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Top 10 Irish Albums of 2023
Top 10s, CD Collection, Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott Top 10s, CD Collection, Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott

Top 10 Irish Albums of 2023

It’s been another incredible year for Irish music. Lankum have rightly topped a load of year-end lists with False Lankum. They get my top spot for Irish album of the year. Lisa O’Neill and John Francis Flynn, two other artists currently receiving a lot of justified attention, also make my Top 10. The other seven albums on this list are all worthy of your attention. Songs from all ten of these albums were featured on Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM throughout 2023 and Episode 940 (06 December 2023) features 12 of my favourite songs from these 10 albums.

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Dark Star - Twenty Twenty Sound (Harvest, 1999) 
Vinyl Collection, CD Collection Paul McDermott Vinyl Collection, CD Collection Paul McDermott

Dark Star - Twenty Twenty Sound (Harvest, 1999) 

My recent post about Hip-Pocket Records and my 4” Flexi-disc of ‘The Letter’ by The Box Tops got me thinking about other unusual records in my collection. Dark Star released a 5” clear vinyl version of their tune ‘Graceadelica’ in 1999. Dark Star were formed by Christian Hayes, David Francolini and Laurence O'Keefe after their previous band Levitation had disbanded. Terry Bickers had formed Levitation with the lads after leaving The House of Love.

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The Box Tops – The Letter
Vinyl Collection, Ephemera Paul McDermott Vinyl Collection, Ephemera Paul McDermott

The Box Tops – The Letter

‘The Letter’ by The Box Tops is one of my all-time favourite songs. It’s 1 minute and 53 seconds of greatness and still sounds absolutely amazing. I never tire of this track no matter how often I play it. My own copy of this 7'' is a 1974 French pressing of ‘The Letter’. But it’s not my only copy of the single.

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American Spring
Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott Vinyl Collection Paul McDermott

American Spring

I was recently a guest on Keeping Track, Dave Hackett’s UCC98.3FM radio show. Dave asked me to pick seven songs to play on the show. It was really hard to pick the songs but I knew that ‘Fallin’ in Love’ by Spring was going to be my first choice.

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