_{FWiW- 0090}

1991

Welcome to this month’s >Rewound. It’s certainly a bumper edition, crammed full of all kinds of good stuff!

April see’s the start of the golf majors with the season teeing off in Augusta, Georgia, on the south Carolina border. This month we feature a short piece on the 1991 Masters Golf tournament.

Other than being famous for it’s annual golf event, the city is also known for once being the home of soul legend James Brown.

My travels around Northern Ireland continue with a visit to a famous distillery and an extremely uncomfortable afternoon at a frozen football match…

Finally the Record Collector informs us what albums released this month, have found their way into his personal record collection.

All this and more in the latest edition of

< Rewound

What’s

this issue

Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before

On This Day

Golf: The Masters

Mark on the Move

The Brit Awards

New Films

Play Cricket, Will Travel

New Books

Hello, I’m New Here

The Record Collector: Featuring the Albums of the Month

More Record Collector

On Tour

U.K. Singles Chart

U.K. Albums Chart

Endless Art (part 2)

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_{With thanks to the following publications, streaming services, and websites for their help with this issue:}

Wikipedia, AllMusic, Mojo Magazine, NME, Uncut Magazine, GoodReads, Rotten Tomatoes, Pitchfork, Q Magazine, Far Out Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, Album of the Year.com, The Great Rock Discography, Spotify, Apple Music, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (Robert Dimery), IMDb.com, All-Time Top 1000 Albums (Colin Larkin), On This Day.com, Historic-newspapers.co.uk.

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^{“Belfast how I know you so well, you’re like heaven you’re like hell” Belfast by Energy Orchard (1990)}

I only went to watch one game of professional football while I lived in Northern Ireland. One afternoon, Allan, who lived in nearby Bangor, took me to watch Northern Ireland’s finest, Glentoran F.C., play at a frozen Oval Ground in Belfast.

I sat in one of those unglamorous covered stands pictured above on the coldest Saturday afternoon of my life. It was probably the main stand, but I can’t be sure. Due to its proximity to the Belfast shipyards, the Oval suffered severe bomb damage during the Belfast Blitz in 1941. It hardly seemed much improved as I shivered gloomily on terraces that Saturday afternoon many moons ago.

According to Wikipedia:

‘Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours, making them one of the most successful teams in the world.’

They continue with this factoid:

‘Glentoran’s finest hour came in a European Cup encounter with Benfica in 1967. The tie was played over two legs, the first being at the Oval. Glentoran scored a penalty early on and held out for nearly sixty minutes until football great Eusébio equalised. The match ended 1–1. The return tie was at Benfica’s Estádio da Luz. Part-time Glentoran were expected to crumble under the pressure of the occasion, but again held out for a famous 0–0 draw. Benfica advanced to the next round on the away goals rule. Glentoran were the first team to lose out to this rule and the first team to stop Benfica scoring at home.’

My new mates at the ground that day were proud to tell me that George Best watched Glentoran with his grandfather as a young boy – but was rejected by the club for being “too small and light.” However, Best did make one appearance for Glentoran in the club’s centenary match against Manchester United in 1982.

I am not sure who ‘the Glens‘ were playing that day. I don’t think it was their bitter rivals Linfield, who they usually play at home on Boxing Day. Possibly, it was Larne or Coleraine? Larne sounds somehow familiar to me. But, time and my fading memory of that trip, has robbed me of exactly who it was that played out to a drab draw with Glentoran, as I shivered myself blue, and wished the game would come to an end, in the half-full stadium.

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^{“I read the news today, oh boy” A Day in the Life by The Beatles (1967)}

1991,

it seems, was quite a violent and tragic month

4th – In an electronics store in Sacramento, California 41 people are taken hostage by four gunmen. The incident is the biggest hostage negotiation in the US and three gunmen are killed along with three hostages.

4th – Seven people are killed when a helicopter collides with a private plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.

6th – Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona is suspended for 15 months by Italian League for testing positive for cocaine use.

7th – ITV airs the first Prime Suspect series.

Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. Broadcast on ITV between 1991 and 2006, it stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London’s Metropolitan Police Service, who rises to the rank of Detective Superintendent while confronting institutionalised sexism within the police force.

and two of my favourite TV shows in 1991:

7th – Comedy drama The Darling Buds of May makes its debut on ITV.

The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama television series, produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network, first broadcast between 7 April 1991 and 4 April 1993. The first six episodes of Series 1 and the first two of Series 2 are adaptations of the 1958 novel of the same name, and three of its four sequels, by H. E. Bates. The remaining episodes are original storylines based on the same format.

Set in rural 1950s Kent, it follows the life of the Larkin family. It stars David Jason as “Pop” Larkin alongside Pam Ferris as “Ma” Larkin, with Catherine Zeta-Jones playing their eldest daughter Mariette, who marries tax inspector Cedric “Charley” Charlton, played by Philip Franks. A ratings success, it was Zeta-Jones’s breakthrough role.

The title is from the third line of Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 – “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.”

7th – The final episode of the sitcom Brush Strokes is broadcast on BBC1.

Brush Strokes was a British television sitcom on BBC1 from 1986 to 1991. I was hooked on it when I lived in London in 1988. I’d played cricket for North Middlesex in the County Leagues that year. I was pleased it was still going when I returned three years later.

Set in South London, it depicted the (mostly) amorous adventures of a wisecracking house painter, Jacko (Karl Howman). There were 40 episodes spread over six series.

Jacko works as a house painter alongside his brother-in-law, Eric (Mike Walling), who was married to Jacko’s sister Jean (Nicky Croydon). He lives with his sister and brother-in-law. Jacko also shares an anti-authority humour. In this case, the butt of his humour is his boss, Lionel Bainbridge.

I loved Darling Buds and Brush Strokes and watched them whenever I could, right through my stay in Northern Ireland in 1991. British TV in those days was far superior to what was on South African television at the time.

10th – 140 people are killed when Italian ferry Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker off the coast of Livorno, Italy. The collision is caused by dense fog.

11th – Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s musical “Miss Saigon,” based on Giacomo Puccini’s “Madam Butterfly,” and starring Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga opens at Broadway Theater, NYC; runs for 4,092 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards

Pryce, then and now:

_{Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards, and a knighthood for services to drama. He has also received nominations for an Academy Award, four Primetime Emmy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards.}

14th – 20 paintings are stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Within an hour the paintings, worth 💲500 million, are found near the museum in an abandoned car.

⚽

14th – Tottenham Hotspur end Arsenal’s hopes of the double and boost their own hopes of an eighth FA Cup triumph with a 3–1 win in the first FA Cup semi-final to be played at Wembley. Nottingham Forest win the other semi-final, crushing West Ham United 4–0 at Villa Park.

15th – 95th Boston Marathon: Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya wins his 2nd men’s title in 2:11:06; Wanda Panfil of Poland woman’s champion in 2:24:18

15th – European foreign ministers lift most remaining sanctions against South Africa

16th – Graeme Souness is named as Liverpool’s new manager, departing from Rangers, where he is succeeded by Walter Smith.

18th – Martin Hannet dies in Manchester, as a result of heart failure.

James Martin Hannett (born 31 May 1948) was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson’s Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and Happy Mondays. His distinctive production style embraced atmospheric sounds and electronics.

After leaving Factory, Hannett’s career declined due to his heavy use of alcohol and drugs, especially heroin. He later married his partner Wendy. His headstone at Southern Cemetery, Manchester pays him tribute as being the creator of “The Manchester Sound.”

19th – Evander Holyfield beats George Foreman by unanimous decision in 12 rounds for heavyweight boxing title. Holyfield, then 28, was the reigning heavyweight champion, while Foreman, at 42, was making a comeback after a long absence from the sport.

20th – The Sports Channel on BSB is rebranded as Sky Sports

26th – Soccer star Diego Maradona, already suspended for using cocaine, is arrested in Argentina for possession & distribution of illegal narcotics

🌪

26th – Across Central United States, 55 tornadoes break out. The most powerful one strikes Andover, Kansas. 21 people are killed

If you think the above was terrible …

29th – In Racha, Georgia 270 people are killed by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7

… and it gets worse …

29th – In Bangladesh, 138,000 people are killed by a tropical cyclone

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^{“Maybe it’s because I’m from Augusta, Georgia” Georgia On My Mind by James Brown (1967)}

🏌️‍♂️⛳

On the sports front, one of my favourite events of the calendar year takes place.

The 1991 Masters Tournament was the 55th Masters Tournament. Held this year from April 11–14 at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

How it all unfolded late on the Sunday afternoon:

Woosnam, Olazábal, and two-time champion Tom Watson, age 41, were all tied at −11 going into the 72nd hole.

Olazábal, a group ahead of the final pairing of Woosnam and Watson, went from fairway bunker to greenside bunker and failed to hole a 45-foot (14 m) par putt.

Watson, who had eagled both 13 and 15, missed the fairway right with his tee shot and then hit his second shot into a greenside bunker. He chipped out and three-putted for a double bogey.

Woosnam then holed an 8-foot (2.4 m) par putt for the green jacket.

It was the fourth consecutive year that the Masters champion was from the United Kingdom, which had no winners prior to Sandy Lyle‘s victory in 1988. Nick Faldo won the green jacket in 1989 and 1990. Ian Woosnam is still the only winner at Augusta from Wales.

Olazábal later won two Masters, in 1994 and 1999.

Top Ten

1. Ian Woosnam (Wales) 2. Jose Maria Olazábal (Spain) T3. Ben Crenshaw, Lanny Wadkins, Steve Pate, Tom Watson (all USA) T7. Ian Baker-Finch (Australia) , Andrew Magee, Jodie Mudd (both USA) T10. Hale Irwin (USA), Tsuneyuki Nakajima (Japan).

and finally

Phil Mickelson, a 20-year-old junior at Arizona State, was the low amateur at 290 (+2) and tied for 46th place.

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_{“Thank God for Irish whiskey, Thank the devil for pretty girls, Make a mess of all us lucky boys” Irish Whiskey, Pretty Girls by Old 97s (2017)}

Mark

on the move

With a good few weeks in the ‘Dee under my belt, I had settled into life in County Down quite nicely. I was even getting used to the abundant and soggy grey cloud that had hovered above me since I had arrived. I think I went at least two months without seeing a hint of blue sky, let alone the sun!

Not bothered by the weather, my gracious hosts were only too pleased to show me around their fascinating and beautiful country.

An early highlight was a lingering visit to a town called Bushmills.

_{From Wikipedia:}

‘Bushmills (is a village on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located 60 miles (97 km) from Belfast, 11 miles (18 km) from Ballycastle and 9 miles (14 km) from Coleraine. The village owes its name to the River Bush and to a large watermill that was built there in the early 17th century. It is home to the Old Bushmills Distillery, which produces Irish whiskey, and is near the Giant’s Causeway.’

The distillery’s products include the Bushmills Original and Black Bush blends (YUM!), as well as the 10, 12, 16, and 21-year-old Bushmills Single Malts. To celebrate the 400th anniversary of distilling starting in the area the distillery released a unique whiskey called the “1608” which included crystal malt. The distillery draws its water, not from the River Bush itself, but from a tributary known as Saint Columbs Rill.

The town Bushmills is twinned with Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States.

We of course sampled some of the product while we were there 😉

🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

While on the subject of Bushmills Black Bush here’s a proper

recipe

In Donaghadee and Bangor they called this a ‘Hot Bush‘ and it would often be our last drink of the evening, after a skinful of Guinness or Lagers. On an especially cold night we’d sink one just before lurching out into the cold air to clamber into your taxi for the drive home.

Ingredients:

• 8 whole cloves
• 1  slice of lemon
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• ¾ cup boiling water
• 1 – 2 tots of Bushmills Black Bush (otherwise it’s NOT a HOT BUSH!!)

Warning: It is very potent. Just one of these will warm you up and basically make you good for nothing afterward—what a treat!

😆

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^{“I’m worth a million in prizes, Yeah I’m through with sleeping on sidewalks” Lust for Life by Iggy Pop (1977)}

1991

Brit Awards 1991 was the 11th edition of the evening, an annual pop music awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. Produced by Jonathan King, the glittering event took place on 10 February at the Dominion Theatre in London.

They were first held in 1977 and originated as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industry’s trade association, the BPI. In 1989, they were renamed The BRIT Awards.

The highest profile music awards ceremony in the UK, the BRIT Awards have featured some of the most notable events in British popular culture, such as the final public appearance of Freddie Mercury, the Jarvis Cocker protest against Michael Jackson, the height of a high-profile feud between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur, the Union Jack dress worn by Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls, and a Chumbawamba member throwing a bucket of iced water over then-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

These moments took place in the 1990s when the ceremony had a reputation for being “a little shambolic, unpredictable and, at times, anarchic” with a criticism it has lost its edge since then and “evolved into a more polished, sanitised affair.” Otherwise known as fucking boring.

The BRIT Awards were broadcast live until 1989, when Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood hosted a widely criticised show in which little went as rehearsed.

From 1990 to 2006, the event was recorded and broadcast the following night. From 2007, The BRIT Awards reverted to a live broadcast on British television, on 14 February on ITV.

_{Hosted in 1991 by the English radio presenter Simon Bates who has worked at BBC Radio 1 between 1976 and 1993, presenting the station’s weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. I listened to him often during my ’91 visit to Ireland. He later became a regular presenter on Classic FM. Simon hosted the breakfast show on Smooth Radio from January 2011 until March 2014, and took on the same role at BBC Radio Devon from January 2015 until January 2017. He is now 78 and I imagine, retired.}

In

the winners were

Live performances on the night by:

Adamski with Seal – “Killer“
The Beautiful South – “A Little Time“
Betty Boo – “Where Are You Baby?“
The Cure – “Never Enough“
EMF – “Unbelievable“
Status Quo – Medley of Hits “Caroline“/ “Down Down“/ “Whatever You Want“/ “Rockin’ All Over The World“

Brits ’91

Gallery

_{Clockwise from top left: Betty Boo & Marie Fredriksson (Roxette), EMF, Betty, the dude from Roxette, and Marie, George Michael, Julee Cruise, and Lisa Stansfield}

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^{“And a rock n roll dream, She’s making movies on location” Skateaway by Dire Straits (1980)}

📽

This month in

“The fact that Guilty by Suspicion has been made at all shows to what extent we’ve recovered; the fact that it leaves so much of the story still untold, shows to what extent we haven’t.“

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Guilty by Suspicion is a period drama about the Hollywood blacklist, McCarthyism, and the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Written and directed by Irwin Winkler in his directorial debut, the film stars Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, and George Wendt (Norm in Cheers). The character of David Merrill was inspired by the experiences of John Berry during the Hollywood blacklist era. Martin Scorsese makes an appearance as the character Joe Lesser. Two of my favourite actors Chris Cooper and Tom Sizemore also appear in smaller roles.

The film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote that the film “teaches a lesson we are always in danger of forgetting: that the greatest service we can do our country is to be true to our conscience.”

_{Clockwise: Annette, Chris, Norm I mean George, Tom and Bob}

🎞🎞🎞🎞

True Colors is a political drama directed by Herbert Ross, written by Kevin Wade, and starring John Cusack, James Spader, Imogen Stubbs, Mandy Patinkin, and (in one of his final film roles) Richard Widmark. The film has ambition. It wants to be an All the King’s Men or The Candidate for the 1990s, a film to show how unprincipled ambition can lead a young man to the very top of politics, and then cast him down again. The new twist this time is that the young man comes from humble origins, and betrays the rich aristocrat who has been his friend. Usually it’s the other way around.

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^{“Here comes the rain again, Falling on my head like a memory” Here Comes the Rain Again by Eurythmics (1983)}

will

I didn’t unfortunately keep any records of how my season of playing cricket in Ireland went. However, I recently stumbled on a mention in my old scrapbook of something that has certainly faded from my old memory banks.

A pre-season cricket tour!!

After a few flimsy indoor net sessions, the Donaghadee Cricket Club set off for a weekend of friendlies in the North-West of Ireland. I could already tell we were far from a battle-hardened team of cricketing warriors. It had also been almost three months since I had played a game (back in January in South Africa), so was feeling completely out of touch myself.

We were due to play Limavady Cricket Club on the 20th of April 1991 – and then the following day our opponents would be the much vaunted Eglinton Cricket Club.

I was really hoping to impress.

First stop

Limavady is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying 17 miles (27 km) east of Derry and 14 miles (23 km) south-west of Coleraine.

The drive from Donaghadee to Limavady is 78.6 miles and took almost two hours. We spent the Friday night in a pleasant hotel near the ground. I am sure we also knocked back a good few jars of ‘black’ in the local pub in preparation for the opening match the following day.

Saturday dawned gloomy and grey, the clouds hovering above us as we hesitantly set out for our first match in a steady drizzle after breakfast.

I recall wondering if we would would play at all that day, but this being Ireland, we did!!

_{These are the exact match reports I typed up for my scrapbook(yes, we used actual typewriters back then 😆).}

Match Report 1: Donaghadee v Limavady

‘Match played almost entirely in a drizzle. Outfield muddy and the ball like soap. I scored 14 runs and took 1 wicket. We lost badly.‘

I don’t remember much else about the game but what I wrote above for my scrapbook.

We then moved on to our next match which would take place the following day. The drive to Eglinton from Limavady is about 13 miles and takes 25 – 30 minutes. Or so Google Maps tells me now thirty-odd years later!!

Eglinton is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-east of Derry, to which it serves as a sleeper village, and 9.5 miles (15.3 km) south-west of Limavady.

Sunday dawned brighter than Saturday. That wasn’t hard but it was wonderful to see the sun for a change. We set out for this game with high hopes.

Match Report 2: Donaghadee v Eglinton

‘Sunny spells and icy winds. Eglington’s West Indian pro Headley Wallace smashes us for 70 runs. I bowl poorly but take a good catch. I scored 27 when we get to bat. We lost badly. A good tour.’

I was pleased to get some runs on the board (41 over the weekend), but it was the start of a trend that I never really shook off the entire season. Battle my way into the twenties or thirties, and then get out. I knew one big score would settle me down and I would be up and running – but little did I know, that score would never come.

I took a few snaps before this second game – the weather in Limavady, the previous day, being too atrocious to consider anything else, except avoiding frost-bite and trying (unsuccessfully) to stay dry.

Welcome to club cricket in Ireland, Mark Wilson!

gallery

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^{“And I’m giving you a longing look, Everyday, Everyday, Everyday I write the book” Everyday I Write the Book by Elvis Costello (1983)}

📚

This month’s new

Andy, Dag and Claire have been handed a society priced beyond their means. Twentysomethings, brought up with divorce, Watergate and Three Mile Island. All three were scarred by the ’80s fallout of yuppies, recession, crack and Ronald Reagan. They represent the new generation, Generation X.

Fiercely suspicious of being lumped together as an advertiser’s target market, they have quit dreary careers and cut themselves adrift in the California desert. Unsure of their futures, they immerse themselves in a regime of heavy drinking and working at no-future ‘McJobs’ in the service industry.

Underemployed, overeducated, intensely private and unpredictable. They have nowhere to direct their anger. So they tell stories; disturbingly funny tales that reveal their barricaded inner world. A world populated with dead TV shows, ‘Elvis moments’ and semi-disposable Swedish furniture…

Tim Winton’s masterful family saga is both a paean to working-class Australians and an unflinching examination of the human heart’s capacity for sorrow, joy, and endless sweeps in between.

An award-winning work, Cloudstreet exemplifies the brilliant ability of fiction to captivate and inspire. Struggling to rebuild their lives after being touched by disaster, the Pickle family, who’ve inherited a big house called Cloudstreet in a suburb of Perth, take in the God-fearing Lambs as tenants. The Lambs have suffered catastrophes and are determined to survive to open a grocery on the ground floor.

From 1944 to 1964, the shared experiences of the two overpopulated clans—running the gamut from drunkenness, adultery, and death to resurrection, marriage, and birth—bonded them to each other and to the bustling, haunted house in ways no one could have anticipated.

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^{“Gettin’ robbed, gettin’ stoned, Gettin’ beat up, broken boned, Gettin’ had, gettin’ took, I tell you folks its harder than it looks” It’s a Long Way to the Top (if You Wanna Rock n Roll) by AC/DC (1975)}

Four bands born in

This year saw the arrival of the following groups

1991 – 1996, 2016 – present

Belly is an alternative rock band formed in Rhode Island in 1991 by Tanya Donelly. The original lineup consisted of Donelly on vocals and guitar, Fred Abong on bass, and brothers Tom and Chris Gorman on guitar and drums respectively.

The band released two albums during the early 1990s (Star 1993 & King 1995) alternative rock boom before breaking up in 1996.

Belly’s most popular song and first single has become “Feed the Tree” off the album Star. It was a surprising pop hit on release, a light and swirly yet macabre dream-pop counterpoint to the more overtly grungy alt-rock that had overtaken the airwaves.

“Feed the Tree” currently has 12,188,146 Spotify plays. Followed by “Seal My Fate” (2,367,164), and “Gepetto” (1,912,315).

Belly reunited in 2016 and mounted limited tours in the United States and United Kingdom that year. In 2018 they released their third album Dove.

1991 – present

Dave Matthews Band is an American rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. Dave Matthews, Stefan Lessard, and Carter Beauford formed the band in 1991 with LeRoi Moore (saxophones), Peter Griesar (keyboards), and Boyd Tinsley (violin, backing vocals). After one independent live album, the band was signed by RCA Records and Griesar left the band to pursue as solo career.

A jam band, Dave Matthews Band is known for its tight, engaging live shows. The band has always encouraged fans to record its performances and was one of rock’s most bootlegged bands. In fact, a direct patch to the soundboard was made available to recordists until 1995, when some of these tapes found their way into less scrupulous, commercial-minded hands who overcharged fans in the band’s eyes. DMB cites college students trading these tapes in the early 1990s as a key reason for their current fame.

They have now released ten studio albums up until 2023’s Walk Around the Moon and continue to tour extensively.

I’m not the biggest Dave Matthews Band fan to roam planet earth – but two of his songs I really like are listed below.

The bands biggest songs would eventually become “Crash into Me” (235,481,931 Spotify plays) off the 1996 album Crash – and – “Ants Marching” (101,398,406 Spotify plays) off the 1994 album Under the Table and Dreaming.

1991 – present

Everclear is an American rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1991. The band was formed by Art Alexakis, the band’s lead songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, and for most of the band’s height of popularity, consisted of Craig Montoya on bass guitar and Greg Eklund on drums.

They would go on the release ten studio albums up until 2015’s Black is the New Black. Still active today but no new material since this release.

Everclear’ s biggest song would eventually become “Santa Monica” off the Sparkle and Fade album, which came out in 1995. At the time of writing this, the track had received 236,299,821 plays on Spotify and over 40 million YouTube views. “Father of Mine” (107,060,776), “I Will Buy You a New Life,” (51,163,030) and “Wonderful” (51,857,287) are another three big Everclear songs.

1991 – 2003

Fool’s Garden was a German band formed in 1991 in the city of Pforzheim. The founders of the group and the only permanent members are vocalist Peter Freudenthaler and guitarist Volker Hinkel. In 1993, bassist Thomas Mangold, keyboardist Roland Röhl and drummer Ralf Wochele were invited to join the band for recording of the first studio album Once in a Blue Moon.

The band became famous worldwide in 1995 owing to the release of their third studio album Dish of the Day and, in particular, the song “Lemon Tree,” which entered numerous music charts around the world and topped five of them.

The track currently has 554,567,650 plays on Spotify. It was their only hit.

“Save the World Tomorrow” (4,029,582) and “Pieces” (2,363,575) trail by some margin in 2nd and 3rd place for most spins on Spotify.

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^{“I tell you what is on my mind, I only want to be, In your record collection” Record Collection by Mark Ronson and the Business (2010)}

Yes, I am

_{All the following albums have found their way into my collection over the years}

Mark’s

1️⃣

_{Blue Lines}

by

“Flaunting both their range and their tremendously evocative productions, Massive Attack have possibly here recorded one of the best dance albums of all time.” (All Music Guide)

_{Can’t be with the one you love then love the one you’re with
Spliff in the ashtray, red stripe I pull the lid
Her touch tickles, especially when she’s gentle
But I don’t hear her words ’cause I slide the instrumental…}

^{[Opening lyrics from “Blue Lines,” track 3 on the lp of the same name]}

Massive Attack are generally best enjoyed whilst partaking in a little giggly twig – and this album is no exception. So, light up your spliff/joint/blunt/doobie (whatever you want to call the little buggers), crack open a can of (Red Stripe if you have, but it’s not essential) and luxuriate in the sheer blissfulness of this groups music.

BBC Radio One spun the singles off this album to death back in 1991. I warmed to the couple I heard, but it would be a good few years before I could really sink my teeth into the record in it’s entirety.

Blue Lines is generally considered the first trip-hop album, although the term was not widely used before 1994. A fusion of electronic music, hip-hop, dub, 1970s soul and reggae, it established Massive Attack as one of the most innovative British bands of the 1990s and the founder of trip-hop’s Bristol sound.

The album filters American hip-hop through the lens of British club culture, a stylish, nocturnal sense of scene that encompasses music from rare groove to dub to dance. It balances dark, diva-led club jams along the lines of Soul II Soul with some of the best British rap (vocals and production) heard up to that point, occasionally on the same track.

Seamlessly interchanging vocalists and lyrical personalities over nine flawless tracks. Across its nearly 45 minutes, Massive Attack’s Blue Lines is an absolute masterpiece. Game-changing and distinctive, to think this is only the beginning, says it all about the group.

‘Midnight rockers, city slickers, gunmen and maniacs‘ are the first words you’ll hear on “Safe From Harm.’” Metaphorically speaking, Massive Attack are all these and more, and Blue Lines only begs one question: how the fuck will they follow this? (the NME)

2️⃣

_{I Am The Greatest}

_{Whatever happened to good music?
You know in the days when you could feel it?
It was almost sexual
Sending shivers up your spine}

[Opening lyrics of “I Am the Greatest,” track 16 on the lp of the same name]

Some of what I absorbed through my year in Ireland on Radio One would shape my taste in pop music in many interesting and often obscure ways. I picked up many new artists I would possibly have missed out on.

One such example is an oddly named group who called themselves A House.

A who!?? I hear you ask.

A House were an Irish rock band that was active in Dublin from 1985 to 1997, and recognized for the clever, “often bitter or irony laden lyrics of frontman Dave Couse … bolstered by the [band’s] seemingly effortless musicality.”

I Am The Greatest is the band’s third album following up On Our Big Fat Merry Go Round (1988) and I Want Too Much (1990). It was produced by Edwyn Collins of the Scottish group Orange Juice.

I Am The Greatest contains 16 songs of cynicism and desperate hope, from the almost venomous diatribe of “I Don’t Care” to the gorgeous child-like pleading of “Take It Easy On Me.” The record is so full of blatant pain, anguish and fear that the listener feels uncomfortably voyeuristic at times. I love it!

For a while, A House was also a cult favourite amongst the indie kids of the time.

But, one track stands out more than any other on this record – it’s called “Endless Art“

“All art is quite useless according to Oscar Wilde“

The song itself – somewhat unusual in its musical approach – and even more so in its lyrics, which led off with the above quotation from Oscar Wilde and ran through an extensive roster of famous artists from various fields, all dead, with years of births and deaths specified…

…from the English painter “Joseph Turner (born in 1775 died in 1851),”

later “Otis Redding 1941 to 1967 RIP
All dead, yet still alive
In endless time, endless art
Masters of their arts“

all the way through to his final line … “Ian Curtis, Salvador Dali, Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse RIP“

Dave’s list of departed artists and musicians has always fascinated me. Not sure why? But, it does.

The BBC picked up their single “Endless Art” and briefly had it on rotation. My ear certainly appreciated what I was hearing.

“Endless Art” also benefitted from an accompanying video using clever stop-motion animation, which gained significant airplay on MTV in Europe. Due to the bad timing of the song’s distribution, the video seemed to be everywhere, but the record was not selling.

Sometime in the summer of ’91 and I headed to the VIRGIN Megastore in Belfast and forked out for the album on CD. I spun it endlessly on my little boom-box for the rest of the year. Listening to it now as I type this, I realise how timeless this art is … or should that be endless?

3️⃣

_Auberge

One of our favourite watering holes in Donaghadee was the bar at the Copelands Hotel. The elderly establishment was on Warren Road, near the ‘Dee Golf Course, and looked out onto the forbidding Irish Sea. It was not a Park Hyatt or even a Holiday Inn, that was for sure. But, for all its certain seediness, it had an abundance of charms and was very popular with the locals.

We went there often – especially on a Sunday!

“Only place you could get a drink on a Sunday as long as you had a meal. 10 pints and one chicken leg was very popular.“

Robert Neil

🤣🤣

At some point, I befriended the young manager there. I forget his name now. We were both nuts about music. His music collection seemed to include almost every long-playing record Van Morrison had made up to that point!!

Irish artists and groups littered his fine album choices – Thin Lizzy, Stiff Little Fingers, The Boomtown Rats, The Undertones, Clannad, and the Pogues, to name a few.

The Copelands manager was also a fan of Chris Rea. He had most of the man from Middlesbrough’s album in his collection!

The night I sat admiring his assembled records while nursing a pint of Guinness, the hotelier played me the latest Chris Rea release. It was this one pictured below – Auberge. Your man had got it earlier in the week, or maybe even that very same day?

It sounded crystal-clear on his stereo system, which aided Rea’s warm sound and gravelly voice.

Now, whenever I listen to this album or any of the big songs off of it – I think of that old hotel, the manager, his mighty bookcase of vinyl, and the beers I quaffed in that establishment.

Auberge might be a bit tough to break into at first, like a road map that you just can’t unfold, but that’s because ambitious, rangy songwriting is going to take a few odd turns on its way to the scenic overlook where everything becomes clear.

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_{^{“Who’s that on the racks again? A portrait of a crazy man, Trying to make a living off, An elpee’s worth of toons” An Elpee’s Worth of Toons by Todd Rundgren (1974)}}

Bonus

More April 1991 albums that have found their way into my bulging collection of musical art.

Kinky by Hoodoo Gurus (6/10) A bit of a disappointment after their excellent first four lp’s. Kinky rocks a bit too hard for its own good and tends to drown out the band’s poppier and more melodic inclinations, always one of their greatest virtues. Among the few songs where the band’s dynamics are right on target are “1000 Miles Away,” a surprisingly effective life-on-the-road ballad, and “Head in the Sand,” an angry anti-addiction rant that makes the most of its own fury.

Real Life by Simple Minds (5/10) My heroes of yore, continue their descent into blandness. This album is not terrible, but hardly Sons & Fascination, New Gold Dream, Sparkle in the Rain, or even Once Upon A Time.

The Ghosts That Haunt Me by Crash Test Dummies (6/10) before the ever-smug, collegiate, folk-pop humourists gave us “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” they made this fine debut album. The LP features the alternative rock hit “Superman’s Song.”

Spartacus by The Farm (7/10) – The indie boys from Liverpool don their baggy trousers, grab the smiley paraphernalia and get on the groovy train to Madchester to find resurrection.

Laughter & Lust by Joe Jackson (7/10) – After the bombastic arena rock of Blaze of Glory, Joe Jackson returns to his roots to deliver the most straightforward pop album in his career.

Whirlpool by Chapterhouse (8/10) – Adventurous participants in the first wave of ’90s shoegaze are quick to bring electronic and dance-oriented elements into their sound. As an album, it doesn’t per se connect as a unified piece – as a collection of mostly killer tracks, though, this is mighty fine.

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^{“The gentleman says, ‘Live music is better,’ bumpers stickers should be issued” Union Man by Neil Young (1980)}

On

in April

Monday 1st: The Point Theatre, Dublin

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Continue their “The Razors Edge” European Tour, Leg 1

Friday 26th: The Point Theatre, Dublin

Saturday 27th: Kings Hall, Belfast

“First time for me and at 15 it was a kick ass night to remember. The standing crowd was so rough and the sound inside the complex was ear-piercing. From this moment on I knew I had just seen the greatest rock n roll band ever. The whole band played there part. What a night!”

Giles from Belfast on the above show

_{[Only the third time the Australian power rockers had played in Belfast. They previously played two gigs there in August 1979]}

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Saturday 27th: Dublin National Stadium, Dublin.

_{[This was Morrissey’s first real solo concert, and his first time on tour in over four years. The 1500 tickets sold out in just 47 minutes! ]}

_{For those that don’t know … Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band The Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, he has pursued a successful solo career.}

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Have a full US tour scheduled this month. 19 dates confirmed from 1 to 26 April.

Including

Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th: The Roxy in Los Angeles. Support is Lush.

and

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This month at the

6th – Gary Glitter in the musical A Slice Of Saturday Night

7th – Kool and the Gang + 2 + 2 (support)

13th – Johnny Mathis

15th to 17th – Alexander O’Neal + Pasadena’s (support)

18th, 19th, 21st – Teena Marie

20th – Tom Jones

24th to 28th – Sting + Kennedy Rose (support)

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^{“And I’ll play you all the old 45s, They now mean nothing to me” Real Gone Kid by Deacon Blue (1989)}

the official

charts

Since the 30th of March the number one song in the United Kingdom is “The One and Only” by Chesney Hawkes.

It would remain there for the entire month of April.

Written by Nik Kershaw, the single was released by Chrysalis Records in January 1991.

The song was featured in the 1991 film Buddy’s Song which starred Hawkes as the eponymous Buddy and Roger Daltrey as his father.

The film performed moderately well at the UK box office, but the song was a hit in that country’s music charts, spending five weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in March and April 1991. Kershaw’s influence can also be heard throughout the track not only in guitar style, but in the backing vocals on the intro and choruses, with Hawkes singing backing on the verses.

Official Singles Chart Top 20 on 07/4/1991

1. The One and Only by Chesney Hawkes
2. Sit Down (1991 mix) by James 😎
3. The Whole of the Moon (1991 mix) by The Waterboys 😎
4. Rescue Me by Madonna
5. Rhythm of my Heart by Rod Stewart
6. The Size of a Cow by The Wonderstuff 😎
7. Joyride by Roxette
8. Anthem (1991 mix) by N-Joi
9. Deep Deep Trouble by The Simpsons
10. Love and Kisses by Danii Minogue
11. Secret Love by The Bee Gees
12. Human Nature by Gary Clail On-U Sound System
13. I’ve Got News For You by Feargal Sharkey 😎
14. Snap Megamix by Snap
15. Let There Be Love by Simple Minds 😎
16. It’s Too Late by Quartz featuring Dinah Carroll
17. Where the Streets Have No Name/Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You/ How Can You Expect to be Taken Seriously? by Pet Shop Boys 😎
18. Strike it Up by Black Box
19. Wear Your Love Like Heaven by Definition of Sound
20. Here We Go by C & C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams

at # 6

“The kind woman who introduced me to the Wonder Stuff, via a previous single called “Golden Green,” also relieved me of a burdensome virginity, so double thanks to her”

Clive Gulch

Wonder (ful) stuff, Clive 😆😆😆

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^{“I see you ‘ve sent my letters back, And my lp records and they’re all scratched” Can’t Stand Losing You by The Police (1978)}

Eurythmics, with their Great Hits compilation album, start their run at number 1, on the 30th of March. The record would remain at the UK albums summit for the entire month of April.

Review

It may have taken them a little while to get going, but when the Eurythmics hit their stride with their second album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). They then set off on a hit streak that defined them as one of the most commercially successful and musically satisfying new wave bands of the ’80s. For six years, the group was reliable, turning out at least one great single on each album, none of which sounded identical, yet all were recognizable as the work of Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox.

Official Albums Chart Top 20 on 7/4/1991 

1. Greatest Hits by Eurythmics ✔
2. Joyride by Roxette
3. Vagabond Heart by Rod Stewart
4. God Fodder by Ned’s Automatic Dustbin
5. Out of Time by R.e.M. ✔
6. Auberge by Chris Rea ✔
7. Inspector Morse by Barrington Pheloung
8. Mama Said by Lenny Kravitz
9. The Simpsons Sing the Blues by Simpsons
10. The Complete Picture – The Very Best Of by Deborah Harry and Blondie
11. The Immaculate Collection by Madonna ✔
12. Into the Light by Gloria Estefan
13. Listen Without Prejudice Volume 1 by George Michael ✔
14. The Doors OST by The Doors and Various Artists
15. Wicked Game by Chris Collection ✔
16. Circle of One by Oleta Adams
17. The Very Best of Elton John by Elton John
18. Buddy’s Song OST by Chesney Hawkes
19. Doubt by Jesus Jones ✔
20. Greatest Hits 1977 – 1990 by The Stranglers ✔

^{✔ in the collection}

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^{“Shine your light, Movin’ on, You burned so bright” Roll on, John by Bob Dylan (2013)}

‘Endless Art’ part 2 ?

If David Couse (of A House) had to write the lyrics to his song in 2025, then he may have to consider adding the following musicians, writers, and actors, whose art will be endless, even if they are no longer with us.

“All dead, yet still alive“

A House is Dead – Endless Art | Live from Soundcheck at NCH

Saturday, 29th June 2019, saw a very special performance at the NCH of I Am The Greatest, the A House album consistently recognised as one of the best to come from Ireland. For this one-off concert Dave Couse, Fergal Bunbury and friends re-interpreted the seminal 1991 album for 2019.

Oh, yeah
Ooh-hoo-hoo
Ziggy played guitar
Now Ziggy played guitar
Ziggy played guitar

all going well I’ll

See you in May, 1991 🙋‍♂️

^{Compiled, written, designed, and edited by Mark Wilson}

More of my blogs:

• My Favorite 80s Albums [part two]
• My Favourite 80s Albums (part one)
• Rewound 11
• Rewound 10
• Rewound 9