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Top 10 Live Albums
Vinyl Collection, CD Collection, Top 10s, Ephemera, Archive Interviews Paul McDermott Vinyl Collection, CD Collection, Top 10s, Ephemera, Archive Interviews Paul McDermott

Top 10 Live Albums

A Top 10 of live albums prompted by the realisation that I bought Rank by The Smiths 37 years ago this week. Taking in: the reasons why live albums are released, The Fall supporting Talk Talk in 1986, Galaxie 500 and Luna, the 5-piece Smiths, Van Morrison, bootleg live albums, John Cale in Vicar Street, Manu Chao in the Ambassador, 16 Horsepower in Whelan’s and a whole lot more.

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The Fall at Sir Henry’s
Archive Interviews, Ephemera, CD Collection, Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott Archive Interviews, Ephemera, CD Collection, Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott

The Fall at Sir Henry’s

A few words on The Fall taking in: The Fall at the Arcadia in 1980, The Fall at Sir Henry’s in 1997. Mark E. Smith, Dave Simpson’s The Fallen, Freakscene and Gigantic at Sir Henry’s, The Beatles, Freakscene flyers, Uaneen Fitzsimons and No Disco, The Fall at The Pavilion in 2012, and Rob Anthony’s Number One Fan comic strip.

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Peel Sessions
CD Collection, Vinyl Collection, Archive Interviews, Ephemera, Tapes Paul McDermott CD Collection, Vinyl Collection, Archive Interviews, Ephemera, Tapes Paul McDermott

Peel Sessions

On the 20th anniversary of Peel’s passing, a few words on John Peel Sessions taking in: Irish bands recording Peel Sessions, Irish Trad and Folk, Punk and beyond, Strange Fruit Records, The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, New Order, Joy Division, Microdisney, Jubilee Allstars, Billy Bragg, Stump, The Would Be’s, Finbar & Eddie Furey, LMNO Pelican, Na Filí, The Fall, Five Go Down to the Sea? and more.

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Top 10 Irish Songs*
Top 10s, Vinyl Collection, Archive Interviews Paul McDermott Top 10s, Vinyl Collection, Archive Interviews Paul McDermott

Top 10 Irish Songs*

Top 10 Irish songs taking in: “best of” lists, subjectivity, lost 80s classics, cover versions, The Royal Showband, an orange and cream 1970s Fidelity turntable and keeping music evil. Last week the Irish Independent published a “best of” list titled “The best Irish songs of all time”. Their list was subtitled “ranked: the definitive top 50”. Let’s agree on one thing straight away, “best of” lists are ridiculous, they’re also simultaneously highly entertaining and incredibly frustrating.

*Today

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Colin Blunstone and The Zombies
Archive Interviews, Ephemera, CD Collection, Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott Archive Interviews, Ephemera, CD Collection, Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott

Colin Blunstone and The Zombies

Colin Blunstone: “The Zombies were a school band really.” An archive interview with Colin Blunstone taking in: The Zombies; recording Odessey and Oracle in Abbey Road; 40th Anniversary celebrations of the album; recording his first solo singles in 1969 under the name Neil MacArthur; his first three solo albums (One Year, Ennismore and Journey); working on 1972’s ‘I Don't Believe in Miracles’ with arranger Christopher Gunning; good song-writing; taking care of his voice; the rights to The Zombies’ recordings and much more.

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Rollerskate Skinny – Interview
Archive Interviews, Ephemera Paul McDermott Archive Interviews, Ephemera Paul McDermott

Rollerskate Skinny – Interview

“We don’t need luck, we need hits” - Ken Griffin. Another archive interview. This one is with Rollerskate Skinny’s Ken Griffin and it was broadcast on Cork Campus Radio back in late 1996. Ken chats about the critical response to Horsedrawn Wishes and the band’s plans for a third album. In the interview Ken is quite frustrated by the business side of the industry and particularly the lack of promotion by Warner Bros. for the album.

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Damien Jurado – Interview
Archive Interviews Paul McDermott Archive Interviews Paul McDermott

Damien Jurado – Interview

Back in 2005 Damien Jurado played Whelan’s in Dublin in support of his sixth album, On My Way To Absence. He was a really gracious interviewee and happily chatted about how he got into music: “I stole my first bass at 13 from school and taught myself how to play an entire Black Flag record, that’s pretty much how it all started, I then started writing my own songs.”

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Sufjan Stevens – Interview
Archive Interviews Paul McDermott Archive Interviews Paul McDermott

Sufjan Stevens – Interview

From the Archives: I interviewed Sufjan on 27 October, 2004 prior to his gig at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College, Dublin. Seven Swans was just out and in this old interview for Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM. Sufjan chats about recording the album with Daniel Smith of The Danielson Famile. Sufjan had moved to New York to complete a creative writing class but met Daniel and started focusing more on his music.

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