This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to…..Power of Dreams November 30, 2013
Posted by irishelectionliterature in This Weekend I'll Mostly Be Listening to....trackback
A band I was very fond of when they were around in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Saw them a number of times live back then. They had a number of albums and EP’s most of which I have on vinyl. Their first album ‘Immigrants, Emigrants and me’ remains a favourite. They were slightly popular back then and were tipped for great things. They were very popular in Japan and there were all sorts of fancy looking Japanese Import Power of Dreams CDs in some of the better record shops.
They reformed in 2009. There’s a fairly good 2009 interview from Craig Walker of the band here .
The second video below was filmed in London. Same studio as nothing compares 2u apparently.
Easy to guess who I’ll be mostly listening to in two weeks time .
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
I must have seen them loads of times as support act. They always seemed younger at the time.
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Re PoD, 100 Ways was a fantastic single. Always reminded me of this record.
And I’d imagine both were a big influence on these.
They had a certain poshness of sound in common (don’t know how middle class any of the band members were but they had a certain fee paying school flavour.) Not that there’s anything wrong with that, nice to hear Power of Dreams again. They were probably unlucky to get their chance at a big break right at the time the house music explosion seemed to render guitar bands hopelessly old fashioned. The Brit Pop era would probably have been better for them.
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Yeah, they were swamped, like a lot of Irish bands, by that. Something Happens in a way likewise, do you remember their ‘grunge’ second or third album (shudder!).
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Apologies but couldn’t think of anywhere else to put this. Listening to a good few songs from late seventies/turn of the eighties lately, probably because of those Olympia gigs. Not everything has aged well, not everything was meant to. But this really has I think.
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Of course this is timeless.
And anyone who likes the Blades should like this. All that forgotten talent around then.
This is good too.
Much better than Andrew Strong.
Someone should do a Nuggets type thing on these bands. I’ve been trying to sell publishers on a book about it for years but nothing doing. Philistines.
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Procession is such a brilliant song, even if a bit atypical for The Atrix (good name too). It’s so quintessentially 1981
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‘The agony of watching your life makes it hard to watch my own, when you’re mingling with a multitude that’s when you’re most alone,’ is pure 1981 alright. But also literate and brilliant as they usually were. Ah why not. They were a wonder.
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They really were, something amazing going on with them. Btw are you in Dublin for the Blades?
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Going to town today to buy ticket for the Saturday night which seem to be still available despite sold-out claims elsewhere. So looks likely. And then I’m gonna party like it’s 1989, or 1985 I suppose really.
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Blades ticket sorted for the 14th. You supply the Dutch Gold, I’ll bring the batter burgers and we can recapture that mid eighties feeling by emigrating the following day.
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Many a true word spoken in jest…
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Great to see The Central Remedial Clinic getting in on the eighties act by sending on Charlie Haughey’s old accountant Des Peelo, a man so besmirched in slime it oozed out across the airwaves, to defend their paying of exorbitant wages to their executives while cutting services. As he denied accusations which had never been made, feigned outrage and avoided questions from Toothless Sean O’Rourke, doing his impression of the copper in the Poirot novel who says ‘I’m sorry to trouble you with this your Lordship,’ it was like the good old Haughey days again.
Someone made the point the other day that it’s sickening to see former politicians go in at the top of charitable organisations and the CRC scandal shows the price charities pay for lying down with dogs.
Though, as our now political guru Brendan O’Connor said, we shouldn’t be depending on charities to look after the weakest in society anyway. Hard not to hear Peelo, whose presence was a real two fingers by the CRC to the public, and think that one reason there’s no willingness to have the state make charity unnecessary is because the charitable sector is such a handy bolthole for scoundrels.
It really did remind me of how big a part fury at the awfulness of those in authority was during the eighties. Peelo channelled CJH so convincingly it was like the little bollocks had come back from the grave.
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On the subject of music, reading Bedsit Disco Queen, Tracey Thorn’s autobiography, wonderful, passionate, humorous, modest look at life in a band. Worth including on your Santa list.
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Ah, she’s a cool woman, got to get that. Thanks for the reminder! In fact I know just the person!
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RIP. Junior Murvin 1949-2013.
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[…] IEL mentioned POD here some time back. Jason O”Toole and an interview with Craig Walker from the band in the Daily Mirror this last week or so. And very interesting it is too. Not least how they were influenced by A House in terms of simply making music. […]
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