Dance The Devil
(30/100 Greatest Irish Albums)

By the time The Frames got around to recording their second album for ZZT, they were in the midst of a full-blown identity meltdown. Distrustful of the big music they’d perfected on stage in the run-up to Fitzcarraldo, they went to ground and reimagined themselves as a strange, subterranean, ten-legged mutation. The resulting album was judged by the band to be a compromise between themselves and the label – the bold melodies of songs like ‘Pavement Song’ versus the weird alt-everything shapes of ‘God Bless Mum’, the title tune and the lullaby-like ‘Star Star’. The lyrics reflected this, being troubled musings on art versus commerce, integrity versus friendship (‘Perfect Opening Line’, ‘Seven Day Mile’). Nevertheless, 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. For many it remains The Frames’ finest studio hour.