My First Memories Volume 3 - U2

The Joshua Tree, March 1987. On a train. On a yellow (!) Phillips personal stereo.

U2 are now 'bleedin' massive', ubiquitous, a major global brand. However, in the early part of 1987, I was only just starting to hear whispers about them. Almost none of my classmates were fans or champions for this Irish Rock band, at a time when Anglo-Irish relations were tense to say the least. I can't possibly say if these things were related, but the musical tide was certainly about to change in a big way. My perception of Ireland would be tested directly a couple of years later in a Maths class. A visiting Irish teacher took the class and as an ice-breaker asked each of us to list the first 3 things that came to mind when we thought of Ireland. Me? Pat Jennings, Green...and U2. You may imagine the debate that ensued in a classroom in a Tory stronghold in Thatcher's Britain, but I digress.

While in those days especially U2 were unafraid to share their social and political opinions freely, it was the musical backdrop that I found completely mesmerising. How can you not be moved by the epic rising intro to 'Where the Streets have No Name', let alone the soaring anthem that it becomes? At a time when I was starting to get some interest in Heavy Metal, here seemed to be something altogether less direct, but so much more sophisticated. It seemed to be sincere, honest, raw, pained, euphoric, anthemic, sparse, eery, celebratory, fierce, mellow, historic - all at once. The next 2 tracks ('I Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking for' and 'With or Without You') further cemented my feelings that this was monumental, legendary material unfolding right before me. It's still their benchmark album.

So much has been written about U2 that I won't even attempt to explain their place in music history, only to say it's a place that's richly deserved. Though I would continue to enjoy the relatively safe sounds of Dire Straits, The Eagles and Eric Clapton for a couple more years, listening to U2 offered something altogether more awakening and spiritual. The world was about to agree.

My First Memories Volume 2 - Van Halen

Not surprisingly for a man of my age, my introduction to Van Halen came in the mid 80s with the massive hit...and then again in the slightly later 80s with the other massive hit.

'Jump' and 'Why Can't This Be Love?' are both fine pop tunes in their own right, and in the privacy of my own home (sometimes in public!) I can't help but switch from air guitar to air keyboard and back again when I hear these songs - still! The fact that one song was from VH MkI and one from VH MkII made this pretty confusing for me as I naively wondered how they could still be the same band if the personnel were different. In the years since, of course, this has turned the band's story into the stuff of Rock Legend.

I consider VH to be my No. 1 guilty pleasure musically speaking, because they do sit at odds with the very large, very intense, very serious, not very Rock 'n' Roll section of my CD collection. There is no doubt that Edward is simply one of the finest exponents of the electric guitar that we will ever see. Alex is a groove king with riotously OTT kits. Michael can wield the bass ably enough for this brand of Rock, and sing nice harmonies, too. Dave is one the most entertaining front men in Rock history. Sammy possesses one of the top 5 Rock voices of all time. The band have sold millions of albums etc. etc. But, it's still just disposable Glam Pop Rock with tongue planted firmly in cheek. How could I possibly like it?

Here's the rub. I was not a teenager in the US in the late 70s / early 80s, but if I had been I would have known that the aforementioned tunes represent so little of what Van Halen is about. It was only in the very late 80s, as my tastes transitioned from Adult-Orientated Soft Rock to Hard Rock, that I first heard Van Halen. Turns out they had much more in common with Led Zeppelin, Kiss and Queen than with Duran Duran, The Human League or The Thompson Twins.

I can't remember which album was the very first that I borrowed from my VH-championing school chum*, but I'm pretty sure it was the band's debut album, Van Halen I - being mathematical fiends, we were also fans of chronology, and proper order, and things like that ;) As with so many impressionable kids before me, and probably a few more since, this felt like real Rock music. It was BIG but not overwhelming, it was HEAVY but not stodgy, it was FUN but not silly (ok - it was silly!). And, man, the guitars were from another planet. Truly, WTF? Jimi who? This was the kind of music I wanted at my parties from now on!

It wasn't very much like other bands that often get mentioned in the same breath: Kiss, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Motley Crue, and so on. There were definitely more progressive and quirky elements at play, and this would become more pronounced on subsequent albums. It's not really possible to get away from the fact that Van Halen were a good-time, arena-sized  bar band. They played a ferocious brand of RAWK, and stole lyrics from a teenage male fantasist's diary. It would be possible to say that they contributed massively to the Rock soundtrack of late 70s / early 80s USA. The release of 'Jump' and the following album, '1984', broadened their appeal to mainstream Pop audiences. And it stretched even further into the late 80s - to different continents and different generations. For me, music has a particular ability to be able to create timestamps in my life. I felt transported to another time and place, and doesn't that demonstrate the power of art, no matter how disposable?






*I also had fellow champions for Rush and Kiss during this time. Iron Maiden were my chosen Kings for those days, so we had lots of grounds for debate....and a wealth of Classic Rock material to trade!

My First Memories Volume 1 - Elbow

First sighted performing 'Grounds for Divorce' on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2008.

This track is one of the pillars of Elbow's mega-selling, mega-celebrated album, The Seldom Seen Kid. A mighty fine album it is too. However, in February 2008, Elbow was the given name of some band that I was only vaguely aware of - I thought they were a 'new Coldplay' or something like. Since that time, the band have gone on to achieve the kind of success you feel they deserve, and I have become a fan - realising that they have very little in common with Coldplay, or just about any other band.

To find such a gem on a TV chat show is something of a minor miracle. I expect to discover something worthy of follow-up on music driven shows such as Jools Holland's long running series, or on Sky Arts. However, it is a rare thing these days that I will be genuinely impressed by 'tonight's musical guest'. It's not even very Rock 'n' Roll to admit to watching chat shows at all, I suppose! If I go back to my youth I'd have to say TV was a very important medium for shelling out new talent. Though sometimes the talent wasn't that apparent, or maybe the talent wasn't even that new. It turns out that Elbow wasn't a very new phenomenon to the initiated, either. I'm just glad to have seen these seemingly working class heroes deliver something so well-crafted at a live TV performance. I'm not sure if this hit the screen just before the band's popularity went into overdrive, but it felt like it for me. Perhaps their invitation to the show was inspired by an evident sense that something special was happening for these Manchester men. That was neither here nor there for me - the main thing was that I wanted to hear more. I bought all their albums in the following weeks and was rewarded with music that was heavy on emotion, and richly arranged to boot.

I finally got my first glimpse of the live version of the band at last year's Electric Picnic, and they did not disappoint. Once again, when that riff kicked in, I was reminded of the beautifully controlled power that exists in all of the band's work - and especially in this song.

My First Memories (Prologue)

I've been struck by a heavy dose of nostalgia lately: listening to music from around the time of my birth or from a more innocent and optimistic time, listening to music on cassette tape (!) and even learning to play cover versions of some of my favourite songs. The early memories I want to document here are to be my recollections of the first time I encountered my ten favourite musical artists. It may well not be the first time I actually heard any of them, but merely my earliest, clearest memory. Therefore, the first time I actually heard them.

This means I will also need to establish a list of just 10! There are of course some no-brainers, and there will be a subset of 'glaring omissions'. Anyway, it's a list of artists and songs, so is very much open to criticism and debate. As such, this is the perfect form for such an indulgence. How does one go about such a task? If I was writing a thesis I would most certainly have to create some scientific controls, but I'm writing about the (disposable) art that is the soundtrack of my entire teen and adult life. Let's face it, I'm not going to consider England's World Cup anthem of '82 for this list! So, do I choose the top 10 based on how I feel today? The top 10 based on album plays? Based on concert attendance? Or those acts that have had the most significant emotional effect? Been so inextricably tied to a celebration, a tragedy, a commemoration, a triumph? (As I ask these questions now, there is one shoe-in for all of the above!)

Ultimately, I am not entirely sure about what will get you a place on this list but I started with a list of 26 artists and eventually whittled it down to the magic number (in this case, not 3!) by way of a 'Desert Island Discs' kind of approach. At some point (maybe only for the briefest time) a number of these artists have been my chosen 'toppermost of the poppermost', particularly in my formative years as a music fan, though I may hardly even listen to them nowadays. However, there is no top 10 placing for:

Coldplay
Dire Straits
Iron Maiden
Karnivool
King Crimson
Living Colour
Marillion
Metallica
Joni Mitchell
Muse
Sarah McLachlan
Queensryche
Skunk Anansie
Soundgarden
Tears For Fears
Yes

Honourable mentions for all of the above, naturally, but tough decisions have been made. Next time, I'll start working my way through those that did make the cut.

Until later

Shane

1st day of Summer

Mullaghcleevaun. I can see it from my house, but it doesn't pose any major threat. However, it is the 2nd highest peak in Wicklow, and I can see it from my house. Subject to all seasons on any given day, it is a beastly looking summit that casts a shadow over all of West Wicklow, and I've had my eye on it for some time. There is often a completely different weather system in effect up there, and it will definitely hold on to snow for much longer than the minnows in its kingdom. Yesterday, I slowly awoke from a good slumber to a beautiful looking day. Following a brief conference call in relation to the release of the MAGGY SIMPSON album, and realising there'd be no immediate movement on that, I decided I would put this great looking hill to bed.

There are a number of ways to tackle this mountain and I have been close to it before, on one of many trips to Black Hill. So, Black Hill was always going to be my launch pad. It's a nice easy 2km trek up from the Black Hill car park at the Ballynultagh Gap: broad, rocky, sandy pathway with a two-step gradual ascent. Even from this height (602m) you can get great 360 views ranging from Dublin to Laois. This hill is fairly featureless, but a great initiator for new hillwalkers and / or a great gateway to bigger and better things.

Mullaghcleevaun as viewed from Black Hill

Though I was unable to capture a suitably clear image, there were several adrenalin junkies working the airspace between Black Hill and Sorrel Hill, too. Some kind of base jumping to the best of my knowledge. Needless to say, it can get quite gusty in these parts and so perfect for this sport.

'cleevaun lies approximately 3km SE of Black Hill, and there is a bog path of sorts that will take you all the way to the top. Visibility provided no obstacle on the day, so no requirement for maps or compasses other than for security. As I said, things can change quickly at 849m. Only a small amount of peat hag scrambling is necessary at the foot of the mountain, but the summit can be reached with relative ease for someone of above average fitness (see below for my completely unofficial grading system!)

The peak itself is very broad and flat, with a number of excellent views available across the entire Wicklow / Dublin Mountains range, along with plenty of rest-stop options. I'd recommend going further onto Mullaghcleevaun East Top (also known as Stony Top) for lunch, though. Slightly better views, and as the name suggests, many more stones to choose from: some table shaped! Just be prepared to face the effects of over-farming peat. There are vast 'seas' of open bog of unknown depth, and very few hags to use as 'buoys'. Plan ahead, stay ashore and choose a route around these.

Blessington Lake as viewed from Mullaghcleevaun. Also looking down on Moanbane to the left, and Black Hill to the right

Lunch stop at Stony Top (Mullaghcleevaun East)

Looking back to Mullaghcleevaun from the East Top. Heavy scarring visible on the ridge between, and to the left of the summit

I took in the second 'top' at the East Top en route back to the Lough that sits beneath Mullaghcleevaun, before taking a straight bearing (yup, made use of the compass after all) back down into Ballynultagh Woods. The final few kms of my day were spent on typical forest trails and a short climb back up the road to the Black Hill car park, though there are any number of tracks that return you to the point of origin.

Mullaghcleevaun Lough

Distance: 16.46km
Highest Elevation: 849m
Climb: 453m
Duration: 5.5hrs inc. Lunch
Fitness Level: Slightly above average!