From Cork to London: lovely pop made whilst in squalor
Lypo Suck | Hades, United States | 12/21/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A necessary and long overdue retrospective for these criminally underrated Irish natives. Disc 1 superbly ties up the early years with a generous helping of songs from "Love Your Enemies" (AKA, "We Hate You South African Bastards," a collection of early singles), and their gorgeous debut, "Everybody's Fantastic." Combining mid-to-late 60s Brian Wilson, Scott Walker, and Jimmy Webb with post-punk edginess, and utilizing the spare, poverty-enforced instrumentation available to them (in the early days, an electric guitar, cheap organ, a drum machine), Microdisney's Rough Trade years are marked by beautiful, deeply moving music that was entirely their own creation: colorful, dreamy, sophisticated, moody, and above all, intensely melodic. Melody is the key ingredient here. In a time when prevailing trends dictated disco, fractured art-punk, or tropical pastiche, Microdisney ploughed their own dark path, using evocative, spine-tingling melodies to guide them. Sean O'Hagan's finger-picked guitar spins webs of hauntingly gorgeous, inventively catchy melodies, while singer Cathal Coughlan's Pet Sounds-esque organ weaves a soothing, rich fabric. I could quibble over the omission of certain key songs, but everything included is essential.
Disc 2 closes out the Rough Trade era with a half dozen tunes from the engagingly poppy "The Clock Comes Down the Stairs," and continues with the increasingly streamlined and commercialized (but no less lyrically acerbic) Virgin years on the disc's second half, picking up highlights from "Crooked Mile" and their swan-song "39 Minutes," respectively. That the Virgin era occupies only ¼ of the entire comp is no accident. Good as those tunes are, they're easily surpassed by the more distinctive Rough Trade material. Plus, the older, Virgin-oriented "Big Sleeping House" already provides a generous overview of what many consider a lesser period.
What set Microdisney further apart from their contemporaries was their proverbial thorn beneath the rose: Coughlan's wryly insightful, sharp, and caustic poetic vision. Over these pretty pop tunes came lines like, "Take Everything you own, put it into a neat pile, set fire to it, burn it all, and say, `Look what my love did!'" and "I died on a cross, and now I'm the boss," sung (in Coughlan's thick Irish brogue) with such sneering, venomous sarcasm that they confused more people than they amazed. Ironically, this paradoxical but hugely distinctive trait was ultimately what annihilated commercial prospects from the get-go. But that's Microdisney in a nutshell.
For fans of inventive and gloriously unique melodic pop, this CD is a must-have.
"
"Feed the Birds, Poisoned Bread..."
Paul Ess. | Holywell, N.Wales,UK. | 09/07/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Microdisney emerged from the early 80's creative wonderment that was Kabuki Records. An excellent Dublin-based indie label which also boasted Kissed Air, Operating Theatre, Five Go Down to the Sea and briefly, Ruefrex.
Microdisney were far and away it's most successful act but it's a relative claim. They scratched the charts with a couple of singles after they signed to a major but by this time, their creative star was well on the wane, and they split in 1988.
But early doors they were something to behold. In singer Cathal Coughlan, they had the most sarcastically angry man in music. This guy tracked his targets with laser precision then let them have all tubes. Focused to the Nth degree, and coupled with guitarist Sean O'Hagan's sweetly simple arrangements, early Coughlan lyrics were a nervous wrecking crew, deceptive melodies hiding a ferocious acidity.
Musically, Microdisney rarely let rip. Most of the songs are slowies, CC doesn't want his hit and lucidity cloaked by anything resembling ricketty-racketty rock music.
There's a folk undercurrent, softly pining to the bars and clubs of Dublin, but modern in a post-punk beatnik sense and Microdisney most definitely DON'T do jazz.
CD 1 is the best disc and 'Pink Skinned Man' is the best song; a raging lyric fading with the most mournful violin outro you've heard.
'Loftholdingswood' is probably the most foot-stampingly angry song ever invented, and there's a couple of groovy instrumentals; 'Patrick Moore Says You Can't Sleep Here' being the best by a whisker.
CD 2 is mostly poppier music made for Virgin Records. It's nowhere near the quality of the first disc but there's still plenty of goodies.
'Birthday Girl' is typical Coughlan snark welded to an anthemic tune, 'Horse Overboard' is a Marr-style acoustic boogie and 'Town to Town' is very much Microdisney's 'Shiny Happy People', Coughlan and O'Hagan proving effortlessly they could write commercial melodies SO vital to the investors at Castle Virginio, but lyrics inviting the 'frying' of Dresden and Dublin see to it any compromise to Branson and co is soon sneered away into disappointment.
Preceding it, (and this has to be deliberate) is the bleaker-than-sleet 'Are You Happy?'. An exceptionally down song, crooned with lethargic drudge and haunted with Dave Gilmour-style guitar. "Are you happy now, laughing at the world?"
Coughlan is exploring new depths of morose and it's wicked to hear the flirty synth and wistful strings of 'TTT' following it.
This collection fades towards the end of CD 2 (it HAS to...!) when the hunt for appeasing hits became a bit desperate but to it's credit, there's no embarrassing tacked on live cuts. Like most dour prophets, playing live was a beastly, unnecessary obligation. Microdisney were, more than most, fascinated with the subversive possibilities of the accident that is pop music and you don't need a hall full of wasted students shouting "Where's Donald and Mickey!?" between every other song to realise it.
The Smiths could've done something about this perversion of artistic endeavour but that's a different kickshaw. Microdisney proved they could do it where it mattered.
All Microdisney's album's veer annoyingly from brilliance to startling levelling-out, but 'Daunt Square to Elsewhere' is (with the exception of the madly omitted 'Helicopter of the Holy Ghost') a consistent representation, and most of it is colossally good."
Best but not as good as re-release of the originals
L. S. Wilson | Hong Kong | 01/23/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Just to show my hands to the fans of Microdisney around the World and say Microdisney is never forgotten. Yes, I'm a big fan!
This compilation is the best available choice in terms of sound quaily and the fair proportion of selections from different stages of the band. The courage of releasing a double CD set for Microdisney already worth a big hand, and I'm deeply touched by the article in the inlay card which justly concludes the sad history of another great band which did not look as charming as it sounds.
Still I think the most respectable way to pay tribute to this band is to re-release their previous albums, not another compilation. Please!
"
Track Listings (29) - Disc #1