If sweat beads and airbrushed, anaesthetised rock is your thing, then Skin will set your hair on end. If on the other hand, you hanker for a sound that’s a touch more thoughtful, save your sheckels for Bruce or Ani.
Ani di Franco has never been stuck for words, for passions, or for ideals, and Revelling Reckoning snapshots her world - just for now. Because, like all full-blooded artists, her stance is likely to shift, her mind to expand.
ROCK IN RIO, which attracts 200,000 people, may be known for headliners like Sting, REM and Britney Spears. But this year, DERVISH played there too - and got a rapturous welcome. SIOBHÁN LONG reports from an extraordinary event
Harp players don't come much better than this. Mick Kinsella navigates a path with the harmonica through rough and smooth, a veritable songline through the geography of is own choosing.
'And it's in the hush that we hear the sound between darkness and first bird'.
Jane Siberry has always been someone who's cocked her ear to the silence every bit as much as to the sound.
Two short years on from their spirit-shocking debut, Calico are back, their line-up embellished from a skeletal three to a more cosy five, their repertoire expanded and their confidence soaring.
Abortion hasn t gone away, you know; rather it s Irish women,
some 6,500 a year, who have to do the travelling while, back home,
the pro-life movement continues to insist that It Can Never Happen Here. TONY O BRIEN of the Irish Family Planning Association believes it s
well past time tht we got to grips with a problem whch, time and again, has dominated public debate while leaving women in the
throes of crisis pregnancy to fend for themselves.
Interview: Siobhan Long. Photography: CATHAL DAWSON
The McGuires have long been stalwarts of fiddles and bows. With his brother Seamus, Manus McGuire has never encountered much difficulty in cornering the market in pensive, considered playing, whether it be Breton, Irish, Scottish or French Canadian.
Tony Mac Mahon has never been behind the door in pronouncing the way forward in traditional music. There's a fire in his belly whose flames rarely need fanning, so passionate and fervent is his belief in the one true way.
Laurence Nugent, Chicago-born flute and whistle player is a man not given to stray notes or empty promises. The Windy Gap is the work of a musician who doesn’t need to prove anything, who tracks his route with the confidence of a traveller well used to the road, but still excited by the discoveries around every bend.
Best known as the original lead voice in Riverdance, John McGlynn may have suffered from a case of sibling domination. His twin brother, Michael, wielding the Anúna baton, seems to have hogged most of the limelight in the past, but now it seems that John is set to redress the balance.
When superlatives abound, there’s a risk that either: a) the musicians in question snap into autopilot, fuelled by the laurels, or b) they continue to do what they do best: pushing the outside of the envelope.
This is a gorgeous collection of Irish and English lullabies, many of them shot through with enough banshees, witches and mountainy hags to put manners on the feistiest of juniors.
Christiaan and Justin Webb have wasted no time in carving their own niche: it’s a world of purple haze and post-Y2K insouciance, a hybrid of the Stone Roses and the Eels. This is music that’s so knowingly nonchalant, it lopes at its own pace in every direction except the one with the bright lights.
Balance is such a delicate thing. Finding that elusive equilibrium between musicians so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and yet each part can shine in its own time. If it's to happen, egos must be jettisoned and the music must be master.
At 53, EMMYLOU HARRIS has finally taken up the pen and the result is one of her finest albums yet. SIOBHAN LONG journeys to New York to meet the reluctant songwriter.
At 81 years of age, folk pioneer PETE SEEGER is still active in the politics of song. SIOBHAN LONG meets a man fully deserving of the title 'living legend'
With a guest list worthy of a Paddy Moloney project, this is an album which, on the face of it, could have sunk beneath the pressure of too many big names, too many egos jostling for position.
Transplant Terry Callier or Curtis Mayfield down under and you just might get a Jimmy Little. He’s got a voice that’s more Stax soul than outback. Pair that with a lyric sheet that’s in equal parts pleasure and politics and you’ve got quite a cocktail.
Peopled solely by original tunes from John McCusker – Scottish prodigy, member of The Battlefield Band, producer of a Mercury nominated Kate Rusby album, guest of Teenage Fanclub, and purveyor of a rake of exceptional tunes – Yella House is a remarkable record.
Frankie Gavin and Alec Finn have been around the block more than a couple of times now, and they've seduced a rake of unlikely apostles with their high octane mix of the old and the new. The release of last year's best of, How The West Was Won, was a magnificent resume of their antics from then to now.
Collections should sometimes carry a health warning.
Temple Records are responsible for this release, a gabháilful of fine musicians, most with Scottish roots, purveying a snakecharmer's mix of slow airs, songs and dance tunes, played on Scotland's stalwart instruments. And that's where the Surgeon General needs to step, centrestage, scalpel in hand.
The Pure Bodhrán - The Definitive Collection is an interesting come all ye exercise that doesn't quite manage to gather the momentum it promises.
Versatile and eclectic as the bodhrán is, it simply doesn't have the strength of personality (at least on the tunes collected here) to hold a double album together.
In the pantheon of fine female folk singers, a handful stand out.
Sandy Denny, June Tabor and Pentangle's Jacqui McShee have been flagbearers for more than a few generations. And their circle can now be widened to include Niamh Parsons, a singer who has quietly carved a reputation for herself throughout the singing clubs of Dublin and well beyond.
Second generation Irish-American LIZ CARROLL is one of the best fiddlers around. She spoke to SIOBHAN LONG about her album, the importance of the session
and Chicago. Picture: Declan English
Second generation Irish-American LIZ CARROLL is one of the best fiddlers around. She spoke to SIOBHAN LONG about her album, the importance of the session
and Chicago. Picture: Declan English
Second generation Irish-American LIZ CARROLL is one of the best fiddlers around. She spoke to SIOBHAN LONG about her album, the importance of the session
and Chicago. Picture: Declan English
Arts Council director PATRICIA QUINN talks to SIOBHAN LONG about internal strife, Ireland s changing attitude to art, and the necessity of taking risks. Picture: Myles Claffey
She must have read the book on it - the trigonometry of songwriting for a mass market.
Frank is a twenty-something Dane with a mission to copy and paste, using everyone from Roxette to Natalie Imbruglia as her templates.
Lia Luachra are a quartet who've been scaling the heights for a couple of years now. Having launched a full frontal assault with their eponymous debut, they're back with another densely-packed hour-long conglomerate of new and traditional tunes and songs.
EAMONN DeBARRA is the Young Traditional Musician of the Year. He tells SIOBHAN LONG why he isn t strictly trad and why it s important to play the #20 gigs
Back with another volume of Woody Guthrie songs, BILLY BRAGG talks to Siobhan Long about supersonic boogie, the act of collaboration and why Tony Blair s Labour Party still has his respect.
SIOBHAN LONG may have reached the end of her nationwide journey, but, as she explains here, there s still plenty of time for others to do their bit for THE GREAT RECORD OF IRISH MUSIC
For many of us, Siamus Ennis is a mythological figure, a piping giant. A man whose legacy can be heard and felt in the playing styles of virtually every piper who came after him, . . .
Five years after the collapse of The Irish Press Group, CON HOULIHAN suffered a fall of his own. Here, he reflects on broken hips, broken dreams and the road to recovery. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG
Well, reader, we ve finally reached the end of our journey, after navigating our way across the length and breadth of the 32 counties (and detouring briefly to New York for a tincture of the tastiest in that honorary 33rd county).
The Great Record has visited some fine places over the past year or more. Now we ve finally wound up in Limerick, plumbed the depths of both city and county and emerged in one piece to tell the tale.
Although one of Ireland s smallest counties, Leitrim boasts of a strong musical heritage that can trace its lineage back to the 15th and 16th centuries with ease.
I phoned Monaghan and they were all out. Well, most of them anyway. And yet. And yet. The compass did yield a handful of musicians, with references to many more whom we valiantly attempted to locate, without success. Monaghan s best-known scions must surely be Paddy Cole and Big Tom.
If only reviews could rest at this: astounding. Listen to Lost In The Loop as it rises storeys above anything else that's been released in the past year, and wonder at its majesty, its sheer dexterity.
On the face of it, Westmeath s made more of a name for itself in the bellylaugh stakes than in the annals of music. Still, scratch beneath the surface of any town or townland, and you ll be rivetted to your seat with musical anecdotes.
'A journey into the Heart of America's Greatest Folk Songs'. So the sleeve proclaims. In truth it might better read 'self-indulgent musings of a muso let loose in a recording studio'.
Lesbian singer-songwriter CATIE CURTIS doesn t care much for the mainstream. She talks to SIOBHAN LONG about sexuality, Lilith Fair and success in a parallel universe .
To suggest that music is thriving in Sligo is akin to declaring that there s been a bit of an upturn in the economy lately. Music of all breeds, creeds and colour can be found in abundance around the county.
Have guitar, will travel. That seems to be the raison d'jtre of Sean O'Neill. This is double barrel troubadour music complete with greatcoat and dusty vocals - and a skewed perspective that tilts at a delightfully obtuse angle with the world.
Altan's evolution as an ace ensemble has made for fascinating observation. Wooed by the big industry players, they've (inevitably) been subtly moulded by Virgin over the past three albums.
ANI Di FRANCO has confirmed her position as one of the 90s most compelling performers with her new album Up, Up, Up, Up, Up Up. But there has always been more to Di Franco than her music. Here she talks to SIOBHAN LONG about her hard-won independence, corporate America and the stupidity of conservativism.
AGNES BERNELLE s death last month brought a truly remarkable
life to a close. SIOBHAN LONG looks back, in the company of
Gavin Friday, Philip Chevron and Alan Amsby.
Fermanagh is a county that s accommodated a rake of musical traditions both past and present. Split by the sibling lakes of Upper and Lower Lough Erin, Fermanagh s musical identity is as diverse as her geography, to the extent that at times there s little or no crossover in musical style from north to south of the county and vice versa.
Brazilian contraltos not being exactly ten a penny, Virginia Rodrigues' CD comes as a bit of a surprise. Nas is Rodrigues' second record, a gorgeous, sublime collection of songs from her native Brazil.
There are few musicians whose sense of place is as firmly etched in their music as Dr John. New Orleans; the Crescent City oozes from every pore of his being, and every crotchet and quaver of his music.
Always Now And Forever is the debut release from Irish-born New York resident, Amo.
Amo's ambitions run high, so high that he conjures comparisons with Bono's overwrought emoting (The Joshua Tree's 'Bullet The Blue Sky'), Randy Edelman's fraught paeans to love lost,
Seka/Sister is a marathon collection of 22 songs from a plethora of artists (both well known and obscure) in aid of a women and children's refuge in Croatia.
Seka/Sister is a marathon collection of 22 songs from a plethora of artists (both well known and obscure) in aid of a women and children's refuge in Croatia.
Music that gets under your skin is a rare and beautiful thing. Ancient Rite has been a labour of love from its inception to its execution. No detail has been neglected, no note carelessly discarded.
Chris Rea's been happier to cruise along the information superhighway than many of his contemporaries. With a definite case of technolust burning up his veins, Rea never made any secret of his love of new technology, particularly automotive technology. Now, 10 years after his first foray down the route of the automotive concept album, he's back on the same road.
If tradition means passing on and according due respect, then The Rowsome Tradition lives up to its title to a tee. Kevin Rowsome is lucky enough, by an accident of birth, to belong to one of Dublin's finest piping families.
Donell Jones seems to be pushing all the right buttons. He's had a resounding success with his debut album, My Heart, notched up a Top 15 R 'n' B hit stateside with the single, 'Knocks Me Off My Feet', and now he's on the return trip with Where I Wanna Be.
Martin Hutchinson is a native of Athy, now resident in Holland. Now Tell Me is his second album, a cool handed take on the blues with a distinctly Irish feel. The influence of Rory Gallagher is never far from the front line of Now Tell Me, especially on two tracks: the instrumental ‘Rory’ and the lament ‘So Rory’s Gone’ – unashamed homages to the great man.
With the same old trad royalty still being treated with grovelling reverence, promoter and manager David Caren thinks it stime the young and innovative got their dues. But will it happen? Report: SIOBHAN LONG.
From its title (From Pana To Louisiana slips a sly tongue-in-cheek reference to Two Time Polka’s origins, Patrick St., Cork) to its sheer joie de vivre, this is a CD for the downhearted and the party animal alike.
Seldom do you encounter recordings that are both as scholarly and lovingly honed as this. More seldom still do you trip across a debut as assured and considered as Fair Dawning.
Tim O’Shea is a singer and guitarist from Killarney.
It’s hard to credit it, but Natalie Cole has been plying her trade for a total of 21 albums now. And for those who made her acquaintance through her duetted song cycle with her electronically-reincarnated father, Unforgettable, With Love, rest assured that she continues to plough a compatible, if parallel terrain on Snowfall On The Sahara.
Sean nós singing has undergone something of a renaissance recently, and Finola O'Siocrú's debut, Searc Mo Chléibh/Love Of My Heart is a welcome addition to the genre.
KARAN CASEY may be a folk singer, but don t classify her as easy listening . Her music is infused with radicalism and eclectism. She spoke to SIOBHAN LONG.
Manic genius. Dervish have been anointed with such a spectrum of talent that they've never wanted for vision when it comes to broadening their repertoire.
Manic genius. Dervish have been anointed with such a spectrum of talent that they've never wanted for vision when it comes to broadening their repertoire.
From their earliest days in Gothenburg, WEST OF EDEN have fused Celtic and Scandinavian influences to come up with a unique sound. SIOBHAN LONG met them.
Bilingual jazz/folk might inspire one of two things in any music listener: either baleful foreboding or hungry curiosity. O'Reilly's last album, Tír Na Mara, set the scene with an eclectic collection of material that melded the Irish tradition and subtle infusions of jazz with surprising skill. And second time round she's grown in confidence, with the result that House Of Dolphins is a mighty fine leap into the big blue.
A long, meandering road, wending its way round gullies, crevices and drumlins: that's the kind of musical journey Cormac Breatnach has embarked on in this, his debut CD. Pensive and considered, it's a collection of gentle, low key tunes - with a surprising song or two in their midst.
If it's a roll-call of the best traditional musicians on the far side of the Atlantic you're after, then Cherish The Ladies' latest album will probably sate your thirst. It's brimful of magnificent talent, including the core sextet of female musicians who've paved such a fine path for others with their spunky, intricate arrangements of traditional tunes.
Mmmm. He's gone and done it again. Dotted his i's and crossed his t's with little more than a guitar and a pair of vocal chords that must have been hatched somewhere between Sonny Boy Williamson's chest cavity and John Lee Hooker's pelvis.
Sliabh Notes are a trio of renowned traditional musicians who play dance music that long preceded the breed that flourishes these days in the club scene. Siobhan Long pays a visit to them in the best place possible to hear the music: a wedding reception in Kerry.
Unpredictability was always Townes' middle name. Just when you thought he was giving it heaps, he'd zip off into the stratosphere, not to be found for days - or weeks even. And A Far Cry From Dead is his postcard from the edge. Funny thing is, it's more polished and poised than anything he recorded while he shuffled on this mortal coil.
"Thanks to everyone and apologies to no one" Manor have stepped onto centrestage. This Keady quartet have been plugging away on the live circuit and in the recording studios for quite a while with ne'er a glance in the direction of the corporate music business for handouts.
SIOBHAN LONG meets RON HYNES, writer of Sonny and hears him talk about Paul Simon, Donegal and the lack of support for artists in his native Newfoundland.
Crash Test Dummies have always distinguished themselves from the rest of the posse with their highly literate (and often dauntingly dense) lyrics and their apocalyptic vision of the human condition in the last decade of the millennium.
Loud’s been around the block a couple a times. He’s supped of the pleasure and pain of the music circuit/treadmill; he’s washed his dirty linen in public with perverted glee; in essence he’s managed, like Woody Allen, to transform his personal neuroses into a lucrative earner that’s as likely to bring a grimace as a smile.
Imagine stories whispered as you sink into unconsciousness. Imagine rolling rhythms insinuating themselves into the marrow so deep that they never leave. Imagine a song cycle so cohesive it'd take a Glaswegian tug-o-war team to sunder it.
The shoes fit. Their suits are made to measure and the skin's all their own. Finally, after more schizophrenic shifts than a busload of Hannibal Lectors, The Frames have found their own identity and they're not afraid to bask in its glories.
It's been a while in the making, but boy is it worth the wait. Sliabh Notes, a.k.a. Matt Cranitch, Donal Murphy and Tommy O'Sullivan whetted our appetites royally back in 1995 with their eponymous debut. With their ears trained to the holy ground of Sliabh Luachra, they gathered up a gabháil full of the finest local tunes, much to the delight of the aficionado and beginner alike.
There are times when listening to traditional albums, you sense a melting of one into another, with players' identities being lost, or at the very least, diluted in the mix. Kevin O'Connor is in no danger of falling prey to that particular malady, having an ear for arrangements that sparkle and shine in their originality.
It's been called 'lo-fi swamp'. I tend to think of it as loping prairie music, but hey, you'll find your own words to capture the essence of Willard Grant Conspiracy. Mojave is their fourth album, a shambolic, dazed and confused affair that's guaranteed to hog your stereo if it's quirky, original meanderings you're looking for.
Are you ready for hip hop, be-bop trad? Then EILEEN IVERS is ready to take you to the bridge. SIOBHAN LONG meets the fiddle player with the world at her fingertips.
They're back. With a bang. Never ones to do it colour by numbers, The Cranberries waited 'til their third trip to the studio before encountering the difficult album syndrome.
Seems like downtown Buncrana and upstate New York aren't so far apart after all. At least not on Kevin Doherty's map. He manages to tiptoe between both with a dexterity that'd have been the envy of Astaire.
This pair of digitally re-mastered collections are both welcome and timely. Damn fine performers of Texas folk/blues and jazz piano respectively, Hopkins and Morton are time travellers who betray not an ounce of jetlag, despite their millennial's end travels.
With his new album The Mountain, STEVE EARLE has turned his hand to bluegrass. He talks to SIOBHAN LONG about the record, his colourful past and his love of Irish music.
Let's face it: Beth Orton has already proved her genius with her sublime debut, Trailer Park. Not only was it a remarkable record for a debutante; it was, and is, one of the standouts of the last three years. And now she's gone and done it again.
Passion. And faith. Gavin Harte's got it by the bucketload. And Random Acts Of Kindness is as articulate and combustible a calling card as he could possibly wish for.
Music for the new man. Mike Badger trades in lo-fi acoustic musings for the broken hearted. Founder member of The La's, Badger's music is low key and unassuming, in a way that suggests his bedtime listening is more Sonny Condell and Blue Nile than Henry Rollins and Tommy Lee Jones.
This Cape Breton quintet have been on the road almost a decade now, and Uprooted finds them asserting their independence and hankering after the traditional Nova Scotian sound at one and the same time.
Television has given the US a PR platform on a plate, and boy have they used it well. American literature classes have played their part in the Americanisation of the planet too. Everyone from Henry Miller to John Grisham has helped the cause of the Great American Way.
Far from it in fact with even the world of advertising now bestowing its blessings, things seem to have come full cycle for one of
Ireland s most original and enduring songwriters. SIOBHAN LONG meets SONNY CONDELL.
He's been languishing in the undergrowth for way too long. But Lonnie Donegan has emerged from the shadows with a mighty fine album, a calling card to be proud of, especially when he comes knocking on the doors of an entire generation who missed out on the delights of 'My Old Man's A Dustman'.
A powerful tale of love, lust and life with the Taureg nomads of Nigeria, Gaye Shortland’s new novel, Polygamy is based in large part on her own extraordinary experiences of an alien culture. Interview: Siobhan Long.
Italian-born multi-instrumentalist antoni o'breskey considers Ireland to be his spiritual home, so much so that he changed the spelling of his name just for us. siobhán long finds out more.
He may be a man of few words, but alvin youngblood harT's artistic lineage is not to be sneezed at: this is one bluesman whose experiences include a spell in the US Coastguard and a stint in Switzerland. Tape: siobhÁn Long.
It's been almost two years now since Anam's Brian O hEadhra unpacked his rucksack from top to bottom, two years of tearing all over the globe, from Düsseldorf to Darwin, Chicago to Castletownbere. With three albums well and truly reared, the band have recently been coaxing their fourth offspring, First Footing, out into the big bad world, blinkering its eyes against the glare of daylight.
If there were handouts for the shy and retiring, Dervish would be at the back of the queue. Never backward in coming forward, this Sligo/Roscommon ensemble have elevated audience rapport to an art form that's sadly all too rarely practised round these here parts. Lead singer, Cathy Jordan (the sole Roscommon interloper amid a quintet of Sligomen) delights in the more quirky and bizarre backgrounds to the band's songs and tunes. And somehow they all seem to treat a night flight to Kuala Lumpur with the same gravity as they would a skite to Kenmare. Dervish live and breathe on the road. Its interminable miles are the band's sustenance, its cat's eyes their compass to the next town, the next continent, and the next gig.
ned o'hanlon and maurice linnane, the men behind media company dreamchaser productions, aren't given to false modesty. And why should they be, given that their recent list of clients includes Garth Brooks, U2 and the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame? siobhÁN LONG meets the men who once adopted Gary Oldman for an all-night bender in America.
Australia s the churcH have survived nearly 20 years of changing fads and fashions by maintaining their commitment to pure pop. siobhan long takes a pew.
It should have been the biggest indoor rock n roll knees-up of the year but oasis three nights at The Point were as notable for what happened off stage as for what happened on it. Does Liam s partial no show spell the end for the dreadnoughts of Britpop or is it just the latest hiccup in a career that seems to thrive on adversity? Report: siobhAn LONG.
For 20 years, iarla o lionaird has steeped himself in the neglected tradition of sean nss singing. Now signed to Peter Gabriel s Realworld label, he believes that the late 90s could finally see a breakthrough for his beloved art form. siobhan long talks to the man with what Martin Hayes calls the lonesome touch
Roots music may help build bridges between past and present and us and them, but the media stance is still often isolationist. So says simon emerson of the afro celt sound system. siobhan long takes notes.
Roots music may help build bridges between past and present and us and them, but the media stance is still often isolationist. So says simon emerson of the afro celt sound system. siobhan long takes notes.
It?s real, it?s now and it goes all the way back to the source ? roots music is taking the world by storm and Ireland is very definitely on the map.
By siobhan long.
MARTIN HAYES fiddles while dennis cahill burns on The Lonesome Touch, an exercise in purity that is not exclusive to the purists. Joining them on the road, siobhan long learns the finer points of a good reel, and discovers that in Irish traditional music there s no place for conflict between continuity and change.
Having released just three albums in 16 years, PAUL BUCHANAN explains why THE BLUE NILE don t want to clutter the world up with useless CDs. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG.
JOSI RAMOS HORTA, the Nobel Laureate from East Timor, on the Indonesian genocide which has killed one-third of his people and Ireland and the world can do to help. Report: SIOBHAN LONG.
No-one has ever asked suzanne vega before if Luka the story about child sexual abuse which made her famous was based on personal experience. Here for the first time ever the singer reveals that indeed it is and that she is still dealing with the after-effects of that traumatic experience. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG. Pix: COLM HENRY.
If a city can be defined by a catchphrase, then Let the good times roll epitomises new orleans. Landing in The Big Easy slap-bang in the middle of Mardi Gras, siobhan long gets a crash course in gumbo, voodoo, hot music, chilling crime and, believe it or not, legal Ecstasy. But, most of all, she gets a masterclass in how to party. Pix: steve lasky and cathy anderson
A new album, a new producer, a new sound and a new lease of life so where better to launch mary black s Shine than in New Orleans? Report and
interview: siobhAN LONG
A new album, a new producer, a new sound and a new lease of life so where better to launch mary black s Shine than in New Orleans? Report and
interview: siobhAN LONG
A North Carolinian who speaks Irish and a country performer who only occasionally performs country,
jim lauderdale has a way that makes the seemingly contradictory work well. Interview: siobhan long.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
lthough left broken-hearted by the demise of the Irish Press, CON HOULIHAN s latest collection of prose, Windfalls, confirms that his pen, like the Castle Island colossus himself, is still mightier than the rest. Now, at 71, a novel is in the works. SIOBHAN LONG embarks on a long night s journey into day with the legendary journalist.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
Six albums to the good and only now has andy white discovered his teenage years. siobhan long catches up with a man catching up with his own adolescence.
At just 23, Siniad Lohan is one of the brightest prospects to have appeared on the Irish music scene for some time, with the Woman s Heart stars taking her to their collective bosom not to mention her acclaimed debut album which is nestling comfortably in the Top 10. Siniad an scial: Siobhan Long.
No one has their ears sadistically sliced off with a cut-throat razor but there's savage revelry aplenty as Siobhan Long sets her watch to Hiney time and spends 24 hours in the dangerously
danceable company of Speranza.
Been there, seen that, doin' it tomorrow. Is there no stopping Shay Healy? The most popular songsmith in Europe — and, er, Turkey — has just published a new novel Green Card Blues. Night hawk: SIOBHÁN LONG.
Professor Ivor Browne has observed more cases of mental illness than the editor of Oireachtas Report. Siobhán Long takes a seat in the psychiatrist’s chair and hears Ireland’s leading man-in-a-white-coat give his diagnosis on the links between creativity and schizophrenia, the dangers of psychosurgery and the inevitable demise of the Catholic Church.
From a commercial point of view it hasn't exactly been all sweetness and light for SONNY CONDELL but his new album Someone To Dance With should bring a smile to his face. Interview: Siobhán Long
Siobhán Long was at the Olympia Theatre to hear Ireland’s finest musicians
pay their respects to the much lamented Altan flautist who died last September.
The event, sponsored by Smithwicks/Hot Press, was a truly memorable and moving occasion.
He may have a wicked sense of humour but, ultimately, it's the way he sings 'em that has seen Kieran Goss lay to rest his partnership with Frances Black and produce one of the finest albums of the year. Siobhan Long has her ears caressed and her funnybone tickled by the newest member of Ireland's songwriting elite.
Lyle Lovett, the crown jewel of Texas and everybody’s favourite alternative country celebrity, was in Dublin again recently to play a one-off, sell-out show in the Gaiety. Here he talks about his new album, I Love Everybody; his foray into Hollywood and, of course, Julia what’s-her-name. Siobhan Long found a very clear and pleasant ranger who knows the right way to order a pear tart!
Now that the picking season is upon us, Siobhán Long offers a guide to the pleasures and perils of Pysolisin, otherwise known as the humble magic mushroom. Pic: Alan O’Connor.
The Rolling Stones, The Who, Tom Jones, Van Morrison, Sinéad o' Connor... The Chieftains are on first-name terms with all of them and as they pocket another Grammy for Celtic Harp Paddy Moloney tells Siobhán Long how the band retain their freshness after over twenty years together.
29,028 feet above sea level: that’s where Dawson Stelfox found himself last year when he successfully completed the first Irish Everest expedition. Interview: Síobhan Long.
In Meitheal, the duo of STEVE COONEY AND SEAMUS BEGLEY released one of the finest albums of the year. Here they talk about their spin on the tradition, the connection between Gaeltacht people and the Aborigines – oh and the logic of playing the accordion with a pen-knife. Interview: SIOBHÁN LONG
In Meitheal, the duo of STEVE COONEY AND SEAMUS BEGLEY released one of the finest albums of the year. Here they talk about their spin on the tradition, the connection between Gaeltacht people and the Aborigines – oh and the logic of playing the accordion with a pen-knife. Interview: SIOBHÁN LONG
With the release of their debut album, My German Lover, Hada to Hada's tenure as one of Ireland's best-kept musical secrets may well be over. Siobhán Long talks to Keiran Duddy and Belinda Morris about the craft of song-writing and the dedication
that made the album possible.
With the departure of Shane McGowan a couple of years ago, it was fashionable to write off The Pogues as mere also rans. But the band have proven to be one of the success stories of 1993, with the release of their superb Waiting For Herb album putting them right back on course. Now they can afford to tell their detractors: kiss my ass (under the mistletoe of course). Interview: Siobhán Long.
They came from sunny Melbourne to Chipping Norton, England to record their debut album, and thence to Ireland on a whistlestop tour that took them from the capital to the wilds of Leap and beyond. SIOBHAN LONG urges THE KILLJOYS to put down their back–packs for a while and make time for a chat.
For many years a 'musician's musician', TOM PACHECO is now enjoying the commercial recognition he deserves thanks to a collaboration with Steiner Albrigtsen that's stormed its way to the top of the Norwegian charts. Here, the American singer-songwriter reflects on a remarkable career which has seen him hanging out with Jimi Hendrix and The Doors in New York, taking on the Nashville establishment and finally settling in Ireland where his star is also firmly in the ascendent. Interview: SIOBHAN LONG.
It is 15 years, almost to the day, since sound engineer JOE O'HERLIHY did his first gig with U2. SIOBHÁN LONG profiles the man with the longest beard in rock'n'roll (well, nearly) . . .
ELEANOR MacEVOY has a lot to answer for. Without her that little vessel that goes lub-a-dub-dub every time a stethoscope gets near it would still be languishing in the advertising pages of the Irish Medical Times, all arteries and veins, but no soul.
IT TAKES a heck of a thick neck to blithely ignore all that's happened musically over the last five years. Either that or a cast-iron identity that surpasses fleeting trends and passing fads. Randy Newman has always managed to pull it off with panache.
Whatever your fancy chances are the capital will be able to oblige. Here, the Hot Press team pound the pavement in selfless pursuit of Dublin's hottest - and coolest - nightspots.
Happy in both her personal and professional life, DOLORES KEANE has learnt the wisdom of doing things for herself. Following the release of her latest album, Solid Ground, SIOBHAN LONG gets to meet her - at the second attempt.
Now that he's discovered the joys of the Dobro, are Frankie Lane's madcap, balcony-scaling days over for good? Not a bit of it. *It's all really just about finding a new way of being nasty.* He tells Siobhan Long.
TOM ROBINSON (Whelan's, Dublin)
MR. ROBINSON alights onstage with a sartorial inelegance that not many would manage to pull off, though he, of course, does - with aplomb.
WITH THE RELEASE OF HER FIRST LIVE ALBUM *LOVE FOR SALE* MARY COUGHLAN HAS PUT THE PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAUMAS OF THE PAST THREE YEARS BEHIND HER. IN A FRANK INTERVIEW SHE OUTLINES HER DARK DAYS TO SIOBHAN LONG AND INDICATES THAT PERHAPS A FUTURE COVER VERSION OF *WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN* MIGHT JUST BE IN ORDER.
Hymns To The Silence, seeking higher planes, sometimes soars, occasionally strikes a flat note, but always repairs its errors with an offering pitch-perfect and ravishingly beautiful to the ear.
