Paradise in the Picturehouse by The Stunning
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There has been quite a bit of unrest of late in the Off Topic threads, not least in the music threads. I’d genuinely love as many people as possible to hear my choice as I’m fairly sure it should be new to most on here.
Some don’t like the long explanations to musical choice though.
If you don’t want the long winded forensics of each track and why I personally picked this, just go straight to the last paragraph now. Better still go to the album, now. You won’t enjoy this self indulgence.
Go on, shooo! Off ye go. Enjoy yourselves.
Right. For the rest of ye.
I joined in on
@BlueHammer85 thread late as I generally don’t like the competitiveness between tastes in music, but have since found that most of even the familiar artists are still new to me, concerning playing of a whole album.
@RobMCFC ‘s thread is different. It is personal and has thrown up stuff I never in a million years would have found, or considered, even if I had found it.
The personal journeys aren’t for everyone, but I like them.
So when Rob asked me to choose, I was thrilled but panicked also.
I was going through a rough enough couple of months and still am in ways, and this had a great effect on my mood and the type of music that was comforting me. It had a bearing on some of my reviews or lack of them early on, as some of the heavier stuff was just not conducive to the mood in the house.
Ok. Even those that aren’t already halfway through the album by now are probably bored, so on to the music.
If this was last year I’d have gone with “Rory Gallagher Irish Tour ‘74”. No hesitation.
But right now I had three albums that I couldn’t decide between, each that for their own reasons have really helped me these last number of months.
Two are quite melancholy but beautiful.
The other, just lifts my mood every time I play it. It’s pop/light rock or whatever but it can be subtle in it’s subject matter.
Paradise in the Picture House by The Stunning.
This was their debut album in 1990 and spent 5 weeks at no.1 in Ireland.
They had 4 excellent singles from the album that also spent a considerable time at the top of the charts and at that time in Ireland they were huge. Dare I say it, more popular than U2.
They hailed from Galway although the two founding members, brothers Steve and Joe Wall were from Ennistymon in The Burren area of Co. Clare and successfully took the focus of the music industry in Ireland out of Dublin.
In my opinion they are one of the best Irish groups never to make it big outside of Ireland and there is a long list to choose from.
Throughout the album which has a few well chosen bonus tracks on the cd version at the end, there is a clarity of vocals and guitar breaks that I love. The choice of acoustic, harmonica and brass and traditional instruments like the accordion is totally harmonious with the modern rock/pop and yet distinctly Irish roots that you aren’t allowed forget. For all the success of the likes of U2, and the Joshua Tree is a tremendous album, that’s something I can’t really forget. They sold their souls to America.
The Stunning represented modern Irish confidence in itself. The Cranberries and a few others at the time rolled with their own definitions of Irish music.
What was going on with Grunge in America and Madchester in the UK was totally different to what Ireland was producing and I loved it.
In a way that is part of the reason The Stunning never made it bigger.
They did tour the UK but the A&R men didn’t really know how to categorise them and they later tried a couple of self financed tours in the USA but by 1994 decided to call it a day.
Ireland never let them retire however and they have got back together regularly down the years and used to put on an annual concert. The two brothers formed an off shoot called The Walls as well, which I am currently enjoying checking out, very much.
The Stunning were a fabulous live act and the opening track;
Brewing up a storm, is a favourite and became a bit of a live anthem.
It’s as good an opener to an album as any.
The next two were also singles and carry on the up tempo upbeat feeling.
Romeo’s on Fire
Got to get away. (Lovely harmonica)
This Happy Girl follows and keeps the jaunty feel.
We then slow down into the next big single from the album.
I just love the subject matter of ‘Half Past Two’ and the very Irish soft subdued rather than overt handling of it.
Girl with the curl, just has a fabulous catchy guitar hook similar to the first track, it just rocks the song out of the pop zone.
Roll and Tumble has a more traditional West of Ireland feel and beautiful accordion interludes. Beautiful song.
An empty feeling, is a lovely ending to an album and it’s where the album title comes from.
The thing I like about the addition of the bonus tracks is that An empty feeling tells of their homesickness. A longing to get out of Dublin and go home.
The next song Town For Sale and you are placed right back in home. I love the description of the town market and Gaelic words like banbh, pronounced bonnov , meaning piglet and the reality of what their hometown is like now, and then the song Wish We Never Met. There is a continuity there, from where An Empty Feeling left off. The whole album order seems autobiographical.
The final two bonus tracks are live and wrap things up nicely.
A Delicate Web - great song
Men Without Souls - a poignant ending considering what was going on in Ireland at the time.
This is easy enough to listen to.
But….
This probably isn’t going to be to most people’s taste in here,I’m guessing. Maybe too light or pop, although I just see them as great songs. Even the sadder elements are uplifting.
There’s probably a reason why it didn’t get a wider audience than Ireland. But I love it.
