| Contents |
1. From beat music to progressive rock. The showbands ; The beat groups ; Ian Whitcomb and Bluesville ; The Chosen Few ; The Action ; The club scene ; Major Irish beat groups to 1967 ; The beat scene: a look back ; Henry McCullough, Eire Apparent and Jimi Hendrix ; Granny's Intentions ; The Sgt. Pepper era ; Rory Gallagher and the blues guitar ; Taste ; The Rory Gallagher Band ; Skid Row ; Progressive rock ; Brush Shiels ; Philip Lynott ; Thin Lizzy ; Shades of a Blue Orphanage ; The turn of the decade ; The early seventies ; Remembering Nirvana -- 2. Folk into rock. Folk music ; Bob Dylan ; Sweeney's Men ; Steeleye Span ; Hark the Village Wait ; The Woodsband ; The Incredible String Band and Dr Strangely Strange ; Kip of the Serenes ; Tír na nÓg ; Sonny Condell and Scullion ; Horslips ; The Táin ; Clannad ; Transitions from traditional music to rock ; Paul Brady ; Planxty ; Christy Moore ; Moving hearts ; The contemporary scene ; Enya Ní Bhraonáin ; Mary Black ; Mary Coughlan ; Barry Moore ; Maura O'Connell ; Tríona and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill ; The Pogues ; Freddie White -- 3. Van Morrison. Youth ; The Monarchs showband ; Them ; From the Maritime Hotel to the America of The Doors and Love ; Them songs 1964-66 ; Morrison records with Bert Berns ; Warner Brothers ; Astral Weeks ; Moondance ; Van Morrison ; His Band and the Street Choir ; Tupelo Honey ; Marin County and Caledonia ; St Dominic's preview ; Hard Nose the Highway ; The Caledonia Soul Orchestra and It's Too Late to Stop Now ; Ireland ; Veedon Fleece ; Jazz: the true essence of Morrison ; Montreux Jazz Festival ; The Last Waltz ; A period of transition ; Wavelength ; Into the Music ; Common One ; Beautiful Vision ; Inarticulate Speech of the Heart ; With Bob Dylan at Slane ; A Sense of Wonder ; No Guru, No Method, No Teacher ; Poetic Champions Compose -- 4. Modern music. From progressive rock onwards ; Jimi Slevin ; Pub rock ; Bees Make Money ; The Boomtown Rats ; Punk realism ; The Radiators from Space ; Punk in the UK and USA ; Northern Ireland: The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers ; The South: Dark Space, The Blades ; Essential groups, essential recordings ; U2: a history of the group from Trinity College days to worldwide superstars in 1980s ; Analyses of records including Boy, October, War ; The making of The Unforgettable Fire ; The Joshua Tree ; The avant-garde ; The Virgin Prunes ; Roger Doyle ; Stano ; Nigel Rolfe ; Postscript: an A-Z of some important performers: Auto da Fé, Big Self, Blue in Heaven, Cactus World News, Paul Cleary, Chris de Burgh, Johnny Duhan, Fastway, Na Fíréin, The Fountainhead, Haa Lacka Binttii, Hotwire, In Tua Nua, Jolyon Jackson, The Mama's Boys, Metropolis, Microdisney, Gary Moore, Sinéad O'Connor, Michael O'Shea, The Rhythm Kings, Barry Ronan, Ruefrex, Feargal Sharkey, The Stars of Heaven, That Petrol Emotion, Pierce Turner, Andy White -- Coda. Band Aid ; Live Aid ; In remembrance of Philip Lynott ; Self Aid ; Not the End but the Beginning -- Appendixes. 1. Historic Irish singles chart: July 1967 ; 2. Relevant Irish singles entering the Irish charts 1962 to 1979 ; 3. Relevant Irish singles entering the British charts 1964 to 1989 ; 4. Relevant Irish albums entering the British charts 1970 to 1989. |
| Abstract |
Beginning with the early days of the traveling showbands, carrying through to the sonic blasts that now bust down the basement doors of Dublin, this book examines the roots, personalities, and the directions of rock in Erin, featuring the great and small who have contributed to the Celtic beat heard from across the Atlantic. Including U2 (Indisputably Ireland's most popular rock band, if not the most popular Irish band of all time. U2 spent most of the 1980s conquering the world and returned home as national heroes); Van Morrison (an artist held in the same esteem as Bob Dylan and John Lennon, Van Morrison continues to influence generation after generation of songwriters); Sinead O'Connor (a vital new force in the world of pop music, O'Connor's first major release, "United States," reached gold status in North America); Bob Geldof (the former singer and songwriter of The Boomtown Rats, Geldof went on to be knighted for his work as the organizer of the "Live Aid" program for relief to famine-stricken areas of Africa); The Pogues (this roguish clan of pub dwellers have made a name for themselves here and abroad with their eclectic mix of traditional Celtic songs powered by the overdrive of punk rock). Hundreds of others are discussed, including: The Waterboys, The Chieftains, Christy Moore, Hothouse Flowers, Thin Lizzy, The Undertones, Clannad, Steeleye Span, That Petrol Emotion, Cactus World News, Horslips, Stiff Little Fingers. |
