Favourite Irish albums of the CLUAS writers
Donal Griffin's top 5 Irish albums of all time...
Act:
Rory
Gallagher
Album: 'Live In Europe' (1972)
From the first riff of the album introducing Messin' With The Kid to the
final stomp of Bullfrog Blues, Gallagher plays the blues like a man possessed
and this album is probably the main reason why the man is held in such high
regard today. Backed by a savage rhythm section and with a mix of his own
material and some ancient covers, Gallagher brings the crowd up and down and up
again. I Could've Had Religion slows things for almost ten minutes with its
familiar blues theme ? my woman ruined my life ? and the acoustic Pistol Slapper
Blues shows that while Rory could rock out to no end, the sheer skill he could
exhibit on the guitar was up there with the very finest of them. Likewise with
Going To My Hometown whereas In Your Town shows what a great band with a simple
riff can come up with if you give them ten minutes. Although he very nearly
equalled it with the Irish Tour album, this is a once-off album from a once-off
performer.
Act:
Van
Morrison
Album: 'Astral Weeks' (1968)
"It's legal drugs, isn't it?" said Bono of Van Morrison's finest hour.
Quite simply, there is no other album which can take the listener straight to
some innocent time through such an array of the best songs folk music has to
offer. There is no bad day at work, fight with a girlfriend or evening of
student poverty that cannot be cured by the very first notes of the title track.
"If I ventured in the slipstream, between the viaducts of your dreams," he
sings. I haven't the slightest clue what he means but it sounds like heaven on
earth. Sweet Thing is one of the finest pieces of music ever written while
Morrison almost outdoes himself on Madam George. Legal drugs? Not even close.
Act:
U2
Album: 'Achtung Baby' (1991)
For all the abuse they suffer, there is no denying that, for a period, U2 made
some of the best rock music to come off this island. The Unforgettable Fire put
them close to the big time, the Joshua Tree sent them global and Rattle and Hum
saw them come to an end. Achtung Baby was the band's rebirth and the world
realised that under all the baggage that comes with them, namely Bono, U2 can
actually write good tunes. Line them up: Even Better Than The Real Thing, One,
Mysterious Ways, Ultraviolet (Light My Way), The Fly, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild
Horses ? this is just a cracking collection of rock songs about women and love
and it's as simple as that.
Act:
David Kitt
Album: 'Small Moments' (2001)
An unlikely choice, given that it was only released a matter of years ago and
I'm sure this will be subject to howls of derision but this is a very, very
personal choice. I bought this album just after its release in early 2001 and
listened to it constantly. I was in college and had just started to go out with
a girl who lived in student digs in Santry. We would go out at the weekend and
the next afternoon, I would make the long trip home on the 16A to Terenure. The
songs just suited the time perfectly with their intimacy and hushed vocals. The
original version of Step Outside In The Morning Light and There Are Words are
probably Kitt's finest songs. Generally viewed as a ?very good' album and
certainly not a great one, it's a personal favourite.
Act:
Thin Lizzy
Album: 'Live and Dangerous' (1978)
A feature of Irish music, as a friend aptly put it, is that there is an
abundance of very good albums but a lack of brilliant ones and one can only wax
lyrical about so many of them. This album catches Thin Lizzy just before it all
went awry for the band and Crumlin son Phil Lynott. Of course, questions may be
asked over exactly how Irish Lizzy were at the time and how live the album
actually is, but this is a cracking collection of 70s rock songs so who cares?
Although they probably wouldn't last 10 minutes these days, the likes of Cowboy
Song, Emerald, Jailbreak and Dancing In The Moonlight have aged brilliantly and
a reminder of how strong some of their songs could be while Baby Drives Me Crazy
takes the listener straight to what seems like the best gig of all time. Lynott's like is unlikely to be seen again on these shores so this, alo ng with
the tunes, makes Live And Dangerous an essential Irish album.
- Check out the final Top 50 Irish Albums of All Time as voted by CLUAS.com readers
- Discuss this selection of best Irish albums of all time on the CLUAS Discussion Board.
- Check out the top 5 Irish albums of all time chosen by these other CLUAS writers:
Allen Conlan
Anthony Morrissey
Brano
Brian Farrelly
Brian Kelly
Celine O'Malley
Chris Ford
Ciaran Wrenn
Cormac Looney
Donal Griffin
Dromed
Gav Reilly
Hugh Tynan
Jimmy Murphy
Jules Jackson
Ollie O'Leary
Stephen McNulty
