The Sentimental Tourists
A few words on The Sentimental Tourists taking in: Dave Long, Paul Page, Into Paradise and Whipping Boy.
The Sentimental Tourists EP. Photograph by Paul Page.
The email from Dave Long was short, direct and to the point: “Just sending you an EP by The Sentimental Tourists. It’s a collaboration between Paul Page and myself, it was mixed and remastered by the great Jimmy Eadie.”
I was excited.
Long was the singer and guitarist with Into Paradise and Page was the guitarist with Whipping Boy. Jimmy Eadie played guitar in Into Paradise.
Two of my favourite Irish bands.
Churchtown (1991) and Heartworm (1995) are two of my favourite albums.
On Bandcamp the duo describe The Sentimental Tourists as: “low-fi, DIY adventures from the Underground class of 89.”
That’s a perfect description of this EP, and it’s a lovely nod to the Underground pub on Dame Street where both Into Paradise and Whipping Boy played formative gigs in the late 80s.
It’s a great 4-track EP. In recent years Long has released three albums with his old friend Blue in Heaven’s Shane O’Neill but these songs mark Page’s first recordings in almost a quarter of a century. It’s wonderful to hear his guitar-playing again.
It’s hard to pick a favourite but if I had to it’s ‘Happy Beatle’. Long’s mournful refrain of “sooner or later, you’ll find your way back to me” smothered in Page’s gorgeous guitar. It’s beautiful.
The Sentimental Tourists EP is available on Bandcamp.
For further listening…
Whipping Boy’s Heartworm and Into Paradise’s Churchtown have both featured on episodes of To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited:
by Into Paradise
For further reading…
Whipping Boy’s Heartworm and Into Paradise’s Churchtown have both featured in my To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited column for The Goo:
by Paul McDermott
The Goo - Issue 22 (April 2024)
by Paul McDermott
The Goo - Issue 09 (Feb-Mar 2023)