Stars of Heaven - two albums
Independent Records is a label out of Dublin, Ireland that has been releasing country and alt.country albums in Ireland for the past 20 years. Their impressive stable of artists include Josh Ritter, Johnny Dowd, and The Handsome Family. Yet hidden in their on-line catalog are these two alt,country albums gems by a Dublin-based group calls Stars of Heaven. They are offer as free and legal download and show a side to Irish rock that you may have not noticed before. The band broke up 20 years ago but still sounds fresh. They play a nice mixture of alt. country and 60’s british style rock. For the most part, I would place them more in the folk rock sound a la The Byrds. Sacred Heart Hotel has a clear country influence while Speak Slowly is a bit more varied. Both albums are very pleasant blasts from the past.
Both albums are available in 160kbps MP3.
One of my favourites from back in the day when John Peel used to play them regularly. Have them on vinyl, but hope that the downloads mean some others get to hear them now.
Comment by Gavin — January 20, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
They remind a bit of REM, good tip, thx
Comment by Trixi — January 21, 2010 @ 6:45 am
Great to see them posted, hopefully some belated international recognition will come their way. Both albums are real “growers” their true depths only coming out with repeated listens.
Comment by Stephen — January 21, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
Bought most of the Stars of Heaven/Revenants CDs in Road Records some years ago. Marvellous music, but with Road and similar sadly gone, it’s great that such musical milestones are readily available.
The actual Sacred Heart Hotel (the Sacre Coeur) in Galway was another victim of the Celtic Tiger a few years ago.
Comment by Martin Conneely — May 11, 2011 @ 9:47 pm