Dance the Devil

Dance The Devil was a snapshot of a band in the midst of a full-blown identity meltdown. Distrustful of the big music they’d perfected on Fitzcarraldo, The Frames went to ground and reimagined themselves as a strange, subterranean mutation of alt-rock and weird folk incarnate in the bold melodies of tracks like ‘Pavement Song’ versus the weird shapes of ‘God Bless Mum’, the title tune and the lullaby-like ‘Star Star’, while Hansard’s lyrics were troubled musings on art versus commerce and integrity versus friendship (‘Perfect Opening Line’, ‘Seven Day Mile’). But for all the band’s own reservations, long-time devotees pronounced Dance The Devil as the perfect marriage of ambition and imagination, and the closest they’d come to capturing the intensity of their live shows. “Although we made the album during a time of constant wars with ZTT, the album evokes generally positive memories for me,” Colm Mac Con Iomaire remembered in 2004. As it does for legions of others too...

No 21 in 2009, as voted for by over 200 Irish musicians. Up from No 30 in 2004.