Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Ryan Adams, Jeff Beck, Bunny Wailer, Shaggy, Bootsy Collins – Toots Hibbert may be supported by a stellar cast on his latest album but it’s tribute to his unique vocal presence that the Otis Redding of reggae still outshines them all.The best news of all is that Toots And The Maytals are in Vicar Street on June 29. Don’t miss it.
The sound of history in the making, here’s a warts, gags and all document of young Bobby Dylan, folk hero, in the process of creating a rock revolution.
Shot back in the days when the participants were more familiar with malt whiskey than alt country, this new release of a rough and ready early 70s documentary offers a wonderfully intimate view of the fertile Texas music scene
Fans of Texas songwriter Guy Clark’s celebrated Old No I album finally got to hear the true story behind one of its best-loved songs, ‘LA Freeway’, at a packed Temple Bar Music Centre.
Rolling Thunder finds Dylan and his travelling minstrel band reveling in novelty, comradeship, a sense of the mischievous and, most tellingly, the freshness of the then newly released Desire album.
Ultimately though, Tyrrell's voice, like his music, defies all easy classification bar the only one that matters - like the Glaswegian and the Dubliner, this man's got soul
The first three albums scarcely need any new recommendation from me. For all that, the disc which makes this boxed set an absolute must-buy for all Rory Gallagher fans, is the splendidly titled Waiting For The G-Man.
After his celebrated band the blades failed to make a breakthrough in the 1980s, PAUL CLEARY more or less turned his back on music for 15 years. But now unexpectedly, he’s back with a terrific solo album crooked town and more than a few tales to tell.
Interview: LIAM MACKEY
With their biggest dates ever in Ireland looming, LIAM MACKEY dips into voluminous hotpress archives and selects a small sample of what the paper said about U2 over the years
When DAVID DONOHUE set out to make a television documentary about horse racing he had no idea of just how high the stakes would become.
Reporting: LIAM MACKEY
Irish film-maker LEO REGAN recently won a BAFTA for a documentary about right-wing skinheads and barely a week later saw his latest project, a raw portrait of a friend’s drug addiction, screened by Channel 4. LIAM MACKEY reports
"Martin Hayes is the most difficult performer in Ireland to write about because what he does is beyond words on account of it's being beyond comprehension."
In the definitive life of two halves, GEORGE BEST has been both the supreme footballer and a raddled alcoholic . With a new paperback biography just published and a movie version of his life on the way, LIAM MACKEY reflects on the genie who got trapped by the bottle.
was born in Navan, discovered comedy in Dublin, paid his dues in London and then conquered Edinburgh in 1996. Liam Mackey meets Dylan Moran, the stand-up comedian with the world at his feet.
The fabled lead singer, frontman and secret weapon of late lamented New York legends, The Dictators, the whereabouts and even the very existence of Handsome Dick Manitoba has been a mystery for many years. Liam Mackey has devoted his life to a quest for the great man which has made the search for The Abominable Snowman look like a wet weekend in Butlins. Now, after 15 years of false alarms and dead-ends, he has finally tracked him down. And the true, unexpurgated story of ‘The Handsomest Man In Rock ’n’ Roll'? Wilder, stranger and even more sobering than fiction . . .
There have been a lot of musicians, but only one Beethoven; there have been a lot of artists, but only one Michelangelo; and there have been a lot of footballers, but only one Pelé.
LIAM MACKEY meets the Brazilian soccer legend who really does deserve to be called “the greatest”.
Five albums, fifty-eight songs, sixty-eight pages of liner notes, one large container, and a title that's as bone-dry academic as anything you'll find sitting atop a legal document - against that backdrop, perhaps the first and most useful thing to say about Bob in the box is: don't be intimidated!
In the following pages, hear about Bono's top secret solo album; meet The Joshua Trio, the band whose mission is to bring U2's music to a wider audience; thrill to an appreciation of The Fab Four in their native tongue; and, last but not least, discover The Greatest U2 Fan Letter Ever Written! And, remember, don't believe everything you read...
So this is Christmas and what have we done... As U2 prepare to enter the final yearof the decade, Bono devotes a long night at his home in Dublin to reflecting on his life, his music and U2's extraordinary career to date. Interview: Liam Mackey
No disco, no party, no foolin’ around – here we find Van Morrison by turns enraptured and embittered, on an album that is never less than engrossing and which is occasionally sublime.
*Who would have thought it strange that all of us would change*, Madness sing on the title-track of their new album, a record which while transporting the erstwhile Nutty Boys as far from their animated cartoon ska-pop beginnings as they have ever been, still sees the band playing to their single greatest strength - a winning way with a tune.
Lissen, the first time I heard the new Bruce Springsteen record, I was with my mate Johnny The Zip in his big black Buick screaming down the New Jersey turnpike, headin' for a major scene in Benny's Billiards.
Reviewing this album is not the easiest of tasks. It’s an advance white label copy for a start, which means only the barest of sleeve information is made available, and given that the record witnesses Lynott once again broadening the spectrum of his lyrical concerns to include some what complex pronouncements on the State of the world, a lyric sheet would have been particularly helpful.
This is one of those albums which so dramatically varies in quality within its allotted time-span that it's impossible for the writer to deliver a succinct, conclusive positive or negative verdict, other than to say that when Simple Minds are good they're great and when they're bad they're dreary.
This is one of those albums which so dramatically varies in quality within its allotted time-span that it's impossible for the writer to deliver a succinct, conclusive positive or negative verdict, other than to say that when Simple Minds are good they're great and when they're bad they're dreary.
Here, the grammar is shaken up and stirred, the language teased and shaped, the punctuation sharpened and emphasised in bold, the print splashed in red, green and gold. This is A New Chapter Of Dub, another instalment in a genuinely tantalizing book of revelations.
This the second album from UB40 is an intoxicating pleasure, representing, along with Costello's Trust and the Undertones' Positive Touch, one of your humble correspondent's prime hit-picks of the season thus far.
H-Y-P I'm Hypnotised! I've checked the relevant source and their advice is simple: sit down, relax and cancel all other engagements. The Undertones have returned triumphant.
Don't beat that, beat this! After a modest period of hesitance, your correspondent is pleased to be able to confirm that Wha'ppen finds the Beat striking creative gold for the second time album-wise.
Wherein T.Heads go beat crazy, complete the circle back to the continent which sent out the roots of much of what has since blossomed into contemporary popular music, and, amongst other things, create an album of the highest calibre body music.
Liam Mackey's 1979
Released when the infant ’79 was still in the grip of winter, Graham Parker’s ‘Squeezing Out Sparks’ stood the test of time and defeated the heaviest competition.
