Mad world

Continuing our recent theme of going to see reformed 80’s groups, Tears for Fears were on our schedule at the weekend. Not a band whose albums I would have rushed out and bought first time around, but it’s always good to hear a few songs from your youth belted out by the original artistes, even if Roland does look more like Lawrence Llewlyn-Bowen these days. And the original Mad World is still a lot better than that effort that was No.1 at Christmas (which, spookily enough, was playing in the taxi on the way home).

The support was Irish Eurovision reject Fran King, who was kind of a less-polished cross between David Gray and the Finn Brothers… pleasant enough, but you get the feeling he might get a bit samey after a while. Will probably check out his new album (“Beautifcation”) at some point anyway, though… you can listen to his new single here.

Galway coast

A few mini-photos from our Easter weekend in Galway (most of which are actually of places in Co. Clare):

We stayed at the Ardilaun House Hotel, which was very pleasant indeed… not the cheapest, but their Easter weekend deal included dinner on one of the two nights and full use of the leisure facilities, so I took the opportunity to have my first-ever jacuzzi 🙂

‘Well beaten

About the only positive to take from Motherwell’s inexplicably poor performance in the CIS Cup Final
on Sunday is that at least Rangers didn’t make us look bad, which would
have made it much harder to stomach– we did it all by ourselves. 
It was such an inept performance that I can’t even bring myself to be
annoyed about it… we had no bad luck, no near misses, no dodgy
refereeing decisions (well okay, there were quite a few of those actually!).  We just
played
like a pub team, and Rangers took full advantage.

Will be interesting to see how serious David Murray really is
about banning supporters from Ibrox who sing sectarian songs, though–
if he is, then after their performance on Sunday, expect the crowd at their next home game to consist entirely of away fans…

Now playing: Midnight Rain (Rock Salt and Nails)

This latest CD
from the Shetland outfit was actually released in 2003, but Julie only
bought it for me this weekend 🙂  Hard to believe it’s nine years
since I first heard heard them playing at the Cambridge Folk Festival
I’d never heard
of them then, and my mate Paul whose tent I was sharing had been
reluctant to go and see their session, expecting them from the
programme description to be playing ‘rumpty tumpty
music’.  As it turned out, we liked them so much that we went to
see
their second session next day (and got them to sign a copy of their CD
for
Paul’s future wife).

Back to Midnight Rain, and I wasn’t surprised to see their usual per-album change of personnel and record company
they now seem to be rather uneasy bedfellows with hardcore sixties Aran
sweatsters Steeleye Span, Pentangle and Lindisfarne– but I was
pleased to see Calum Malcolm
back at the mixing desk.  This offering is a bit more soulful and
less manic than their previous outings, but still manages to mix new
songs, cover versions and traditional instrumentals to produce a take
on celtic fusion that’s recognisably their own.  I’d have liked to
hear more of Paul Johnston’s guitar though; he’s a great acoustic
soloist, but there are only a couple of short flashes to be heard in
this selection.

For a (not overly
representative) flavour of the band and their music, check out this short video.

Coop de Grace

Nice touch from the SFL to commemorate the untimely death of Davie Cooper
at next month’s League Cup Final between Motherwell and Rangers– two
of the three teams he played for, and ten years to the week since he
collapsed and died of a brain haemorrage on the training pitch at the
age of 39. Coop was probably the last true Scottish football great, and
certainly the most outrageously talented player ever to grace a
Motherwell shirt in my lifetime. (Reputedly, while playing in an Old Firm
match for Rangers, he stuck the ball down on the penalty spot in front
of the Celtic fans during the pre-match warmup, strode up to it
confidently and, with unusual inaccuracy, hit the crossbar with his
attempted conversion. While the Celtic fans were going wild with glee,
he retrieved the ball, put it back on the penalty spot, and proceeded
to hit the crossbar with pinpoint accuracy another three times in
succession. Apocryphal or not, it’s exactly the sort of thing he could have done…)

He was born and lived not far from me (well, before I left home
anyway)… in his amateur days, he played for a team coached by my
French teacher, and his funeral was held at my local church
quite an event in itself for an unassuming wee place, with the streets
around lined with fans of many Scottish teams, and the mourners
including the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, and current Scotland coach Walter Smith — how he could do with another Davie Cooper these days.