Tuesday, March 31, 2009
A further leap
The project's main supervisor has declared himself happy with the second chapter, and the news that there are only minor edits to be made gladdens the heart. A bit weary at this point, so nothing major will be done for a few days. Having said that, have been indulging in some interesting scholarship edited by Richard Middleton. Sean Cubitt's reading of 'Maybellene' , the Chuck Berry song has excited my interest. I think his concept of challenging hegemonies through the lack of a central vocal line is critical. I am also excited by Peter Webb's analysis of the 'Bristol Sound' and the cultural politics of location embodied in it. Both are applicable to Irish rock. Was in Dublin meeting with the great Paddy Gibbons, studio engineer who worked with Phil Lynott in Skid Row and later in Orphanage. He was extremely helpful and contributed a massive interview regarding recording, technology and production of popular music in Ireland in the 1960s, plus a few gems about Phil Lynott himself. Cheers to Kevin the Biker, Bunse, Bairbre, Jean and The Bull Hannigan for making it a relaxing and enjoyable few days.
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3 comments:
Hi Matteo
It was good to meet you on Thursday afternoon last (23 July) in Savin's Music Store in Limerick. Remember, I was the guy sheltering from the rain and having a browse through the music books when we ended up having a conversation. You mentioned that you are about to start a PhD on Irish Rock Music from the 1960's onwards. I promised that I would try and dig out the details of some books that I had read over the years on this topic. Here is what I have come up with.
Prendergast, Mark J. Irish Rock: Roots Personalities Directions. The O'Brien Press, Dublin 1987. ISBN 0 86278 149 3
This covers the period from the early sixties to the mid-80's. Starts with the movement from beat music to progressive rock, folk to rock to the early to mid-1980's. Mark Prendergast used to work for Golden Discs record store before moving to writing for the Irish Times about the rock music scene. Not sure whether he is still writing.
Harper,Colin & Hodgett, Trevor. Irish Folk, Trad & Blues: A Secret History. The Collins Press, Cork. 2004. ISBN 1 903464 45 5
This is a more recent and extensive coverage of the origins and history behind the success of Irish music in the last couple of decades. Starts with the folk scene and bands like Sweeney's Men, works through the story of Them, the Belfast Blues scene, Skid Row, Rory Gallagher, Horslips up to the present day. I think that both authors are from the North and Hodgett is the blues and jazz critic of the Irish News.
MacAnna, Ferdia. The Rocky Years: Story of a (Almost) Legend. Hodder Headline Ireland, Dublin, 2006. ISBN 0 340 75240 8
Ferdia MacAnna used to front a band called Rocky DeValera and the Grave Diggers. I saw them a few times around the late 1970's and early 1980s in Dublin which is what attracted me to the book when it came out. It is a good while since I have read it but it might be helpful in giving some insight into the gig scene around that time. His wife Kathryn Holmquist writes a column in the Irish Times and the trials and tribulations of having a rock star (almost!) in the family feature in the column from time to time!
It may be difficult to find these books on sale although O'Mahony's in Limerick are pretty good at sourcing once you have the details. The Library at Mary I should be able to organise an inter-library loan for you from Trinity College Dublin or the British Library which are book repositories which retain copies of all copyrighted publications in Britain and Ireland.
I hope that this is helpful. Best of luck with the studies and also with the music.
Regards
Kevin T
Hi Matteo
I forgot to mention one other book which deals with history of Irish rock music:
Campbell, Sean and Smyth, Gerry. Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock. Atrium (an imprint of Cork University Press), Cork, 2005. ISBN 0-953535-355. Sean Campbell lectures in the Department of English and Maths at APU in Cambridge. Gerry Smyth lectures in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Social Sciences at Liverpool John Moore University. The book consists of a series of essays based on a song from each year starting with 1964 (Them, Gloria) and finishing with 2004 (Snow Patrol, Chocolate). It includes some well known names but also lesser known groups and attempts to link the music with the socio-economic developments of the particular time.
Regards
Kevin
Dear Kevin,
I just had a look there and there is a lot of good stuff.
I have come across all of them except one, the biographical one about the band you saw a few times. Mark J Prendergast is a pretty interesting guy - he had also written a good book on 20th century ambient music, and his Isle of Noises is a precursor to what Gerry Smyth pieced together in Smyth's later book, Nosiy Island. Smyth and Campbell's book (which you mentioned) is about the best thing going in the field of academic writing about Irish popular music. Another one piece which you might find interesting is called Hybridity and National Music: The Case of Irish Rock. That's an essay by Martin McLoone and Noel McLaughlin. It's accessible on the web through J-Stor, and probably through google too. It was published in the Cambridge Journal called Popular Music in 2000. There's a few good DVDs around at the minute as well - Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts (about Horslips), Out of Ireland (also called From a Whisper To A Scream) about the history of Irish rock (featuring Niall Stokes, Hot Press Editor, Bono, Lynott, Geldof, etc - very interesting). Rory Gallagher's Irish Tour '74 DVD is a must-have and very cheap and easy to get on the internet. A final text worth getting a look at is called Green Beat: The Forgotten History of Irish Rock by Darragh O'Halloran. I got a copy in Eason's of Limerick.
Would be great to stay in touch and I'd be grateful of a quick line or two if anything else came up! As it is many thanks for the correspondence to date.
Sincerely,
Matteo Cullen
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