in the Here and Now Christmas Party at the RDS in December.
Read More Dublin is to get a new 12 Nights Of Christmas festival, which will be putting on shows in some of the city’s finest music emporiums.
Read More The line-up here is practically an argument for the extinction of mankind. I mean, Keane? Even on their own they’re worse than global warming.
Read More Clone impresses with this split release. Orgue Electronique’s ‘On A String’ is pure Chicago hedonism, the tight, doubling up claps setting the scene for a vicious 303 bass, while Legowelt’s subtle percussive twists and moody chords import the spirit of Nu Groove to Rotterdam.
Read More The standard rarely drops below decent, and there are sustained periods of excellence, too.
Read More The second split Spectral release sees James T Cotton bang the acid box, emitting low slung 303 emissions and heavy duty claps on ‘2 Keys’. He’s joined by noisemaker Mikael Stavostrand and Jonas Kopp’s version of Plan Tec’s ‘Espias Psiquicos’, a slamming analogue workout.
Read More The fourth instalment sees Bee Low deliver menacing, bleepy minimalism and Antonelli and Norken & Deer conjuring up the kind of warm, widescreen chords and pads that modern techno has lacked for too long.
Read More Force Of Nature’s remix of Ana’s ‘Shift’ plants a heavy, pulsing backing underneath the Japanese pop band’s floaty melodies and fey guitar lines, but Ame’s ‘Tonight’ points to cosmic disco’s future, a blend of dubbed out drums and warm house keys.
Read More The soundtrack for the previous Spiderman film had a strong thread of emo and hard rock running through it. This collection has moved more towards contemporary indie-rock.
Read More Alex Cortex launches the celebratory EP with the droning bass and razor sharp percussion of ‘Freakwave’ and Reade Truth dives to uncharted depths, with the spooky vocals and disjointed breaks of ‘Time To Accept’.
Read More A Tribute To should’ve been a godsend: a selection of Joni’s finest tunes, sung by a host of special guests. The reality, as one might guess from the diversity of the line-up, is a rather uneven record.
Read More ‘I Gave You Away’ is a return to what Dear’s Audion project does best, teasing the grimiest, dankest sounds from his 303. It’s in good company here: Par Grindvik’s ‘Casio’ makes a nod to Neil Landstrum’s sheet metal ‘90s analogue techno and the organ riff at the centre of Bodycode’s ‘Exciting Ride’ is scarier than a weekend at Fred West’s.
Read More ‘Tuning 4’ is all about subtlety: My My’s version of Duoteque’s ‘Amarcord’ starts off innocuously, but morphs into a wave of building, droning bass. Jens Zimmermann’s version of Maximilan Skiba’s ‘Rendez Vous’ is more restrained, featuring a female vocal spliced up with fractured beats.
Read More Combining new school Italo bombs like the Syd remix of Pauli vs. Tyrell’s ‘Little’ with hard to find remixes of Clone classics like Unit 4’s ‘Bodydub’, ‘Recloned’ is one for the newcomers and trainspotters alike.
Read More Mobilee surprises with this remix package: Sebo K turns GummiHZ’s ‘Isolate’ into a camp vocal-led Chicago track, and Prosumer steps back in time to rework Sebo K’s ‘Moved’ as a tweaked slab of analogue techno.
Read More You may think the Trenton guys are a bunch of scarf wearers fannying about on Macs in lofts in Mitte, but Till von Stein & Aera’s contribution seduces with Chicago claps and acid thunder, while Format B’s massive ‘Octopussy’ hits the listener with a junglist bassline.
Read More Worthy projects do not always make for interesting music, but this is quite an exception.
Read More Troy Pierce takes Chelonis Jones’s ‘Deer In The Headlights’ down an ominously dark direction. But the best remix here is Pierce, Heart Throb and Konrad Black’s version of ‘Mandarine Girl’, changing from the euphoric original into a prowling bassy affair.
Read More Focusing on Motor City techno’s love of deep textures and marrying it with dubby German sparseness, the slamming yet evocative ‘Bloom’ by Keith Kemp and the chugging, hissing beats and dank acid on Ryan Crosson’s ‘Illusion’ are a fine blend of the old and the new.
Read More Jacek Sienkiewicz’s ‘Time Starts…’ gets the remix treatment. Etiop represents the harder, bleepier end of glitch. There’s also a broken beat remake from 3 Channels and Chilean producer Pier Bucci (pictured). He lays down orchestral strings over a moody backing. At last, it’s minimal house with a big pair of balls.
Read More Get a cross section of the Irish music industry to record/re-record tracks in their native tongue, thereby focusing the attention of the very group of people who hold the future of the language in their hands. It could have been awful, of course, a crass attempt to get down with the kids and make learning cool. Yet Ceol ‘06 manages to work on a number of levels.
Read More Not as strong as its predecessor, but ‘Part 2’ is notable for Putsch 79 and Alden Tyrell’s spaced out melodic Italo and the majestic claps and nagging bass of Orgue Electronique’s electronic take on Chicago house on ‘Here I Come’.
Read More Not every German producer churns out textbook minimalism and Holger Flinsch has opted for an alternate path on ‘Hexenlaub’, the highlight of this split release, where he merges skippy beats with tranced-out chords and a curious freeform jazz aesthetic.
Read More Woody McBride dusts down the bandanas for the third ‘Acid’ episode. Mike Acid delivers bass sucker-punches on ‘Ultra Disko’; McBride hits hard with the pulsing tones of ‘Put A Smile On Your Face’. However, the undisputed heavyweight is Bryan Zentz, whose combination of razor-sharp claps and frequency shifting 303 lines is as inspirational as a Phuture classic.
Read More Not an official release in the strictest sense, this in-store sampler serves as a timely reminder – if one were needed - of the quality, variety and commercial potential of the current batch of homegrown releases.
Read More Clone is one of Europe’s finest labels and this package is the ideal catch-up release. From the Italo/electro house of Lindstrom’s ‘There Is A Drink’ and Unit 4’s ‘Body Dub’, to the robotic Chicago percussion of Orgue Elctronique’s ‘Texas, Brooklyn, Heaven’ and the ultra-rare pulsing Alden Tyrell edit of 80s legend Harold Faltermeyer’s ‘So High’, this is a near essential collection.
Read More Recorded in a day across various locations by a cast of 22, Help! A Day In The Life is the second WarChild album, the objective being to raise funds for child victims of global conflict.
Read More Instead of churning out tribal loops, Mark Broom realises his full potential as a producer with ‘Klick’, which alternates between plunging bass-led Detroit house sounds, fuzzy electro and cosmic, UR-style techno. He’s still got the magic.
Read More Manchester electro pioneer Greg Wilson lays bare the roots of much modern electronic music on ‘Re-edited’.
Read More If you are looking for classic soul music to listen to or sample, then this is a near indispensable collection: spread over two discs, it features classics from Bobby Womack, The Four Tops and my personal favourite, The Jones Girls’ ‘Nights Over Egypt’.
Read More Kiltyclogher is a village of about 150 souls on the Leitrim/Fermanagh border. Over the past 80 years or so, it’s been home to a notable cluster of fiddlers: brothers Charlie and Ben Lennon, Ben’s son Maurice Lennon (of Stockton’s Wing fame), Séamus Quinn, Brian Rooney and the late John Gordon, who passed away in 2002, shortly after his contributions to this fascinating CD were recorded.
Read More Seeing as Optimo show such a flagrant disregard for musical genres, it’s no surprise that their Oscarr label doesn’t follow rules either. Magic Daddy is a musical schizophrenic, assembling assorted samples and blending them with a grimy drum backing on ‘Miscreant’, while ‘Cool It!’ sounds like what would happen if the Chicago revivalists started smoking crack.
Read More Marking the start of a nationwide tour, and kicking off the first night of a weekly residency at Voodoo Lounge, the Faction records inaugural bash lived up to the promise of the label's first release, Faction 001.
Read More With 25,000 albums released in Ireland every year, keeping tabs on new music has become an increasingly expensive hobby. Staying abreast of what has become a fast moving, ever changing domestic scene is especially challenging. A handful of specialist shows aside, one rarely encounters bands such as The Amazing Pilots or Dry County on radio. Often checking out emerging groups means trial and error purchasing. Thank God, then, for HMV’s Irish Playlist CD. Given away free with selected titles, the HMV Playlist has established itself as a gem of a compilation album. June’s Irish Playlist is exceptional throughout.
Read More It has been said that, the more opulent and distinctive the surroundings, the more memorable the gig. Correspondingly, the various performances from Other Voices: Songs From A Room are among the most delightful and remarkable committed to RTE’s archives.
Read More That the Irish music industry is in its healthiest state for a while is, by now, a given and it’s probably time to stop congratulating ourselves and start figuring out where it goes next. The answer, at least according to new label Faction, is to start thinking bigger than the DIY own-label approach that has dominated of late.
Read More I have to confess to being suspicious of charity albums, which are normally brimful of filler tracks from acts you’ve never heard of. When you’re one of the most respected writers on folk and blues though, and you decide to do something to help the Ulster Wildlife Trust you do have the advantage of being able to open a few more high class doors. Many of the tracks here are written or co-written by Harper and there are a couple George Harrison covers so there’s more of a coherence than you would ordinarily find on an album of this nature.
Read More Most of the tracks on ‘Norsk 3’ are the work of Norwegian producer Hans Peter Lindstrom, so this is hardly a compilation, but these niceties are irrelevant when the epic synths, over the top melodies and electronic grooves flow through the speakers and transport you to back to the golden age of Italian disco music.
Read More Ben Larsen’s fusion of sparse, minimal shapes and niggling 303 sounds is similar to current Poker Flat releases, but David Duriez’ ferocious, jacking Chicago mix of Moody Preachers’ ‘SP 12 Resurrection doesn’t rely on such niceties and takes Phuture’s dark, acid-soaked Windy City legacy to new extremities.
Read More The title’s claim might be somewhat misleading: apart from a collaboration between Kurtis Blow and Krafty Kuts on ‘Gimme The Breaks’, this mix features a succession of run of the mill, hip-hop influenced breaks from the label’s back catalogue.
Read More if the highlights include turgid trance and hard dance mush from the likes of Tiesto, Macro V and Ferry Corsten, we can only wonder at how god awful the club’s lowlights could have been.
Read More Gurgling 303s and old skool techno bleeps pulses along over that bassline on Freestyle Man’s version of the Chicago classic, ‘Washing Machine’, while the remix of ‘Pajaro’, by Summer of Love is powered by a murky low end that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sender release.
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