Dublin’s perennial pop stalwarts Aslan are Cork-bound when they appear in The Vinyl Lounge at Golden Discs on Patrick Street at 3pm.
Christy Dignam and the gang will play live in store and be interviewed by 96FM ahead of their headline gig in the Rebel County on June 9th when they play Live at the Marquee with special guest Damien Dempsey.
Fans who turn up tomorrow will also be able to win tickets to the show, which are on general sale here.
Your annual reminder that music is available for sale as chunky spherical objects in sexy gatefold sleeves in real-world geographical locations staffed by actual living humans… Crazy, right?!!
Yes, once upon a time there was no such thing as YouTube, Soundcloud, BandCamp… all music was offline.
As a teenager growing up in the 1980s in Dublin, record shops like Golden Discs, Dolphin Discs, Freebird, Sound Cellar and Comet were like lighthouses dotted around the city, offering a sacred place to hear new music and maybe meet like-minded souls.Then the UK chain stores Virgin, HMV and Our Price Records came to town. We never had it so good.
My favourite store, however, was Tower Records on Wicklow Street, Dublin 2 (above) – its hallowed aisles contained an eye-popping amount of records. Fancy an obscure green coloured vinyl Japanese import of the latest Smiths single? No problem.
Many shops are hosting live in-store gigs for the day that’s in it and offering special discounts and selling exclusive bespoke releases.
Nick Says:Support your local record store – you’ll miss it when it’s gone. Consider this your vinyl warning.
Last week, with a Golden Discs voucher worth TWENTY FIVE EUROS on offer, we asked you what Pet Shop Boys’ best song might be.
You answered in your tens
But there could be only one winner.
In reverse order then…
The Deadly Calzone writes:
Pet Shop Boys’ greatest moment would have to be ‘Being Boring’ owing to its subject matter of love, loss and life in their own eloquent and melancholic style. ‘Tis Axl Rose’s favourite song too.
The Bad Ambassador writes:
“Love etc.” owing to its central message that I…
(Don’t have to be) A big bucks Hollywood star
(Don’t have to drive) A super car to get far
(Don’t have to wear) A smile much colder than ice
(Don’t have to be) beautiful but it’s nice
As a result I’m now much more than content with my meagre salary, rust-bucket 1994 Nissan Micra, Shane MacGowan teeth and a face that looks like it caught fire and was subsequently extinguished with a shovel Life is good.
Bertie writes:
‘Pet Shop Boys’ greatest moment would have to be Left To My Own Devices. I always thought listening to it is like speeding along in a car….AND it’s got the line: ‘Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat‘. What more could anyone want?!
Yupyup writes:
Pet Shop Boys’ greatest moment would have to be performing You Are Always On My Mind on the ‘Love Me Tender’ TV special commemorating the 10th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death owing to their absolute genius ability to cover someone else’s work and make it their own.
It was a great tribute to Elvis but they tweaked the harmonies a bit and synth popped the ass out of it. It shouldn’t have worked but it really did and 30 years later it still sounds great.
They got so much praise for the tribute performance that they decided to release it as a single and it went on to be a UK Christmas number 1 keeping the first release of ‘Fairytale of New York’ off top spot.
What song from the three-decade career of enigmatic synth pop duo Neil Tennant (above right) and Chris Lowe (left) remains always on your mind, forcing you to ask, quite reasonably: what have I done to deserve them?
To enter, please complete this sentence.
‘Pet Shop Boys’ greatest moment would have to be ___________________________________owing to its_______________________’
Lines MUST close at 2.45pm EXTENDED until 6.15pm MIDNIGHT!
Last week, with a voucher worth TWENTY FIVE euros to spend at any of the many Golden Discs stores nationwide on offer, we asked you: Name the finest song in the Elvis Costello canon?
You answered in your dozens.
But there could be only one winner
In reverse order then…
Scottser writes:
The stand out track from the Elvis Costello songbook would have to be Oliver’s Army owing to its relentlessly catchy chorus, it’s infectious motown-inspired backbeat and it’s edgy use of the term ‘white n1gger’. it was also the stand out track on 10 year old Scottser’s first hits compliation tape.
Dub Spot writes:
The stand out track from the Elvis Costello songbook would have to be “Watching the Detectives” owing to its super wry lyrics and dry delivery over a killer rhythm track.’ Lyrics so good even the Duran Duran cover was awesome!
Cool_Hand_Lucan writes:
The stand out track from the Elvis Costello songbook would have to be (I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea owing to its sinister baseline, sneering vocals, street poet lyrics and the fact that it’s a damn sexy track in spite of the fact that it’s sung by a fella named Declan MacManus.
Brother Barnabas writes:
You won’t ever hear it on the radioand it won’t make it onto any greatest hits compilation but the stand out elvis costello track, for me, is ‘battered old bird’. it’s probably not the best song on Blood & Chocolate, but it holds its own (and more) – no small feat when you’re talking about one of the most sublimely beautiful albums ever made.
What makes it stand out, though, is that with zero fuss it announced MacManus as a master storyteller-songwriter. He’d already shown that he could do punk, rock, folk, 3-minute pop, new wave, whatever else, but never that kind of linear-sequence story-song thing. that was more associated with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Nick Cave. but, with this one song, he showed he could do the structure, progression, lyricism, tempo and gradual unraveling as well as anyone.
Actually, Dylan played it fairly regularly when he had his radio show on sirius. introducing it once, he compared the span of characters in it to his own ‘Desolation Row’ and the sense of despair and absurdity in it to Tom Waits’ ‘Murder in the Red Barn’. it’s the story of the boarding house in Birkenhead where MacManus lived as a child with his mother. it’s worth a few listens….
Scary Lady writes:
Veronica – because it reminds me of my grandmother and it’s a really moving reminder that behind the facade of old age still lies a carefree, cheeky young woman. It’s about the only portrayal of dementia in song and the combination of the lyrics and music make you like and admire, rather than pity, the subject. It’s perhaps not his greatest work (Imperial Bedroom is) but it’s the song that means the most to me.
Winner…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esjrHxpiet0
Friscondo writes:
Shipbuilding, owing to its innate, subtle, bitter sadness, about the futile ordinariness of war. The shambles that Britain finds itself in today, could arguably be traced back to the resurgence of English nationalism that the Malvinas war evoked. The last gasp of an already dead empire.
“A new winter coat and shoes for the wife, and a bicycle on the boys birthday,” is a beautiful line in a beautiful song. It’s Costello’s masterpiece, and as if to emphasise that, you only have to listen to Robert Wyatt’s hauntingly magnificent cover of it, to hear the reverence other artists treat his work with.
It’s theme is universal, yet its expression is on a deeply human scale. The sons and daughters of those who take their countries to war, almost never die in these conflicts. As relevant today, as the day it was written.
Last week, with a Golden Discs voucher worth Twenty Five Euros to giveaway, we asked you to name the best thing you’ve heard all year.
You answered in your tens.
But there could be only one winner
In reverse order then…
Dub Spot writes:
The best thing I head all year is Shallow by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (from a Star is Born movie) owing to it being a power-ballad for our age, brilliantly performed from the heart from an unlikely pairing that really made sense. His croak; her colour. Perfect production.
An Madra Uisce writes:
The very best thing I’ve heard all year is Total Football, the first track from Parquet Courts album Wide Awake, owing to its message of collectivism and critique of modern america. It’s a banger of a tune with great pacing, some good shouty bits and one of the all time great closing lyrics. Nice Panini style vidjo too.
Fez writes:
The very best thing I’ve heard all year is KCTMO by Pozi owing to the lyrics blaming the Grenfell tower fire on the management company (KCTMO) while mourning the victims, backed by a Sleaford mods style bassline and eerie violins. A bold start to a new London band’s career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4qAPlDYFU8
f_lawless writes:
‘The very best thing I’ve heard all year is Rad Planet’s ‘Outdoors’ owing to its combination of velvety, melancholic vocals over infectious indie beat. Definite future indie-pop classic contender in my book
Bertie Blenkinsop writes:
Arctic Monkeys – American Sports I played this song to death all year, I think the album is some of their finest work surprised that it got a mixed reaction “I lost the money, lost the keys But I’m still handcuffed to the briefcase” is a brilliant line imo :)
Winner
Paddy writes:
The very best thing I’ve heard all year is IDLES’ album, Joy As An Act Of Resistance owing to the fact that it confronts racism, hypermasculinity and homophobia. The loud punk pandemonium of the band combined with the very masculine lead singer Joe Talbot proudly roaring ‘I kissed a boy and I liked it!’ on the song Samaritans is one fabulous juxtaposition.
The song Danny Nedelko (above) opens with the line ‘my blood brother is an immigrant, a beautiful immigrant/my blood brother is Freddie Mercury, a Nigerian mother of three’. Then there’s the brilliant Never Fight A Man With A Perm. There’s humour, confrontation, anger and love all rolled in to one great album by a fantastically energetic band.
