Carty's Best O' 2009

the votes are in
In no particular order...

If You Go Down To The Woods Today

Heading off to the Electric Picnic in the morning, chomping at the bit. Full report next week. If any one's looking for me, I'll probably be hanging around Trenchtown, paralysed with booze and island rhythms.

1001 Albums To Hear Before You Die

What took some of us years to collect can now be yours in a very short time indeed. It's a good thing I suppose. Plenty here to keep you going until death. Dig.

Rock N' Roll Summer Part I

First things first, the boys and I took a trip down to Punchestown about a month ago to see the mighty AC\DC. If you don't like the DC then you really don't like rock n' roll at all, there's no poncing about, they don't ever feel the need to get Brian Eno in to "expand their sound", they never harp on about getting back to their roots because they never left them in the first place. The arguement has been made that they only have one song but even if this was true, it's a very good song indeed.
The day started well enough with beers over in Kenny's gaff discussing the relative merits of Back In Black and Powerage (my favourite), then the Coff turned up and we got our pre-hired lift down to the gig, a fine affair, drinking beers in the back cracking jokes about poor old Michael Jackson.
Problem 1 - we got to about 5 miles from the gig and were told by a lovely police man that we had to walk from this point. It's been said before but it's worth saying again, once they get your money, MCD don't give a shit.
A long power walk, with beers, got us finally into the gig where there was supposed to be 70,000 punters or there abouts but there was at least twice that again and it was only six o'clock at this point. See the point above about MCD. The only consolation is that these days are coming to an end thanks to the world falling apart.
The bar next, pints of foam for €6, we drank a lot of them and here was Carty's fatal mistake, the rookie error, for as much as I'd like to tell you about how great the DC were, I can remember very little of it. Sigh, the fellas tell me I had a great time but I may very well have got up and done a song, I can't remember (one of the few vague memories I have is of the sound being taken away by the wind during the encore, rock and roll, for the most part, belongs indoors). Anyway I got home straight away after, unlike a lot of other unfortunates who got stuck walking all over the country, see point about MCD above.

Onwards to Bruce Springsteen's two day stop at the RDS. Does it ever stop fucking raining in Dublin? Wille, Ken and I head over to Crows in Balsbridge on the Saturday, hundreds of us huddled under the awning outside the boozer "enjoying" our booze and fags. Two birds who flew down from Donegal (huh?) knocking back the doubles like they were endangered, they surely did not last the whole gig. Jason shows up, in we go to the show, more foam, Bruce comes on and shows what a genius he is straight away by covering Creedence's "Who Will Stop The Rain" resulting in the man now having what ever amount of soaking Irish people eating out of his hand. The papers call the show a religious experience and they weren't far wrong. Highlights for me included Because The Night, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, an Awesome Born to Run and Waiting On A Sunny Day where the boss appeared to indeed stop the rain. That can't be true can it? Sadly I missed Thunder Road cause I was in the Jacks, sickened. Keogh's after, hazy to say the least.
Sunday morning, bad pain but staggered back to the Palace to meet the Coff for round 2 with the Boss. Stout and plenty off it and then straight out to the show. A point of order, why are all the rock shows in Ireland associated with the shittiest beers? who the hell wants pints of Coors Light? Worse again, who wants slightly warm bottles of Budweiser? The Coff and I moaned about this in the queue and then bought four bottles a piece (and that wasn't the end of it either). Ran into my cousin Adrian and his wife Tara off the TV, good people. Springsteen kicks off, if anything even better than the night before, the rain, for the most part held off, Coff and I danced and laughed like idiots. I said to Coff at one point "Jacks N' Bar" indicating where I was off to, " I hope he plays that tune" replies the Coff to much guffawing. Highlight? Jungleland and Trapped - amazing. Great moment when Bruce gave the mike to a little girl, she manages a full chorus and the whole place erupts. The man is a class, class act. There was some confusion over a curry in a hotel on the way home but that's a story for another time due to some legal complications.

I was in a right old heap on the Monday but I had tickets for Allen Toussaint in Whelan's so had to go out and do it again. How do you think all this was going down at home, bearing in mind this was the weekend of my wedding anniversary? Headed in with Kenny, the first stout was something akin to trying to ingest a pint of warm treacle, although strangely by pint 3 things were improving immensely. Whelan's is a great spot to see anyone but , yet again, they sold too many bloody tickets so to say the view from upstairs was restricted was putting it mildly but the sound was great as was the man himself, taking us through a potted history of New Orleans music, shame he didn't have a little band with him as I'm not the biggest fan of people playing on their own even if they are as unfairly talented as Mr. Toussaint. A plus point in the fact that there were very serious music fans at the show, you know the type who laughs at every single thing the artist says just to show everyone else how hip they are. These people are not interested in drinking so the Ken and I had a clear run at the bar which we took full advantage of. We then hightailed it back to the Mullingar house and got wrecked, laughing away.
I took Tuesday off work.

The weekend just passed found me in Croke Park for the mighty U2 on both the Friday and the Saturday night. Let me point out first of all that I do not number myself among the Irish men and women who have turned on U2. I'm a fan, the new record has it moments although it's not their best. Bono pays his taxes in Holland because it saves him money? That's what I'd do, although I would refrain from telling other people what to do with their cash, but anyway. My other though about them is that if I was lucky enough to be, say, Larry Mullen, the one thing that would really piss me off is the fact that the singer in my band spends most of his time off saving the world while he should be concentrating on making more records. All that being said, live U2 have always been exceptional, it's over twenty years since I first saw them play and they have never been less than very, very good.

What's the story with not being able to have a drink in Croke Park, Ireland's national stadium? A Big sign saying that drinks were not allowed on the pitch by law, no such problem in the RDS, what's that all about? And while I'm giving out, Dublin is a major city, Croke Park is it's finest stadium and yet you must walk to and from it, no attempt at public transport. All the foreign visitors for the U2 shows must wonder about this one.
The show itself was even better than expected (second only in my U2 experience to the fantastic gig they did in Slane shortly after Bono's father passed on), the first thing I noticed on the Friday night was the great sound they'd manage to get in the stadium which they must certainly did not have the last time the '2 played there. The much talked about Claw was very impressive, although Springsteen didn't need any such messing to turn a stadium into a small club, discuss.

Highlights, although it was all pretty great, included a brilliant Unforgettable Fire, Until The End of the World, Pride, Sunday Bloody Sunday, the acoustic Stuck In A Moment. All overshadowed of course by the truly exceptional Bad.
For me, the new dance version of "I'll Go Crazy" is rubbish and what's the point of writing a great bridge to a mediocre song and then leaving it out when you rejig it?
pints afterward in the Living Room , the smoking area out the back now combines the smoking area of three pubs. The day is coming in Ireland when all pubs are just outdoors, the smoking ban is just stupid, nobody lives forever.

Saturday night, into the Palace at 5, outside (again) smoking, drinking and carrying on. Up to the show for 9, another great performance although for me Friday was better as they seemed to be working harder to prove something, nice to hear In A Little While and the best song from the new album, Unknown Caller, but it was all good. A lot of guff goes Bono's way but the man can hold a tune. Back to the Living Room for more beer but the tank was running low at this stage, home relatively early.
The Sunday, didn't even get dressed till about 7.30 in the evening and that was only because I couldn't go and get the paper in my jocks.
Nearly forty boys, nearly forty.

Michael Jackson

Forget everything else, this is what you should remember;

Just A Little Louvin

As much Louvin Brothers as you'll ever need.
Here they are from a long time ago

Remember, Satan is real.
Which is a fine excuse to show you the greatest record sleeve of all time;

Adios Koko

Good luck to Koko Taylor who has passed away. Here she is with "Tease Your Man" from the Chess Story box set (worth any amount of money you may have to pay for it).

Ain't No Ting

They don't do Reggae but they cover most everything else that matters, check out the Groover's Paradise, it's good for what ails ya.

Let The Big O Flow!

Get some soul in your life! If you don't already have this, you should be shot.

Old Gods Nearly Dead

Been to see both Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton in the last week, I don't think I'll be rushing to see 'em again. Dylan had his moments but has there ever been such a superstar with next to no stage presence? I wasn't expecting much "hello Dublin, do you feel awwlright?!!" action but some attempt at stagecraft would have been welcome. He was certainly better than occasions I've seen him before but the voice, if it was ever there, has long departed and he can't even manage the guitar anymore, it may well be time to call it a day. Pretty good versions of "Wicked Messenger", Girl From The North Country", "All Along The Watchtower" and "If You Ever Go To Houston" though and the new album's a good one but perhaps it's finally time to end the never ending tour.

Clapton's music is something I've never been crazy about, I'm partial to a bit of Cream (ho, ho) and I like the Layla album but that's about it. There is no doubt about his skills as a musician but he's not the greatest song writer in the world and no one in their right minds needs to hear "Wonderful Tonight " again, although we did of course.
The new Dublin O2 is a beautiful thing to be sure and we were lucky enough to have sixth row seats, in amongst people who were going through some sort of religious experience but problems started almost straight away with all bars being closed during the performance. Now this has got to be down to Mr. Clapton himself, there is no way a new venue would close a bar, depriving themselves of some income and don't give me the excuse that it would spoil the performance as plenty of people came and went with hotdogs and popcorn (at a gig, I ask you?). Just because you're now clean as a whistle doesn't mean I have to be Mr. C, and perhaps some more booze would have made your lacklustre performance easier to take. As said earlier Clapton has some good material but he does have some awful stuff too and he treated us to more of this than was warranted but even classics like Layla and Crossroads lacked any spark. The band were all very accomplished and Clapton is a jaw-dropping guitar player, especially this close up but, to me, they were going through the motions, no fire whatsoever. At least Dylan still showed a few, a very few, flashes. Say what you like about the Stones as a money hoovering touring company but at least Jagger still makes an effort to get you involved.

Roll on the AC/DC, U2 and Springsteen summer gigs, proper showmen all.

The Stath!

As everybody should already know, Jason Statham is possibly the finest actor at work today. Yes Sean Penn is a genius and will always be there or there abouts at the Oscars, yes Mickey Rourke surprised everyone with the Wrestler but no one entertains like the Stath. This being said, nothing could prepare even his most ardent admirers for Crank 2: High Voltage, you just have never seen anything like it, the madness at work here has to be experienced to be believed. Yes it's over flowing with racism and sexism and yes it is incredibly violent but for sheer "I can't believe they did that" entertainment, it cannot be beat. See it.

Friday

Hopefully...

Fightin'!

Now that was a fight.

Good Man Gone

John Martyn R.I.P.

Top Cat

I dream of being as cool as this
What lady could fail to fall out of her smalls at that?

Brucie Bonus

For You

Costello + Dylan = New 2

Like many people my age who have grown up in Ireland, I can measure the various stages of my life in new U2 releases. Trying to figure out what was going on the first time I heard The Unforgettable Fire, going to see them in Croke park in the 80s, sneaking out the window of my bedroom in my parent's house to go and buy Rattle and Hum when it was released at midnight, hearing a snatch of The Fly in a mate's flat while at college and roaring at everyone to shut up so I could hear what it was. And now, the new single is here and... well my first impression wasn't a great one (I can hear Costello's Pump It Up and Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues) although I'm getting to like it more each time I hear it and, no doubt, by the time I'm jumping around Croke Park at the end of summer cocooned in the warm glow of too much stout, it's gonna sound fantastic. Judge for yourselves;

Oasis In Good Idea Shocker!

Let's be honest, Oasis are, at best, okay. Some good tunes and a good singer, although you have to ask why no one has ever taught him how to walk properly. Hats off for this though, in an effort to promote their new snoozy album, they gave the songs to a load of New York's buskers to get them out there before the record's release.

Gator

I'll take no shit from anyone when it comes to the genius of Burt Reynolds but I saw Gator over Christmas and it really is a load of old shite, the theme tune is pretty great though. Take it away, the late, great Jerry Reed

2009