Top 102 Albums. No 94. Saturday Captains

Top 102 Albums. No 94. 
Saturday Captains - Saturday Captains

This is my list so, my rules. It might seem a bit previous to be including an album that I only discovered this evening but, hey, it's my list. Firstly, a declaration of interest. More years ago than I care to remember I met Barry O'Mahony. I was working with him and got on famously. Barry had the most encyclopaedic knowledge of music and a wonderfully sly sense of humour. When he asked me along to see his band play I was worried that they wouldn't be good and that I'd end up in awkward prevarication when he asked me what I thought.


There was no need to prevaricate. The band was Luggage and those few who saw them,  saw them  many times and will need little prompting to tell you just how good they were. That they remained the possession of a select few was probably due in part to their poor choice of svengalis. But I did it for love and hey, some offer fifteen minutes of fame, I offered a whole lifetime of obscurity? Sorry!

Memories of my time with Luggage are filled with music, watching magic happen before me as some of my favourite songs came into being. It inspired me to try my own hand at the whole rock 'n' roll thing but they can't be held responsible for that. I even named a song for Barry as his encouraging words formed the chorus. In a moment of vanity I am posting it here.



I thought, like so many dreams, that Barry's had slowly evaporated as the recognition Luggage so richly deserved and which at times had seemed immanent never materialised. And as I drifted into my bucolic rural semi-retirement from life I lost contact with Barry.

However, today, at a funeral service for a mutual friend I met Barry again and was excited to hear that he had an album out under the moniker Saturday Captains. This time I am not surprised to find that it is living up to that excitement. I have been listening to it all night and am not going to stop in order to write about another album for this list. I guess that means that this album has muscled its way in and some old favourite will have to bite the dust. But I am sure that this will become an old favourite too. All it needs is time.

Their website is http://saturdaycaptains.com/music where more can be found out about them. Barry's co-conspirator is Brendan Tallon who some of you may remember from Revelino. My initial favourite track is Fool Then but the whole album gets better with each listen. Suffused with wistfulness and gentle regret over gorgeous melodies the album is a new, and hopefully successful and fecund chapter in the career of one of Ireland's hidden talents. And a really nice guy, no matter what he says. And Brendan Tallon is no slouch on guitar.