All highly recommended.
There are certain albums that almost every music lover owns or has heard at some point in their life.
Michael Jackson – Thriller, Radiohead – Ok Computer and Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run should all have a place in your music collection – beside B*witched ‘Awake and Breathe’ of course – but what about those hidden gems that didn’t quite set the world alight upon their release?
2fm/2xm DJ, Dan Hegarty is a proper music champion and he’s compiled some of the overlooked, forgotten and uncrowned albums in his excellent new book ‘Buried Treasure’.
It’s such a good idea we decided to have a go ourselves with each JOE writer asked to chose the one ‘hidden gem’ that they still feel should find a place in your collection. Have a read and let us know what your own album of choice is.
Paul Moore – The Subways ‘Young For Eternity’
Some albums seem to enter your life at the perfect time and The Subways debut, while not possessing the most life changing lyrics, is one of those records that just synced with me on lots of levels.
The album is a wonderful mix of riotous riffs, kinetic energy and teenage romance that always brings me back to a very definitive period in my life.
‘Young For Eternity’ was lost among the ‘bigger’ releases of the time from the likes of Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party but I’d argue that it has more heart and honesty then some of the above.
Like 1977 by Ash, it’s a portrait of what it feels like to be young, broke but in love.
Singer Billy Lunn and guitarist Charlotte Cooper were dating at the time and this adds a wonderful dynamic on certain songs that perfectly chronicle the highs and lows of teenage romance.
The opening track ‘I Wanna Hear What You Have Got to Say’ is a pop-rock tour de force that captures all those romantic frustrations as heard in the razor sharp back-and-forth between the couple.
I’ll argue that the standout tracks – ‘Rock ‘n Roll Queen’ and ‘Oh Yeah’ – are good enough to hold their own against any of the major indie anthems of the time.
The album works because every teenager should be able to identify with some of the tunes on here. Certain tracks define that ‘piss and vinegar’ attitude of teenage life – Young For Eternity, Holiday and Mary spring to mind – while No Goodbyes and She Sun revel in their hopeless devotion to that girl.
The album wears its heart on its sleeve and while it only received an average score of 70% from the internet, it’s 100% honest and committed.
You can’t ask for any more than that.
Paddy McKenna – Turn ‘Antisocial’
My copy of Antisocial is signed by the entire band. ‘Rock ‘n’ roll motherfucker, love Ollie xx’. Honestly, the lyrical content of the songs is a step up from Ollie Cole’s autographing penmanship.
The first time I listened to it I was sat on the floor of manky flat at the top of Bothar Mór in Galway with one of my best mates. The previous night our band had supported them in Cuba nightclub on Eyre’s Square and we were pretty sure we had upstaged them. (We absolutely had not.) With our jaundiced ears and our typical, Irish, teenage cynicism, we decided that the record we had procured with our hard-earned student wonga was shiiiiiiite. We listened through every song twice just to be sure.
A week later, we were still listening and had now reached the conclusion that it was quite decent.
And it is. In fact, it’s an absolute gem of an album full of brilliant melodies and deft guitar playing that has survived the test of time – it was released in 2000. My favourite track is ‘Words’ which features some gorgeous backing vocals from Fiona Melady, the sister of drummer, Ian Melady. That track is so buried that I couldn’t find it anywhere to link it on the Interweb. Instead, wrap your lugs around the title track, Antisocial:
Turn released two more decent albums and two better EPs, but nothing quite matches the magic of their debut. They disbanded in the late 00s but they’ve dusted off the songs for an odd reunion gig here and there since.
When myself and my mates talk about Turn now, we just say ‘How?”, “How did those songs not make the grade?”
But that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, mofo.
Tony Cuddihy – Gene ‘Olympian’
Remember that scene in Home Alone, when John Candy tries to explain the Mid-Western success of his band the Kenosha Kickers to a bemused Catherine O’Hara?
Well, that was me in the office recently when I tried to bring the glory of Gene to the JOE desk.
“What do you mean you’ve never heard London, Can You Wait? How can you not know Sleep Well Tonight? Truth, Rest Your Head is the best song The Smiths never wrote, for the love of…” And other such slogans.
They may have worn their Morrissey/Style Council/Small Faces influences less than lightly but Olympian contains one brilliant Britpop anthem after another. The standout is the title track, arguably as powerful an anthem as The Universal or Live Forever.
Cracker of an album.
Cian Murray – Marc O’Reilly ‘Human Herdings’
The story behind my affection for this album goes all the way back to 2009, five years before it was even released.
I was at a dark, dingy open mic in Galway, which I used to go to weekly. A mate and I were waiting to go on and play a cover version (it was The Bends by Radiohead… it was ALWAYS the Bends by Radiohead).
Then O’Reilly took the stage and played three original songs. Neither myself, nor any of the other regulars recognised him, but his immense musical talent was there for everyone to see.
He looked like a rock star and sounded like a Rolling Stones and Nick Drake collaboration.
The night went on, we played our usual song and everyone went home . We never saw him at the open mic again and gradually, I forgot about him.
Five years later, I’m living in Dublin and walking home when I notice his name in the window of Whelans for a gig that night. After realising where I saw that name before, I decided to go along and I wasnt disappointed.
I bought this album after the gig and I was astounded at just how good it was. From the atmospheric opener, ‘Same Side’, to the more rock-infused ‘You Never’, to the album’s stand-out track, ‘Bleed’, he really has proven himself as a mind-blowingly good musician and songwriter.
Conor Heneghan – David Kitt ‘The Big Romance’
I don’t know what cool teenagers are doing to prepare for the Leaving Cert right now, but back at this time of year in 2003, my last-gasp attempts to study were accompanied by the sounds of David Kitt.
Kitt was a pretty big name in Irish music circles back then but if it wasn’t for the fact that he emerged in something of a golden era for Irish singer songwriters, he could have arguably made an even bigger impression.
I stumbled onto Kitt after hearing my older brother listening to his debut album, Small Moments, and it grabbed me enough to convince me to get a hold of the follow-up when it was released a year later.
‘You Know What I Want to Know’ was The Big Romance’s stand out track, but the album’s upbeat opener, Song From Hope St. (Brooklyn, NY) was a personal favourite of mine, along with ‘Step Outside in the Morning Light,’ which also featured on Small Moments.
I always felt that Kitt offered something different to many of his peers at the time and a highlight of my first year in NUI Galway was seeing him perform an intimate gig in a lecture hall alongside Richie Egan, now known to everyone in Irish music circles as Jape.
Listening back to it now, ‘The Big Romance’ has aged pretty well; if I had one message for the Leaving Cert class of 2015, it would be to put away that modern pop shite and give this a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyCMoQFQCww
Joe Harrington – Noah and the Whale ‘First Days of Spring’
You’re probably reading this and thinking “Noah and the Whale, those lads who sang the annoyingly-catchy ‘5 Years Time’ and ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” and now you’re jumping to the conclusion that I have terrible taste in music.
Give me a second to win you back over, Noah and the Whale’s second album is completely unrecognisable from those indie-pop hits and I wish more people knew about it.
It’s called First Days of Spring and it’s a break-up album that I think is up there with any break-up album ever released.
The back story is that NATW’s lead singer Charlie Fink used to date Laura Marling, she broke up with him to hook up with Marcus Mumford, Charlie wrote First Days of Spring about his heartache. Sorry for getting all Daily Mail there, but it gives you some context.
The album is the story and it’s told with emotional lyrics that range from “I’m still here hoping one day you will come back” to “Blue skies are coming but I know that it’s hard.”
Then there’s the music, the music is epic. It’s orchestral in places where it soars to the highest highs and then it’s delicate and low key when it needs to be. There’s sections of the album where a fiddle section alone give me goosebumps.
I’m listening to First Days of Spring and Blue Skies as I write this and they are still as amazing as when I first heard them in 2009.
It’s a hidden treasure, a buried treasure, call it what you like, it’s an amazing album that you should hear at least once.
This feature was inspired by a wonderful book entitled Buried Treasure : Overlooked, Forgotten and Uncrowned Albums by the talented 2fm and 2xm DJ Dan Hegarty.
If you haven’t picked up a copy yet then we recommend that you do so, it’s a cracking read for all lovers of music.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
