Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [36]
Other names to look out for are Julie Feeney, whose second album Pages (2009) is stunning, Cathy Davey (2007’s Tales of Silversleeve is worth a listen), and Lisa Hannigan, who played for a number of years with Damien Rice before heading out on her own with the superb Sea Saw (2009). We’re also big fans of the Nick Cave–like Adrian Crowley – Long Distance Swimmer (2007) and Season of the Sparks (2009) are recommended – and Villagers, the most hotly tipped act of 2009.
Ireland does its bit for alt-rock with the likes of Fight Like Apes, whose debut album Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion (2008) was very well received, while Jape has wowed audiences all over Ireland with his wonderfully melodic electronica – Ritual (2008) is a must. Finally, and only because we have to, we mention Snow Patrol, Ireland’s biggest selling act after U2, even if their particular brand of mortgage rock should have white lines painted right down the middle of it.
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TOP TRAD ALBUMS
The Quiet Glen (Tommy Peoples)
Paddy Keenan (Paddy Keenan)
Compendium: The Best of Patrick Street (Various)
The Chieftains 6: Bonaparte’s Retreat (The Chieftains)
Old Hag You Have Killed Me (The Bothy Band)
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OUR 10 BEST IRISH ALBUMS
Loveless (My Bloody Valentine) – utterly intoxicating indie classic that just piles on the layers of sound and melody.
Boy (U2) – best debut album of all time? We think so.
The End of History (Fionn Regan) – too early to say if it’s a classic, but it’s bloody good.
Live & Dangerous (Thin Lizzy) – released in 1978, it remains one of the greatest live albums ever recorded.
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (Sinead O’Connor) – try listening to the Prince-penned ‘Nothing Compares to U’ and not feel her pain.
St Dominic’s Preview (Van Morrison) – everyone knows Astral Weeks, but this 1972 album is every bit as good.
O (Damien Rice) – with millions of record sales, we’re not going to argue with its merit.
Inflammable Material (Stiff Little Fingers) – forget the Sex Pistols; this album about the life in the Troubles gets our vote for best punk album ever.
The Book of Invasion (Horslips) – this totally catchy album is Celtic rock at its best.
Pages (Julie Feeney) – sublime follow-up to her Choice Music Award–winning debut.
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Architecture
Ireland is packed with prehistoric graves, ruined monasteries, crumbling fortresses and many other solid reminders of its long, often dramatic, history. The principal surviving structures from Stone Age times are the graves and monuments people built for the dead, usually grouped under the heading of megalithic (great stone) tombs. Among the most easily recognisable megalithic tombs are dolmens, massive three-legged structures rather like giant stone stools, most of which are 4000 to 5000 years old. Good examples are the Poulnabrone Dolmen in the Burren and Browne’s Hill Dolmen near Carlow town.
Passage graves such as Newgrange and Knowth in Meath are huge mounds with narrow stone-walled passages leading to burial chambers. These chambers are enriched with spiral and chevron symbols and have an opening through which the rising sun penetrates on the winter or summer solstice, thus acting as a giant celestial calendar.
The Irish names for forts – dún, ráth, caiseal/cashel and caher – have ended up in the names of countless towns and villages. The Irish countryside is peppered with the remains of over 30,000 of them. The earliest known examples date from the Bronze Age, most commonly the ring fort, with circular earth-and-stone banks, topped by a wooden palisade fence to keep out intruders, and surrounded on