Music Banter - View Single Post - The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 07-03-2011, 05:49 PM

Note: in an effort to fly the flag for my little country, and to prove that Ireland has more to offer than just U2 and (shudder!) Westlife and Jedward (!), I'll be featuring sporadically a selection of Irish rock albums that you may not know about, or have heard. These will be indicated by the below graphic. I've already featured albums by Rory Gallagher and the Adventures, but Irish rock has so much more to show you! Stay tuned....

Feel no shame --- Aslan --- 1988 (EMI)

Ah, the great could-have-beens of Irish rock! Aslan were formed back in the mid-1980s and were quickly snapped up by major record label EMI for this, their debut album, after their first single became a radio smash hit in 1986. The album, “Feel no shame”, subsequently legged it to number one in Ireland and did extremely well in the UK, but the sudden success was too much for the band, who split, only to reform later on.

This, however, remains one of their most important and powerful releases, featuring no less than four hit singles in Ireland, and it firmly established them as a major new band and a very hot property. You only have to listen to it to hear the quality that was there from the beginning. It grabs you by the throat right from the start with the pounding rocker “Loving me lately”, which chugs along on the guitars of Joe Jewell and Billy McGuinness, with the drumming of Alan Downey (any relation to Brian from Thin Lizzy? To be honest, I don't know...) carrying the track along at a great lick. It's a song laden with angst, but angry angst, if you can imagine that. Pretty simple lyric, but it works very well, especially as an opener.

“Pretty thing”, one of the tracks selected as a single, and which got to number 14 in Ireland, is a whole different proposal. Sung with wracked emotion by frontman Christy Dignam, it's a lament on the woes of the world, carried on a guitar and keyboard melody, which starts off slowly for about ten seconds, before Downey's drums kick things into gear, and the song gets going. Jewell's jangling guitar would come to be as recognised by Aslan's fans as the distinctive sound of the Edge in U2. In essence, the lyric is again simple, though deeper, if that makes sense: ”Oh why, can you tell me why/ Is all this sorrow and suffering/ Still going on? / All they ever wanted was a chance to live/ Sometimes I wonder how can we still forgive?”

One of the standout tracks on the album, and the single that brought them to EMI's attention, and eventually their stable, “This is” is another deep song, slower, just as dark, and just as brilliant. ”These are the hands of a tired man/ This is the old man's shroud/ These are the eyes of a blood-crazed tiger/ Staring at the maddening crowd.” Aslan were from the very start all about speaking out on the wrongs in the world, trying to open people's eyes through music. The fact that this single was so successful on radio as a mere demo, and led to a record deal for the boys, speaks volumes about its quality, and the fact that it's still played on Irish radio a measure of the esteem Aslan are held in.

“Been so long” is a slow grinder, with a sort of reggae beat, while “Hungry” gets rockin' again, before “Heat of the cell” steps things up yet another gear, rocketing off with a hugely catchy hook and some great vocal harmonies/ ”In the heat of the cell/ Sits a shell of a man/ In the shifting sand grows an ageing tree/ In the dark of the day/ There's a madman born /There's a voice in the room/ And he's speaking to me.” The next track, “Please don't stop” was selected for a single, but I would have taken “Heat of the cell” anyday, The former is poppy in its way, fast and boppy and quite commercial, but as I said, the hooks in “Heat of the cell” should have made it a good contender for a single. Still, "Please don't stop" reached no. 7 in Ireland, so I guess EMI knew what they were doing. “Please don't stop” is a great little track, featuring again chugging drums from Downey and some great harmonica work from Billy McGuinness --- how often do you say that? Good chorus too, real stadium stuff: ”Climb to the top and shout out loud! /You're never stepping nowhere /With your head stuck in the clouds /Climb to the top and shout out loud!/ 'Cos you're never stepping nowhere, /Till you're stepping out of the crowd.”

Thing slow right down then for “Down on me”, a very honest depiction of life in Northern Ireland during what would have been what we knew as “The Troubles”, when protestant fought catholic and the IRA battled both the UVF and the RUC, as well as the British Army for control of the Six Counties. ”Freedom is a precious thing/ In this world today/ We don't know how lucky we really are/ If there's something to be said/ There is nothing you can say /So don't look down on me.” It's all driven on a guitar melody, growing more and more angry and frustrated as the song progresses, with Dignam's impassioned vocal calling out like a voice in the bomb-blasted wilderness. [i]”If you think your life's a waste of time/
If you think your time's a waste of life /Come over to this land/ Take a look around. / This is a tragic situation/ And a massive demonstration on how to die/ So please don't cry, please don't cry/ Because they're falling all around me/ And I wish I was not here/ Broken bodies they surround me /And I wish that I was not here.”

There's time to shift up through the gears once more before we close proceedings, with a fast and defiant love song, Jewell's guitar again setting the scene, with some truly excellent riffs from the young guitarist as "Sands of time" powers along. The closer is also the title song, and it's worth waiting for. Seems to be the plea of someone separated from their lover due to misbehaviour --- you could guess at abuse --- as Dignam sings like a very tired man who has reached the end of his rope ”Is it love or is it hate?/ When can I come home? / Why can't I feel no shame?” It's driven on McGuinness' magical harmonica and guitar, with a great drumbeat, almost like a train coming down the track. The harmonica gives the track a great blues feel, and it really is the perfect closer to what is after all quite close to being a perfect debut album. Who says we Irish can't rock?

The cover of the album shows a man holding a baby in his arms, and I could be wrong, but the child looks to be similar to the “boy” seen on U2's early albums, “War” and “Boy”, and who became their “mascot” early in their career. I believe this is meant to be a homage to U2, the boys tipping their collective hats to the most famous and successful Irish band in history. It's also possible that the child is wearing headphones, though I can't be sure.

Note: again, there is an extra track on the CD, but I first heard this album on vinyl, and that ended on “Feel no shame”, so although “Book of life” is included in the download below, I haven't included it in the review. This is my usual position. Hope it doesn't bug anyone, but I prefer not to review a track I'm hearing for the first time.

TRACKLISTING

1. Loving me lately
2. Pretty thing
3. This is
4. Been so long
5. The hunger
6. The heat of the cell
7. Please don't stop
8. Down on me
9. Sands of time
10. Feel no shame

Suggested further listening: “Goodbye Charlie Moonhead”, “Live in Dublin”

07-03-2011, 05:49 PM	#60 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Note: in an effort to fly the flag for my little country, and to prove that Ireland has more to offer than just U2 and (shudder!) Westlife and Jedward (!), I'll be featuring sporadically a selection of Irish rock albums that you may not know about, or have heard. These will be indicated by the below graphic. I've already featured albums by Rory Gallagher and the Adventures, but Irish rock has so much more to show you! Stay tuned.... Feel no shame --- Aslan --- 1988 (EMI) Ah, the great could-have-beens of Irish rock! Aslan were formed back in the mid-1980s and were quickly snapped up by major record label EMI for this, their debut album, after their first single became a radio smash hit in 1986. The album, “Feel no shame”, subsequently legged it to number one in Ireland and did extremely well in the UK, but the sudden success was too much for the band, who split, only to reform later on. This, however, remains one of their most important and powerful releases, featuring no less than four hit singles in Ireland, and it firmly established them as a major new band and a very hot property. You only have to listen to it to hear the quality that was there from the beginning. It grabs you by the throat right from the start with the pounding rocker “Loving me lately”, which chugs along on the guitars of Joe Jewell and Billy McGuinness, with the drumming of Alan Downey (any relation to Brian from Thin Lizzy? To be honest, I don't know...) carrying the track along at a great lick. It's a song laden with angst, but angry angst, if you can imagine that. Pretty simple lyric, but it works very well, especially as an opener. “Pretty thing”, one of the tracks selected as a single, and which got to number 14 in Ireland, is a whole different proposal. Sung with wracked emotion by frontman Christy Dignam, it's a lament on the woes of the world, carried on a guitar and keyboard melody, which starts off slowly for about ten seconds, before Downey's drums kick things into gear, and the song gets going. Jewell's jangling guitar would come to be as recognised by Aslan's fans as the distinctive sound of the Edge in U2. In essence, the lyric is again simple, though deeper, if that makes sense: ”Oh why, can you tell me why/ Is all this sorrow and suffering/ Still going on? / All they ever wanted was a chance to live/ Sometimes I wonder how can we still forgive?” One of the standout tracks on the album, and the single that brought them to EMI's attention, and eventually their stable, “This is” is another deep song, slower, just as dark, and just as brilliant. ”These are the hands of a tired man/ This is the old man's shroud/ These are the eyes of a blood-crazed tiger/ Staring at the maddening crowd.” Aslan were from the very start all about speaking out on the wrongs in the world, trying to open people's eyes through music. The fact that this single was so successful on radio as a mere demo, and led to a record deal for the boys, speaks volumes about its quality, and the fact that it's still played on Irish radio a measure of the esteem Aslan are held in. “Been so long” is a slow grinder, with a sort of reggae beat, while “Hungry” gets rockin' again, before “Heat of the cell” steps things up yet another gear, rocketing off with a hugely catchy hook and some great vocal harmonies/ ”In the heat of the cell/ Sits a shell of a man/ In the shifting sand grows an ageing tree/ In the dark of the day/ There's a madman born /There's a voice in the room/ And he's speaking to me.” The next track, “Please don't stop” was selected for a single, but I would have taken “Heat of the cell” anyday, The former is poppy in its way, fast and boppy and quite commercial, but as I said, the hooks in “Heat of the cell” should have made it a good contender for a single. Still, "Please don't stop" reached no. 7 in Ireland, so I guess EMI knew what they were doing. “Please don't stop” is a great little track, featuring again chugging drums from Downey and some great harmonica work from Billy McGuinness --- how often do you say that? Good chorus too, real stadium stuff: ”Climb to the top and shout out loud! /You're never stepping nowhere /With your head stuck in the clouds /Climb to the top and shout out loud!/ 'Cos you're never stepping nowhere, /Till you're stepping out of the crowd.” Thing slow right down then for “Down on me”, a very honest depiction of life in Northern Ireland during what would have been what we knew as “The Troubles”, when protestant fought catholic and the IRA battled both the UVF and the RUC, as well as the British Army for control of the Six Counties. ”Freedom is a precious thing/ In this world today/ We don't know how lucky we really are/ If there's something to be said/ There is nothing you can say /So don't look down on me.” It's all driven on a guitar melody, growing more and more angry and frustrated as the song progresses, with Dignam's impassioned vocal calling out like a voice in the bomb-blasted wilderness. [i]”If you think your life's a waste of time/ If you think your time's a waste of life /Come over to this land/ Take a look around. / This is a tragic situation/ And a massive demonstration on how to die/ So please don't cry, please don't cry/ Because they're falling all around me/ And I wish I was not here/ Broken bodies they surround me /And I wish that I was not here.” There's time to shift up through the gears once more before we close proceedings, with a fast and defiant love song, Jewell's guitar again setting the scene, with some truly excellent riffs from the young guitarist as "Sands of time" powers along. The closer is also the title song, and it's worth waiting for. Seems to be the plea of someone separated from their lover due to misbehaviour --- you could guess at abuse --- as Dignam sings like a very tired man who has reached the end of his rope ”Is it love or is it hate?/ When can I come home? / Why can't I feel no shame?” It's driven on McGuinness' magical harmonica and guitar, with a great drumbeat, almost like a train coming down the track. The harmonica gives the track a great blues feel, and it really is the perfect closer to what is after all quite close to being a perfect debut album. Who says we Irish can't rock? The cover of the album shows a man holding a baby in his arms, and I could be wrong, but the child looks to be similar to the “boy” seen on U2's early albums, “War” and “Boy”, and who became their “mascot” early in their career. I believe this is meant to be a homage to U2, the boys tipping their collective hats to the most famous and successful Irish band in history. It's also possible that the child is wearing headphones, though I can't be sure. Note: again, there is an extra track on the CD, but I first heard this album on vinyl, and that ended on “Feel no shame”, so although “Book of life” is included in the download below, I haven't included it in the review. This is my usual position. Hope it doesn't bug anyone, but I prefer not to review a track I'm hearing for the first time. TRACKLISTING 1. Loving me lately 2. Pretty thing 3. This is 4. Been so long 5. The hunger 6. The heat of the cell 7. Please don't stop 8. Down on me 9. Sands of time 10. Feel no shame Suggested further listening: “Goodbye Charlie Moonhead”, “Live in Dublin” __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-12-2013 at 01:26 PM.