The Underground of Happiness

RF solo. With acoustic guitar. And many bottles of water. Older. Less hair. But still with some moves. Well cut suit. And the pout is intact. When I was growing up I had four brothers. David (Bowie). Lou (Reed). David (Byrne). And Tom (Verlaine). A fine set of siblings. Surfing magazines. With the crowd singing the da-das. The crowd singing along to every song. Let me imagine you. His most streamed song. The announcement of the guitar solo. The sublime melody of Dive for your memory that would cut you in two. We may not see him live again. We will never see his like again. The Candle And The Flame by Robert Forster Songs to Play by Robert Forster

The final weekly show for the time being has a number of my favourite things in 2018 so far. Caroline Says , a dream pop of devastating hush. Jim Ghedi , beautiful chamber folk and each element holding its own. La Luz , stalking noir pop with an unbeatable bassline. Kacy & Clayton , great country rock with an unforgettable lead vocal. Jack Hayter's wonderful heart on sleeve narratives. And new Jessica Risker , folk music with gorgeous/unsettling psych tones. Keep in touch on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 486 Tues Apr 17 2018 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm *listen back to this show here goo.gl/C2Skvv Playlist The Byrds – She don’t care about time Kacy & Clayton – A lifeboat ( playing Cathedral Arts Quarter Festival, Belfast, May 7 ) J...

I went to see Robert Forster a couple of weeks ago. It was the fifth time I’d seen him in the flesh. There was the first time in The Mean Fiddler in Dublin in late 1996 around the time of the Warm nights album. I love that album and the gig was a great upbeat joyous occasion. The next time was in the same venue about 9 months later, in June 1997. It was the same rhythm section from the 1996 solo gig (Adele Pickvance and Glenn Thompson) with Grant McLennan added, The Go Betweens reunion tour. There was a kind of gospel service atmosphere in the packed room. A palpable air of expectation. When they came on stage the emotion was hard to take. By the time they finished the first song (I can’t remember what it was now), I was in tears. In fact, I felt like I could leave satisfied at that point. Something in me had been fulfilled, already, within the space of a few minutes. You see, I became a fan of The Go Betweens after they broke up so I’d never seen them play live before. B...

Galway singer Brigid Mae Power has hooked up with Peter Broderick on production for her new album, a lovely spacious set full of captivating vocals. It's out on Tompkins Square . Robert Rotifer ploughs a line I like a lot - sombre measured songwriting with a political undercurrent. Britta Phillips' debut solo album is out, it's full of sweet arrangements and dream pop gorgeousness. And a trio of sumptuous orchestrations from the late 60s/early 70s - Lee Hazlewood invoking Morricone, Frank Sinatra invoking Jimmy Webb, The Beach Boys making vocal harmony orgasm. More on these pages. The Underground of Happiness uplifting pop music of every creed www.theundergroundofhappiness.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/theundergroundofhappiness Twitter: UndergroundOfHappy Playlist 404 Tues May 31 2016 11.00am-12.00pm (repeated on Tuesdays 8.30pm) UCC 98.3FM listen live on the web at www.ucc.ie/983fm *listen back to this show here https://goo.gl/7CJ...