Music Links

NEIL YOUNG - It's hard to beat the opening chords of Like A Hurricane for sheer rock 'n' roll excitement. Don't hold back on the volume. Every home should have a copy of his Weld album. One of the few big hitters of his generation to retain the cutting edge. Read Shakey - Jimmy McDonough's excellent biography of Young. This is his official website and it's as awkward and obstinate as himself. A more informative unofficial site can be found HERE.

MERCURY REV - Mercury Rev's dazzling melodic tapestries mark them out as one of the most original rock bands currently playing. Words such as dreamlike, psychedelic, pastoral, ethereal all come to mind. Yet for all their subtlety and ornateness, they pack a surprising amount of punch live. Their last Dublin gig was exceptional. Surprisingly, they don't appear to be that well known in their native USA. But discerning Europeans know all about them. Buy their records, especially Deserter's Songs. Go and see them. Jonathan Donohue may well be a genius.

RADIOHEAD - In a world where the big record companies want to reduce all popular music to the consistency of baby food, it is wonderful to see a commercially successful group being wilfully awkward. Despite their ability to write great melody, Radiohead sometimes don't make it easy for the casual listener. But whoever said music should always be instantly accessable? Radiohead's music is creative, challenging, provocative and often very beautiful. It dares to take the listener into places beyond the scope of most rock bands. In this homogenised age, it's good that we still have popular musicians keen to push out boundries.

LEONARD COHEN
"I lit a thin green candle
To make you jealous of me."
Lennie's rich lyrical imagery is wrapped in deliciously melancholic melodies, with a fat vein of wry humour lurking just beneath the surface. His bittersweet songs are small musical jewels, exquisitely shaped and perfectly proportioned. I don't know where people got the idea that this man is gloomy; at his most inspired he glows like a beacon. And at seventy years old, he is still doing the business. This is his official site; another very comprehensive one can be found HERE.

STEELY DAN If you like your song intros understated, there's none finer than those gloriously subtle opening chords of “Do It Again”. Becker and Fagen do understatement better than almost any other rock musicians. Much of their music is now over thirty years old, but it has lost absolutely none of its original lustre. Stylish, intelligent, luscious, slinky, elegantly crafted songs. Is there a better album than Aja? Not very many. A rock band with a jazz sensibility. And after a lay-off lasting two decades, they resurfaced in 2000 and have since added another two sparkling albums to an already luminous collection. There will, hopefully, be more.....

JIMI HENDRIX - A colossus who plugged into a spiritual power source beyond the reach of all other guitarists. Had he lived, he might have changed the world. Or he could have ultimately gone down the same sad route as Elvis. We'll never know. One thing I do know, when they're lowering me into the grave - and I really do mean this - I want them to play Voodo Chile. Loudly enough to wake the dead.

BOB DYLAN - Living legends are a dying breed, but this guy surely qualifies. He probably did change the world - to some extent - with his early protest songs, before going on to make some of the strangest, puzzling, poetic and potent music of his or any other time. Lately he's even talking to us. After decades of avoiding conversation, he's become almost chatty. Check out Martin Scorsese's brilliant documentary No Direction Home. It punctures the Dylan mystique without in any way diminishing the power of the music.

THE BEATLES - Do I really need to explain? Two words will suffice - The White Album. No, that's three. Here's a few more - Revolver, Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Strawberry Fields Fowever, Tomorrow Never Ends. Their likes will not be seen again.

U2 - Their latest album is not among their most musically interesting - flawless, polished and powerful, but maybe sticking just a little too much to the U2 mega-stadium formula. That said, they remain one of the most inspiring bands of their era. They have made consistently great music over the last two decades. The world would be a poorer place, in many ways, without them and Paul Hewson's big mouth.

RORY GALLAGHER - Rory was the first Irish blues star and his virtuoso guitar playing sounds as exciting today as it did 30 years ago. His solos were endlessly imaginative and subtle. Looking back now, he was probably a more inventive player even than Clapton. His playing with Taste and on many of his subsequent "solo" albums is unequalled and is still a source of inspiration for many young players. Later, his musical vision appeared to diminish and his songwriting fell into a bit of a rut. But the great years really were great.

REM - Here's a band which has been in creative decline for some years now. The departure of Bill Berry hit them hard. They lost something important when he left, which they haven't managed to replace. Their recent albums are not among their best. But they still have a bigger repertoire of truly great songs than any other band out there. And they can still do the business live. Monster, Green, The One I Love. Is there some hidden philosophical meaning in Crush With Eyeliner? Or is it just brilliant noise? Personally, I go with the noise theory. Michael Stipe? You couldn't invent him.

PIERRE BENSUSAN - A superbly gifted French-Algerian guitar player. His music contains elements of Irish folk, jazz and many other things blended into an intricate acoustic style that is uniquely his own. Most of his pieces are instrumentals; rich aural tapestries with many delicate touches, great musical subtlety and immense technical flair. He is sometimes billed as the best guitar player in the world - he might just be.

JOHN MARTYN - One of the most subtle and delicate of songwriters, with a voice full of passion and pain. His best work is wrapped in rich layers of under-stated guitar, keyboard and bass. He started out his musical career in the late 1960s as a singer of folk songs. But his style subsequently tripped over into spaces located somewhere on the edges of soul and jazz. Best listened to in the deep of the night. Regretably, his great talent has never been matched by major commercial success. Despite being in serious physical decline in recent years, he has still managed to gig.