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Young foolish happy --- Pixie Lott --- 2011 (Mercury)
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What? What? Run that by me again... Pixie Lott? Jeez, for a moment there I thought you said … wait a minute! You did! Pixie Lott! Are you insane?

Well, quite possibly, but it has yet to be proved by a court beyond a reasonable doubt, so I remain at large. Yeah, there are some albums I can't wait to review, some I'll never review, and some I think I'll never even listen to. But the odd time it's just the old male urge that pushes me to listen to something that's recorded by such a stunner. Hey, sometimes it works though usually not, but I have to admit I'm floored by this girl's looks, so am I going to dissolve into a huge lump of mush and tell you all that her album is brilliant if it's not, just cos I think she looks sexy? Oh no way! If this album is as terrible as I fear it may be, Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott is going to get a good spanking (sadly, only verbal!) from me, and no mistake.

Oh, and just for the sheer fun of it, here's a gratuitous sexy picture of her from Wiki!
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But let's give her a chance --- hello? Hel-lo? That's better. Now pay attention please, I don't write these reviews for the good of my health, you know! --- and see if she's more than just a (very) pretty face. This is her second album, and she's already been ranked alongside such luminaries (ahem!) in her field as Rihanna, Adele and … well, I don't know that many more, you understand, but she's seen as one of the bright new rising stars of pop. Does she deserve that title? Well, the album certainly sold well, but then you'd expect that with the demographic she's reaching for. But is there any substance to her music, or is it just generic pap for the teenage girlies to shake their little booties to …. er, excuse me for just a moment: did it suddenly get very hot in here?

Right, enough of this pseudo-sexual innuendo. Let's get down to basics and see if her music is as good as her looks. Is there anything underneath that young, pulsing, nubile --- STOP IT I SAID! Humph! That's better. Behave yourself: children may be reading this! Okay, one rant before I begin. Why is it that so many of these “pop” albums need armies of producers? I mean, there are fourteen tracks on this album and twenty different producers! Like,why? What's wrong with letting the one guy --- or girl --- produce the lot? And we're not even counting engineers, mixers, and so on. Well, on the bright side I see that Pixie co-writes all the tracks herself, so at least she's able to put together a song or two. Are they any good though?

Opener “Come get it now” (ooh yeah!) starts as a pretty generic dance track with a little soul infused in it, and I have never ever heard Pixie Lott up to now, so I have to say she has a nice, mature-sounding voice which from the off reminds me of Sam Brown, though nowhere near as strong (but then, who is?). The track is generally carried on synth and keys, as you would probably expect, with a certain nod to seventies disco on the keyboards, though as to who plays what I couldn't tell you as the band is not credited, be they session musos or her actual backing band. “All about tonight” was the lead single from the album, and went right to number one. It does nothing for me, an annoyingly sub-Kylie dance track with bleating keyboards and handclap drumbeats. Not impressed so far. Oh, big surprise, I hear you gasp!

At least the songs are all short, as again you would probably expect with music of this type. It's snappy, quick, to the point (if there is one), the longest track being just under four minutes. A rap courtesy of Pusha T on “What do you take me for”, another single, does not help my mood, but hey, I knew what I was (probably) getting into when I started this. Hell, it's good for dancing, but I'm a bit old to shake my little booty, and anyway, I listen to music for more than just a decent beat. Oh, how awful to be old! Nah, seriously, even when I was in my teens I never liked this type of music. I'm a rocker at heart, and I'll die a rocker, proud of that. So she gives Rihanna a run for her money (probably) on this track, her voice seeming to be cracking a little: perhaps not quite able to hit those high notes she thought she could?

Much better is “Nobody does it better”, with a very laidback seventies motown feel --- no, it suddenly changed into a jungle-type dance track with bubbling keyboards and a funky guitar line, so scratch that comment at the opening of this paragraph. I thought this was going to be a lot better, and the title belies the originality of the song. Bah. Pass. Next! More dance nonsense in “Kiss the stars”, which apparently will be the next single. Can't wait. Oh, hold on: I can! More pulsing synth and funky bass, more handclaps, more of the same, blah blah, kids these days, wouldn't know proper music etc etc...

Would you like some magazines to read while I complete the review? I certainly would. Wake me when it's over. Oh come on now, let's be fair. You said you'd give her a chance, so let's do a proper review, make an effort and at least try to approach this professionally, okay? Oh-kay? Better.

“Stevie on the radio” at least seems more like soul than pop, with a sort of Gladys Knight vibe to it, the vacuous, empty pop melodies removed to allow a decent song to shine through finally. See? I knew if you persevered … Don't get me wrong, it's not brilliant, but at least it's a move away from the generic diva-pop we've heard so far. And on this song you can hear that Pixie does have a good voice, if she just lets it have its head. Now, shut up! I said no more sexual innuendo! This song is a tribute to the great Stevie Wonder, and the legend himself pops up with a fine harmonica solo near the end of the song, so that's something to mark it out as special. Also the fact that she could be bothered paying her dues, and that she even knows who Stevie is, lifts her in my estimation.

Where do they get the names for these producers? Mr. Hudson? Captain Hook? The Invisible Men? The Matrix? Holy …. well, anyway, there's a really nice piano ballad next in “Everybody hurts sometimes”, even if the title is lifted directly from the REM hit. Some effective violin on the track too, though again I couldn't tell you who's playing it. Pixie's voice is very soulful on this track, very strong and passionate. It's just a pity she doesn't do this sort of song more. I could probably listen to tracks like this and the previous a lot more than the dancefloor rubbish that seems to make up the bulk of the album. Oh well, the kids get what the kids want, I guess. Great to be young.

Speaking of the young, no doubt they all know who Marty Jones is, but the name is unknown to me. At any rate, he guests on the next track, “Dancing on my own”, which I have to admit is not bad at all. It's a sort of semi-ballad with a nice strings arrangement via the synth, and although Pixie again indulges in that annoying habit these divas all have of routing their voices through a vocoder, so that they all end up sounding the same, her voice is strong enough to stand apart from the pack. This song is okay, really, and that's three in a row. Do I sense a seachange in this album? Dare I hope?

Well, maybe. “Love you to death” is another ballad, with some nice piano and decent percussion, but then “Birthday” brings us back to banal pop territory, with a reggae beat and lots of silly singalong “Oh-oh-oh-oh”s. Give me strength. Tinchy Strider teams up with her for “Bright lights (Good life) Part II” --- don't ask me where part I is, if it exists. It's okay, mid-paced but still yer basic pop fodder. Not breaking any new ground here, young lady! “Perfect” is exactly not that, the kind of melody you hear in a thousand clubs, with something of the tune of Cat Stevens' “Wild world” swimming around in there, somehow. I can just see scantily-clad ladies dancing in smoky clubs to this while gangstas do deals and compare bling, or whatever they do in those sort of places. Generic with a capital G.

Which leaves us with two tracks to go. Is it worth finishing? Well, there's a sweet piano intro to “You win”, then it gets a little funky with some soul, some nice strings/keyboards carrying the melody and Pixie again stretching her voice as she can do, but just doesn't do enough, at least on this album. Again, it sort of harks back to the cool disco/funk of the seventies, and the strings really help to recreate that atmosphere. Just wish there were some credits so I could tell you who it is arranging, or playing them. I mean, they can credit a score of producers, but no room for guitarist, pianist, drummer? Come on people: priorities, priorities! If there's no band to make the music to produce, what use are producers then? Credit where credit is due. Or not, as the case may be.

At any rate, we close on a rather lovely ballad, entitled “We just go on”, which I was all ready to slag off as being the way Pixie approaches her music, but hold the phone: this is really nice. Well-crafted, well-played, with a lovely turn by someone on the mandolin, soulful piano and Pixie at her most fragile and broken, yet determined and passionate. Quite touching, and a very decent closer to an album which has certainly got its moments.

Look, I'm not going to become a Pixie Lott fan, there's no doubt about that. Oh, I'll be happy to drool over pictures of her on the web, sure, but I'm not going to be rushing out to buy her albums, and it's very unlikely that I'll be spinning this again anytime soon, but for what it is, and what I expected it to be, “Young foolish happy” is not a terrible album. It's not my kind of music, but that's ok: not everything is to my taste, nor should it be. But as a second album this has its own strength, and let's face it, Miss Lott is not going to be sitting in a corner crying her eyes out over a bad review in some unknown journal out at the unfashionable end of the World Wide Web, now is she?

TRACKLISTING

1. Come get it now
2. All about tonight
3. What do you take me for
4. Nobody does it better
5. Kiss the stars
6. Stevie on the radio
7. Everybody hurts sometimes
8. Dancing on my own
9. Love you to death
10. Birthday
11. Bright lights (Good life) Part II
12. Perfect
13. You win
14. We just go on

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Master of reality --- Black Sabbath --- 1971 (Vertigo)


One of my favourite Sabs albums, along with “Vol 4” and “We sold our soul for rock and roll”, this was their third album and their most successful in the US. While both their self-titled debut and the multi-platinum “Paranoid” had done well in the US (and very well here), the latter of course spawning their biggest hit with the title track, “Master of reality” is their highest-ever placed album in the States, reaching the number 8 slot. Nothing, not in the Ozzy, Dio, Gillan (shudder!) or Gillen era has ever equalled that, which in itself should tell you a lot about the album, especially considering that the likes of “Heaven and Hell” would have been considered more accessible to the mainstream market.

“Master of reality” was also the point where an unfortunate occurrence led to a signature sound and a minor piece of music history. You probably know the story, but in case you don't, Tony Iommi had an accident which left him with part of two of his fingers missing. To compensate, he downtuned his guitar so that it would be easier for him to play, and bassist Geezer Butler did the same, resulting in the music they recorded on this album being darker, heavier, doomier, and indeed birthing a particular sound that was taken up and copied by many bands who followed.

There are only eight tracks on this album, but they're all classics. It opens with the sound of coughing, then the sound which would become the recognised Sabbath sound --- deep, heavy guitar and bass, often referred to as “sludge” --- rocks out, and Ozzy Osbourne's rather falsetto voice forms a perfect counterpoint to this soundscape, a lesson some bands who utilise “death vocals” would do well to learn from, in my extremely humble but always right opinion! “Sweet leaf” is right away controversial --- what else would you expect from Black Sabbath? --- being about marijuana: wouldn't even raise an eyebrow these days, but this was, as Homer Simpson once declared, “back in the olden days!” Great guitar solo from Tony Iommi and Bill Ward solid as ever on the drumkit. There's a very Led Zep feel about the riff on this opener, quite close to “Whole lotta love”, released two years ago. Oh, the shock of it!

For a band who were forever tainted with the label of being Satanists (well come on, you're not exactly helping by calling your band Black Sabbath now are you?), it's interesting to hear that the lyric of “After forever” is more concerned with the afterlife of Christian belief than Hell or the Devil (rumours that the Big Guy once joined the guys on stage at the Birmingham NEC have never been substantiated, though it seems likely there are a few Sabs songs on The Dark One's ipod!), a mixture of rock cruncher and fast metal, with some real attacking guitar from Iommi. I've always liked Ozzy's vocal on Sabbath songs, though my personal favourite is Dio. But you can't fault him on the early albums, and there really is no-one else who could have sung these songs.

There's a twenty-eight second instrumental then in “Embryo”, very medieval sounding, almost as if it were played on a lute or some sort of harpsichord, then we're into my standout of the album, the epic “Children of the grave”. Starting off with crushing heavy guitar it rocks along at a pace not dissimilar in speed and indeed rhythm to 10cc's much later “Rubber bullets”, so of course you have to say messrs Godley, Creme et al would have borrowed from this song rather than the other way around. A song of revolution and change, the track itself changes about halfway through into a half-blues/half rock cruncher before picking up the rhythm again and charging off into the void. Iommi's synthesiser lines, subtle though they are, add their own spooky touches to the song, especially coming into their own at the end as the track fades out.

A guitar instrumental something in the style of Steve Hackett's “Horizons” from Genesis' “Foxtrot”, Iommi does a fine job on “Orchid” of slowing everything down and mellowing out, very introspective and relaxing, then “Lord of this world” is black metal at its best, even though this term wouldn't even be coined for another ten years. Growly, doomy guitar which ventures occasionally into blues/boogie territory, but only as a tourist, never choosing to settle there, it's a song that highlights the strong and urgent vocal of Ozzy Osbourne, and as ever the technical expertise of Tony Iommi, with some fine solos. It's another song with a heavily Christian-leaning lyric: ”You turn to me/ In all your worldly greed and pride/ But will you turn to me/ When it's your turn to die?”

A showcase for the multi-talented Iommi then, “Solitude” is the only ballad (ballad? ballad?) on the album, on which the guitarist also plays flute and piano. Ozzy's vocal is much more restrained here, quieter as you would of course expect, but nice to see he can achieve that. Very pastoral, very sitting-in-a-field-playing-guitar, and very un-Sabbath, but a nice little break from all the heavy hard rock and crunching guitars and bass. The album ends as it began, hard and heavy, slow and doomy with “Into the void”, a long guitar intro leading into a song about Earth's final days as Man leaves his home behind to its fate. Of the six minutes plus the song runs for, it's almost two minutes before Ozzy comes in, then at the midpoint everything ramps up and Ward picks up the beat, before it all slides back down into the original tempo and rhythm, with a final solo from Iommi to seal the deal before the song, and the album, rocks to its ending.

“Master of reality” differed from previous Sabbath albums in having more instrumentals, lyrics that clearly tried to refute the “Satanists” tag that was handed to them, and allowing the musicans, particularly Tony Iommi, to stretch out and try new things. Although there were no singles from it, no hits, Black Sabbath were never about the charts, and were probably slightly embarrassed to be on “Top of the Pops” singing “Paranoid” while a lot of dead-eyed kids danced around and pretended to know the song. Sabbath were about making music, making metal, and making history. For me, with “Master of reality”, they achieved all three objectives.

TRACKLISTING

1. Sweet leaf
2. After forever
3. Embryo
4. Children of the grave
5. Orchid
6. Lord of this world
7. Solitude
8. Into the void

Recommended further listening: Depends on your preference really. Ozzy era I would say the debut, then "Paranoid", "Sabbath bloody Sabbath" and the compilation "We sold our soul for rock'n'roll"; Dio there are only two albums really, "Mob rules" and the superlative "Heaven and Hell", though he did return some years later. Haven't heard that album though. Ian Gillan I already lambasted on "Born again", and the others I have to admit I don't know, not having really listened to anything by the guys after that.

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Well, at least it shouldn't be hard finding an artiste beginning with P! Let's go for Prince, huh?

Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter P, with Prince, and “Kiss”.

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A legend covering another legend, eh? It happens, sometimes. Springsteen has covered Waits songs, Clapton has covered JJ Cale, and Ralph McTell has covered John Martyn. Hendrix has done Dylan, of course, on “All along the watchtower” --- and a much superior version it's generally accepted to be --- but I didn't realise until yesterday when I was watching an Irish TV drama called “Love/Hate” --- brilliant, it is --- that he also covered this one.

A classic in its own right, there is not surprisingly a world of difference between Bob Dylan's original “Like a rolling stone” and the version Hendrix put out, and the song has been covered by umpteen artistes down the years, but I think this one really stands out. Where Dylan wrote the song as a kind of almost acoustic folk protest song, or a bitter ballad (I'm not that into Dylan so don't sue me!) Hendrix makes it much slower and bluesier, rockier, powerful, mesmerising. As of course, he did any song he approached.

Here we go: see what you think of the two side by side.

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All About Eve --- All About Eve --- 1988 (Mercury)


A while back I featured their second album, “Scarlet and other stories”, in the “Nice song --- shame about the album!” slot, and it deserves it as it really is a disappointment, but All About Eve's self-titled debut is another matter altogether. It's actually the fact that it's so good for a debut that contributes to what a letdown the follow-up was. On the strength of this debut I had predicted and expected big things for All About Eve, but it seems that all their creative energy and enthusiasm was poured into their first album, and after that there was little left over for any further projects. Of course, the fact that singer and frontwoman Julianne Regan was going through a difficult breakup with guitarist in the band, Tim Bricheno, was certainly a contributing factor; the tension must have made it hard to work together, but even so it's not really an excuse. Leave the personal stuff at the studio door, love!

But back to this album. It was certainly their most successful, announcing them to the world and giving them a top hit single, but singles aside it's a great album with very few weak tracks (one, I think). It opens on “Flowers in our hair”, which from the name, and indeed that of the following track, coupled with the hippy, love-child image of Julianne which graced the album sleeve, would give you to expect a psychedelic, beatnik, hippy type song, indeed album, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Led in by heavy guitars and upbeat drums, it's in fact a “what happened to the hippy generation?” song, as Julianne wonders ”Where have the flowers gone/ Sun children?” It's a song of coming to terms with the realities of the now, realising that the sixties are gone, and that you can't be a hippy all your life, but also longing for the lost innocence of childhood, wishing to be that carefree again, as Julianne sings wistfully ”I wish we had the hearts of children/ Their eyes are wide and their love is pure/ We only dare to say 'Please love me'/ At the seventh glass of wine.”

It's a fast, rocky, uptempo opener, and things only slow a little for the semi-psychedilic “Gypsy dance”, with nice lively violin from Ric Sanders, giving the song indeed a gypsy feel, a sort of tarantella at times, with handclaps and a very campfire atmosphere. “In the clouds” keeps in the same general tempo area, some very haunting guitar from Tim Bricheno which gives the idea this may be a ballad, but it soon disproves that theory, breaking into a mid-paced rocker, with Julianne's crystal voice rising above everything, as if she is indeed in the clouds, then the big hit single is “Martha's harbour”, a quiet, gentle, acoustic guitar ballad which really serves to showcase Julianne's passionate and yearning voice. As you listen to her, you really wish you could go away with her: ”You are an ocean wave, my love/ Crashing at the bow/ I am a galley slave, my love/ If only I could find out the way to sail you.” It's a beautiful song, but being the hit it was you more than likely know it already, so let's move on to the next track.

“Every angel” is a fast, uptempo rocker, with busy guitars and a good hook, Julianne in more raunchy mode this time round, the song kind of back to the style of the opener with heavy drums and echoey guitar. Parts of the song are so similar to the first track though that you could almost sing the lyric of “Flowers in our hair” --- or at least, the chorus --- to its melody. It all leads up to the standout on the album, an epic, moody ballad, which goes through some changes over the course of its almost five and a half minutes. Opening with low synth and piano, the guitar comes quietly in, with more solid keyboard as the drums roll in, and Julianne singing at her passionate best on “Shelter from the rain”. It conjures up images of love lost, comfort found, dark winter days and warm winter nights as the atmospheric synthesiser lays down the soundscape for Julianne's gentle voice. Some Gilmour-like guitar riffs from Bricheno, but the song is mostly carried on the ethereal sound of Julianne's voice and the deep, sonorous keyboards which I think are also played by her, all floating along on a beautiful strings arrangement. Wayne Hussey from the Mission adds his distinctive vocal to Julianne's, and the song is a true masterpiece, perhaps the best I've heard from All About Eve, although I admit I've only listened to two of their albums.

What could top that? Well, not much, but then they launch into a truly haunting, almost acapella version of the traditional song “She moves through the fair”, and do an absolutely stunning job on it. For most of the time, Julianne is backed only by low strings, with much later some sparse drumming coming in, and finally Ric Sanders is back to add the finishing touch with his wailing violin. Absolutely mesmerising. Even moreso when you consider that everything, bar the violin, is played by Julianne. Following this with “Wild hearted woman” is a little pointless, but then, in fairness, very little if anything could truly follow such a brace of standouts, and the song is a decent, mid-paced rocker with some nice jangly guitar matched with some swirling keys, leading into what I definitely consider the weak link in the chain.

“Never promise anyone forever” just doesn't cut it, in my opinion, compared to the rest of the album. It's sparse, stark with a cold, wintry sort of feel that somehow doesn't gell with the other tracks on this debut. It's the only track on which the strings arrangement just feels, well, wrong. Julianne's piano is nice and calming, but there's just something missing on this song, I can't quite put my finger on it. It's followed by, luckily, another strong track, “What kind of fool”, which was also a single. With dramatic piano line leading the song in, Julianne's vocal is gentle but powerful, clear as a summer day. The strings here fit the mood of the song exactly, with choral vocals and bells adding to the melody as Julianne asks plaintively ”What kind of fool/ Lays all that's precious to waste?/ What kind of fool/ Leaves all they treasure to rust in the rain?” Then she sadly shakes her head: ”Fools like us.”

And as it began, the album ends strongly, as “In the meadow”, the longest track opens on strong guitar lines, taking something of a progressive rock approach as it leads in but getting heavy as it goes on, ending with a very powerful and frenetic guitar solo from Tim Bricheno as the song fades out. One of the very few tracks on the album not to utilise strings, it's guitar and keyboard with percussion, much more of a rock feeling than the previous few tracks, with a hard edge that ends the album really well.

I know All About Eve went on to release further albums and that they were moderately successful, but I think they'll always be known for the hit “Martha's Harbour”, which is sad in a way, because although that's a great song, there are better, and different, songs on this album that really should have had more radio airplay and been exposed to a wider audience. As it stands, this album, for me, showcases an emerging talent that sadly failed to live up to the promise of their debut.

TRACKLISTING

1. Flowers in our hair
2. Gypsy dance
3. In the clouds
4. Every angel
5. Martha's Harbour
6. Shelter from the rain
7. She moves through the fair
8. Wild hearted woman
9. Never promise anyone forever
10. What kind of fool
11. In the meadow

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Ooh, what a Quandary to be in! The worm does not Quite know what to do! What band to feature, that is the Question facing the worm on this Quiet Wednesday morning. Oh, Quell my Quaking Queries…. okay, enough Q words! There is, not surprisingly, an extremely small choice when you're looking for bands whose name begins with Q, but in typical heroic form, the worm has decided not to take the easy way out and go with Queen. Instead, here are the Quireboys. There! Didn't expect that, did ya?

Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter Q, triumphantlly featuring the Quireboys with “I don't love you anymore”.

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As reported recently by the NewsFoxes, I intend to make 2012 the year I do my best to highlight some of the newer, less well known acts emerging over here in Ireland. Most of the picks I'm featuring have to be credited to our national music rag, “Hot Press”, who featured a section on new Irish artistes due to make their mark this year --- some of whom have already gone a way towards breaking commercially, some of whom are only starting out and beginning to build their fanbase.

With such a varied crop and such, in some cases, embryonic talent, albums, even singles, are unlikely to be that easy to come by, so we'll instead be featuring whatever we can find on the Tube of Yous, and letting you hear for yourself what kind of possible new music stars are coming out of the Emerald Isle. We'll also be pointing you towards any released material they have that you can listen to/download/purchase.

Shaefri

We start off with a young lady from Mayo, though she's lived her early life in London, who goes by the name of Shaefri. Only eighteen years old, she's got one hell of a voice AND she can play piano, as you will see from the clips below. One to watch, certainly, and if you like what you hear her EP “Venture” is available from her Facebook page at Shaefri | Facebook. By the way, the below are all performances (well, one performance split into three parts) from a session she cut for national Irish radio station RTE 1. Being a radio interview, there is some of the usual waffle, as well as the performances, but as it fills in her background it's generally worth listening to.


Daithi O Dronai

Electronic fiddle playing? You'd better believe it! Discovered on the cringeworthy “All-Ireland Talent Show” (our pathetic attempt to emulate the equally pathetic “Britain's Got Talent”), Daithi O Dronai stands out from the crowd with innovative, interesting and challenging music. Don't ask me if he won (though he probably should have), as I never watched the show, but just have a listen to him here and see if you agree this guy surely has a bright future ahead of him. They'll probably make him change his name though --- can you imagine him on “Top of the Pops” --- it's pronounced “daw-hee”, guys! His EP “Embrace” can be listened to at Daithí


Little Xs For Eyes

Can't tell you a huge amount about these guys, other than that they're a band whose music just makes you feel all relaxed and happy. Cutepop? You'd better believe it! Album available at little xs for eyes




Runaway GO

Belfast pop group Runaway GO are being tipped as the big breakaway success waiting in the wings. With their music already featured in films and videogames, and a prestigious award already theirs, everyone's eagerly awaiting their debut album. These are just a few examples of what to expect when that happens...


Little Green Cars

An Irish Mumford and Sons? Well, this teenage folk sensation have been signed by the label that brought us both they and fellow Irish act, Two Door Cinema Club, so don't laugh just yet. Having played the live circuit for about three years now, it seems the small verdant automobiles are about to receive reward for all their hard work. All of which can, incidentally, be found on their Soundcloud page, htt://www.soundcloud.com/littlegreencars-1



And finally, for this first section of “The Very Best of Irish: the next generation”, just how much music do you think two guys can make on their own?

We Cut Corners

Another band who have been around for about three years, We Cut Corners is, as mentioned, comprised of two guys, John Duignan on guitars and vocals and Conall O'Breachain on drums and vocals. And THIS is what they're capable of...



So there you go. Whatever anyone tells you about Ireland, the economic recession, the property crash, our incompetent government, scandals everywhere, or that we're going to be crushed at Euro 2012, one sector is alive and kicking and very proud here in my native land, and that is the music scene. Next time I'll be looking at some more up-and-coming Irish acts, and some who have just made it, or are on the cusp.

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