by philipchevron Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:08 pm
Michael Mary Murphy, Village (Irish current affairs magzine) Feb/Mar 2013
Album of the Year: Worldwide
Radiators from Space: Sound City Beat
The most incredible thing about the Radiators is the palpable respect between members of the band. I interviewed three Radiators (separately) recently. The reverence, honesty and sheer joy they evidently find in each other was unmatched in my experience. This camaraderie may explain why they chose to honour the forgotten warriors of original music in Southern Ireland. These were the toilers in obscurity working away from the Tan-tastic glare of the showband uniforms. It was a chaotic sub-culture daring to bring colour and the slang-language of rock and roll into the hair-shirted Republic.
Three names stand out in accounts of the early days of rock in the Republic – Horslips, Thin Lizzy and Rory Gallagher. Yet the environment that sustained their early careers was created and maintained by artists no less talented yet often unheralded. To my shame, many of the acts on this homage, respectful yet never constrained by reverence, were new to my ears.
Eamon Carr’s perfectly nuanced reading of Phil Lynott’s piece of composition ‘Dublin’ provides a fitting context for the album. Carr and Lynott’s mastery of both rock and traditional music and the combination thereof proved pivotal in the development of Irish rock. They both understood the power of the avant garde too. So too did, Ted Carroll whose pioneering work deepened the fruitful underground railroad linking Ireland with international advances. This album is another testament to how he shaped Irish rock. The Radiators deliver the goods on Rory Gallagher’s Taste song ‘It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again’ and Van Morrison’s Them tune ‘Gloria.’ The latter version stands out as a particular highlight on the album. Embodying the wildness of the era in the face of conservatism, Ian Whitcomb and Bluesville’s ‘You Turn Me On’ allows Irish rock to take a deserved bow, ukulele and all.
The Radiators have the ability to place these acts in context. They rescue them from obscurity. This is not just a fantastic collection of songs; it is an incredibly important piece of social history. Anyone wondering how Ireland arrived - after a long and arduous detour - to modernity needs to listen to this. It is hard to think of any Irish band who would construct such a testimony to their forgotten predecessors. It is impossible to think of any Irish band who could do it better.
Liberty can be equated with the fraternity of artists and citizens enjoying freedom of expression. The Radiators have always been revolutionaries pushing against pillars; picking the locks on fire-escapes. On this album they release the shackles of creative souls denied the opportunities they deserved. They bring a torch to dusty cellars and dark, damp rehearsal rooms and uncover gold and musicians who never ceded their sovereignty.
Ireland has produced few better documents of the road to freedom. It has never produced one as rewarding to listen to.
Michael Mary Murphy, [i]Village[/i] (Irish current affairs magzine) Feb/Mar 2013
Album of the Year: Worldwide
Radiators from Space: Sound City Beat
The most incredible thing about the Radiators is the palpable respect between members of the band. I interviewed three Radiators (separately) recently. The reverence, honesty and sheer joy they evidently find in each other was unmatched in my experience. This camaraderie may explain why they chose to honour the forgotten warriors of original music in Southern Ireland. These were the toilers in obscurity working away from the Tan-tastic glare of the showband uniforms. It was a chaotic sub-culture daring to bring colour and the slang-language of rock and roll into the hair-shirted Republic.
Three names stand out in accounts of the early days of rock in the Republic – Horslips, Thin Lizzy and Rory Gallagher. Yet the environment that sustained their early careers was created and maintained by artists no less talented yet often unheralded. To my shame, many of the acts on this homage, respectful yet never constrained by reverence, were new to my ears.
Eamon Carr’s perfectly nuanced reading of Phil Lynott’s piece of composition ‘Dublin’ provides a fitting context for the album. Carr and Lynott’s mastery of both rock and traditional music and the combination thereof proved pivotal in the development of Irish rock. They both understood the power of the avant garde too. So too did, Ted Carroll whose pioneering work deepened the fruitful underground railroad linking Ireland with international advances. This album is another testament to how he shaped Irish rock. The Radiators deliver the goods on Rory Gallagher’s Taste song ‘It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again’ and Van Morrison’s Them tune ‘Gloria.’ The latter version stands out as a particular highlight on the album. Embodying the wildness of the era in the face of conservatism, Ian Whitcomb and Bluesville’s ‘You Turn Me On’ allows Irish rock to take a deserved bow, ukulele and all.
The Radiators have the ability to place these acts in context. They rescue them from obscurity. This is not just a fantastic collection of songs; it is an incredibly important piece of social history. Anyone wondering how Ireland arrived - after a long and arduous detour - to modernity needs to listen to this. It is hard to think of any Irish band who would construct such a testimony to their forgotten predecessors. It is impossible to think of any Irish band who could do it better.
Liberty can be equated with the fraternity of artists and citizens enjoying freedom of expression. The Radiators have always been revolutionaries pushing against pillars; picking the locks on fire-escapes. On this album they release the shackles of creative souls denied the opportunities they deserved. They bring a torch to dusty cellars and dark, damp rehearsal rooms and uncover gold and musicians who never ceded their sovereignty.
Ireland has produced few better documents of the road to freedom. It has never produced one as rewarding to listen to.
