Posted in Music with tags into paradise on June 22, 2022 by Fanning Sessions
A recent post on the Into Paradise facebook page grabbed our attention – they had uncovered an unreleased demo from 1990 called ‘On Every Page‘. We contacted Dave and he provided some detail:
Jimmy Eadie found the tape.
On Every Page and Dive Instrumental live mixes were recorded in July 1990 , a month before we went to London to record Churchtown.
The Waterboys had cancelled a session in Ringsend Road studios, Ensign rang us to see if we wanted to use the free time.
Willie Mannion was the engineer on the session.
I think we only did the one night.
We then went to an early house at 6am and had a rake of pints and forgot all about the recording….
Dave also sent a number of further recordings and kindly allowed us post this track from a 1989 rehearsal tape.
Fans of Into Paradise should check out Dave’s recent appearance on Paul McDermott’s podcast ‘To Here Knows When’ to look at albums ‘Under The Water’ and ‘Churchtown’. Dave has been busy of late releasing solo material and most recently working with Shane O’Neill of Blue In Heaven, the pair releasing ‘age of finding stars‘ in April.
Paul Mc Dermott is no stranger round these parts, he is the man behind a series of excellent radio documentaries on Microdisney, Stump, Finbarr Donnelly and Michael O’Shea. Paul’s latest project is a podcast ‘To Here Knows When – Great Irish Albums Revisited‘ looking at the making of iconic Irish albums with one of the creators. The first episode featured Paul Page of Whipping Boy on their album ‘Heartworm‘ which has just been rereleased in an expanded edition by Needle Mythology (with new sleeve note by Colm O’Callaghan of The Blackpool Sentinel). Episode 2 looked at the Toasted Heretic album ‘Another Day, Another Riot‘ with Julian Gough which was also recently rereleased in digital form. We’re not big on podcasts here but Paul is on a one man mission to change that, both episodes were fantastic listens offering new detail on the recording of the albums and providing insight how the artists now feel about their creations at a 25 year remove. Episode 3 will feature Cathal Coughlan on ‘Viva Dead Ponies’ by Fatima Mansions which is also sure to be essential listening. We wish Paul the best of luck with the new venture and look forward to many more episodes.
Update: Adding Tom Dunne interview on the Newstalk Sean Moncrief show.
This is a nice promotional cassette produced in conjunction with Twix, featuring 10 of Dave Fanning’s favourite Irish tracks of 1990. Each one is introduced by Dave, with De Confidence receiving a particularly nice mention. Thanks to Eoin Fegan for sharing.
An Emotional Fish – Move On
The Dixons – Here Comes The Love Machine
The Stunning – Brewing Up A Storm
No Sweat – Waters Flow
The Honey Thieves – Drive
Into Paradise – Bring Me Closer
The Prayer Boat – Stopping the World
De Confidence – Dropout
Toasted Heretic – They Didn’t Teach Music in My School
A House – Bugaboo
One of our live highlights of 2018 was undoubtedly David Long’s show at Whelan’s. One of the many standout moments of the night was a track which Dave has kindly allowed us to post today. It comes from a forthcoming album ‘In Headphones’. Recorded by David Ayers the track was produced by David Long/Adrian O’Connell/David Ayers and features artwork by Noel Farrell/David Long. We asked novelist & Into Paradise fan Ben Vendetta if he would write a few words by way of introduction..
I was thrilled to learn that Into Paradise frontman Dave Long enjoyed my novel ‘Heartworm‘, which takes place in 90s Dublin. When the book was published in 2015, Dave wrote to me, saying “It’s great. I read it last night, it brought back so many memories from that time. I’m delighted that Into Paradise are in it too!”. Last week, I received another email from Dave with a new track. He wrote, “If they ever film your book I hope this song makes it on to the soundtrack!”. Having listened to it multiple times, I’d be thrilled to have this song on a soundtrack! ‘Underground Song’ hits hard like the best of Into Paradise, a poignant ballad about someone lost on his ‘musical feet’ pining for the days of the legendary Dublin venue. Namechecking Whipping Boy’s Fearghal McKee and Jeff Brennan of The Underground, if that isn’t enough to give you the chills, just wait for the end when Dave throws in a refrain from the stunning Whipping Boy single ‘Twinkle’ – “She’s the air I breathe, not too pure for me”. I can’t wait to hear more!
Former Into Paradise frontman David Long shows no sign of halting his prodigious musical output but he does make an all too rare return to the live scene tomorrow week for a solo acoustic show in Whelan’s. We have no idea if he will revisit the back catalog of the much loved band but were he to do so it might sound like this.
David Long the former frontman of much loved outfit Into Paradise has just released his third solo album ‘The Cult Of Two. Inspired by Roque of Cloudberry Records we decided to pose David a few questions and he was kind enough to respond. ‘The Cult Of Two’ is out now on iTunes and Spotify.
Where/when was the album recorded?
The album was recorded in North Kerry over a 3 month period from February to April of this year. It started with a postcard of a painting called Klein Blue by the French artist Yves Klein that was on my fridge. I started writing small piano pieces to go with the painting.
Is there anyone else on the album?
Shane O’Neill is on “The road ahead”. It was originally called “Between the earth and the sky”. I got that title from a book I was reading about North Korea, But decided to use the title “the road ahead” in the end. I had the shell of the song and sent it to Shane and 3 days later he sent his version back to me and I just loved it.
Who did the artwork?
My wife Aisling did the artwork for this album. It’s a photograph she took in Limerick. I just thought it fitted perfectly for the album title and music.
Any CD or vinyl release planned?
I hate CD’s. Nothing to do with the sound quality. Just the way they look. I love vinyl. But I’m not a vinyl snob. I listen to my vinyl on a €40 portable player in the kitchen and I love it. At some stage I will release my 3 solo albums on vinyl. And when I do I will just make 100 copies of each.
What are you working on next / any longer term plans?
I write most days, It’s what I do. So I don’t plan anything. After a while things just fall into place and you realise you have an album finished.
Do you have a project with Shane O’Neill (Blue in Heaven)?
Not really. Myself and Shane go back a long way. We were in a band called “Amuse” in the early eighties. A while back he sent me a piece of music and I put vocals on it and it became “Albert the painter”. I love that track. I was reading Herman Hesse’s short stories and one of the stories was called “The Painter” and that’s where I got the idea for the Albert song.
He’s painting his visions on cardboard left in empty houses… That’s me, Ha!
Any plans to tour? 🙂
No plans to tour. Maybe someday. When I’m sixty nine I’ll get helped up on the stage in my local pub in Kerry and make some noise.
Any hope of an Into Paradise reunion? 🙂
It’s something I never think about. But who knows?
Shane O’Neill & David Long ‘Albert The Painter’
Addendum: December 19th solo show in Whelan’s just announced!
The ever reliable Blackpool Sentinel yesterday published another excellent read on local favourites Into Paradise. As serendipity would have it we also just received a recording from Colm in Arklow of a session previously posted but now with better audio so we’ve decided what the heck. The session recorded for Dave Fanning on Jan 13th 1986 featured 3 further tracks which we’d love to hear – ‘Alone Again’, ‘A Good and Honest Man’ and ‘John’. Incidentally does anyone recognise the guest host sitting in for Dave? We have it on good authority that it could be Fachtna O’Kelly but stand to be corrected. Update: Thanks to Colm we have a further track.
Nigel Grainge was the founder of the Ensign Records and the man responsible for launching the careers of a host of bands many of whom were from these shores; Sinead O’Connor, The Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, The Waterboys, Into Paradise and Stump!. He died on 11th June 2017.
Tonight at 11pm on Dublin City FMPaul McDermott will pay tribute by playing many of the acts Nigel signed interspersed with an interview Paul conducted in 2015 when working on the Stump! documentary ‘Lights! Camel! Action!‘.
Posted in Music with tags into paradise on May 19, 2014 by Fanning Sessions
We understand this recording to be of the second last Into Paradise show. The setlist includes a cover of ‘Like A Hurricane’ and took place on Willie Nelon’s birthday making the date 23rd April 1993. Sound engineer for the gig was probably Pat O’Donnell (The Fountainhead). Download here.
01 – Deep Down
02 – Speak Slow
03 – All of These Things
04 – Angelus
05 – Sister
06 – Move Over
07 – Here Comes the End
08 – Move Up, Move On
09 – Must Get Better
10 – Only One
11 – Sleep
12 – Red and Blue
13 – Islands
14 – Like A Hurricane
15 – The Pleasure is Over
16 – Winter
We are big fans of Into Paradise and were delighted to hear from David Long of that parish recently. David kindly sent some kind words and a few tapes which he had dug out. Today we have the first of the fruits of said cassettes. The first track ‘I Can’t Live Without It’ is an outtake from the Churchtown sessions and the remaining three tracks are as of yet of unknown provenance. To come is a live recording of possibly the last ever Into Paradise gig. David of course released a solo album ‘Water Has Memory‘ last year which is well worth checking out.
I Can’t Live Without It (1991, Churchtown outtake)
We recently posted a number of tracks from David Long, but today we have the contents of a cassette David had a hand in namely Backwards Into Paradise. Said cassette gets a mention in a recent interview David did with Nick Kelly of the Irish Independent:
“We did so many things wrong. We were naive,” he said. “We’d been in different bands since the age of 17 until we got signed, when I was 26. We were a long time doing rehearsals and playing small gigs and getting nowhere, so when the chance did come we were more shocked that anyone had an interest.”
That interest came from a London-based Dubliner who was looking for Irish bands to sign to his new independent record label.
David says: “Keith Cullen from Setanta went into Comet Records in Dublin and bought a DIY cassette of our music. The cover had a photo of a girl and a building. He rang me up to say he was interested in signing us to this new label called Setanta. Then he rang back two weeks later to say he was going to get Adrian Borland from The Sound to produce it. I couldn’t believe it.
“We were so lucky. I don’t think we would have got anywhere if Keith hadn’t bought that cassette. At that time we were called Backwards Into Paradise – I think it was Keith who suggested we shorten the name.”
David has fond memories of the period in Dublin in the late 1980s when so many good new bands emerged.
“When I was 17 or 18, me and Shane O’Neill from Blue In Heaven used to go to a place called The Magnet Bar on Pearse Street,” he said. “They used to have The Bodice Gigs where The Blades, Microdisney, Nun Attax, Chant Chant Chant all played. It was a brilliant scene.
“You had Rollerskate Skinny, Power Of Dreams, A House, Something Happens. The Stars Of Heaven were another great band. Nobody had any money. There was nothing happening in Dublin. It was simpler. No one was into music as a career; it was just a bit of fun.”
David’s album ‘Water Has Memory’ is available on iTunes or at Tower Records. Keep up to date with his activities via the Into Paradise facebook page.
David Long, frontman with influential late 80s/ early 90s Dublin band Into Paradise has just announced the release on 25th February 2013 of a 17 track solo lp. The self financed, self released so called vanity project has been described by David as “my favourite album that I’ve been involved in”. The album includes a track ‘Bigger Picture” featuring Joanne Loughman (The Glee Club, The Swinging Swine) and a cover of U2 track ‘Out Of Control’.
Update: The album has now hit the shops and is also available to order online or download via iTunes. Nick Kelly did a nice piece in Saturday’s Independent where he even gives us a mention although he does incorrectly suggest that the tracks in this post came from a Fanning session.
Into Paradise were Dave Long (vocals, guitar), Rachel Tighe (bass), James Eadie (guitar, keyboards) and Ronan Clarke (drums). Dave explains at the end of the recording that this repeat airing of the session was broadcast just before the release of the band’s ‘Change’ EP (22nd May 1990). Owain who dug this out wrote “the session version of ‘Change’ is pretty awesome in my view and much better than the released version”. Maybe Dan Hegarty and Ian Wilson might consider this one for their next “classic session” feature on Dan’s RTE 2XM/2FM show ‘The Alternative‘? Anyone have a copy of the fourth and final track ‘Heaven’? Update: Thank you Owain for locating the missing track!
We’re big fans of Backwards Into Paradise round these parts so you’ll have to excuse a fourth post featuring that band. This time it’s from a “session tape” as announced by an as yet unidentified announcer. I think you’ll agree that despite the audio quality it’s impressive stuff. Thanks again to Ken for this one.
Backwards Into Paradise have featured twice on this blog, three times if we include Into Paradise. This track featured on the Comet LP Two a self titled “Compilation of Irish Rock & New Wave” which was released in 1987.
Backwards Into Paradise have already featured as have Into Paradise. Today’s track is a demo from Backwards Into Paradise which again is a testament to the quality of that band.
In 1989 with a newly abbreviated name Into Paradise released the ‘Blue Light‘ EP on recently formed independent Irish label Setanta. Formerly known as Backwards Into Paradise, the band comprised Dave Long (vocals, guitar), Rachel Tighe (bass), James Eadie (guitar, keyboards) and Ronan Clarke (drums). The ‘Blue Light’ EP was selected as single of the week in NME in June 1989 and Dave Fanning played today’s track ‘I Want You’ regularly on his evening show throughout that summer.
Todays post features a track from 1986 from Dublin three piece Backwards Into Paradise. You may be familiar with the band under their later abbreviated name Into Paradise in which guise they released a number of albums. I however am particularly fond of this track and hopefully when you listen you’ll see why.
Update: While researching today’s track I came across this interesting blog post which has some more detail. Apparently ‘Never The Same’ was released with ‘She Is Close’ on Snap-Owl Records in 1986.
In the absence of an official RTE Fanning Session archive consider this blog a humble starting point. Any musical submissions would be gratefully accepted as are any corrections or recollections... click on the pic to send an email or even better comment on the post in question. We are interested in anything recorded from irish radio or TV in the 1980s and 90s.
The Fanning Sessions Archive 