A Sonic Holiday
(40/100 Greatest Irish Albums)

Fearghal McKee of Whipping Boy got it all wrong about Engine Alley. He criticised Canice Kenealy — credited as “mouth” on the sleeve of A Sonic Holiday — for speaking in public, saying that if you are going to let on you’re Bowie, you shouldn’t go on Beatbox and give out tour dates in a thick Kilkenny accent. All wrong— because Engine Alley at their peak were not Bowie but T Rex, one of the few Irish bands capable of being playful for its own sake, or using phrases purely because they sounded cool. Hence the acid escapade of ‘Mrs Winder’, the soaring chorus of ‘The Flowers’ – “But hey! You! You with the face that reminds me of space! You look so dangerous I hope it’s contagious!” – and the nods to Nic Roeg and Kenneth Williams in ‘Insignificance’ and ‘Infamy’. With the Steve Lillywhite produced A Sonic Holiday, Engine Alley brought art, glam and— most precious of all— ambition back into Irish pop.