Microdisney: C/D?

I'll be there.

I was at the gig last night too. It was excellent. Cathal's voice is in fine fettle. They played the album and then followed it up with the "hits" (and oddball instrumental "Michael Murphy")

I've heard nothing but good things. Chances of a new album?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKkmNAzgSR0

Man, Cathal's voice hasn't aged at all.

I've heard nothing but good things. Chances of a new album?

― afriendlypioneer, Monday, 4 June 2018 13:49

I've heard O'Hagan and Coughlan are writing some new stuff but it wont be under the Microdisney moniker

That's really exciting.

Obviously I love Sean, but it'll be nice to hear him finally write some more traditional music...if that's what they're doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0jgf1yNirM

Saw them a lot in the 80s, they were friends of friends. Cathal was hilarious. "This song is about authority... cos all the bands hate authority..."

https://www.facebook.com/nationalconcerthall/posts/10156168180795907

Looks like some great footage exists.

I thought they were great on Saturday night. A friend who was at Dublin and London reported that they did the same songs (but in a different order) at both shows. He thought the sound was slightly better in London.

Sorry I missed you, Tom.

Yes, great, Cathal's voice was incredible as was his whole stage presence. In between fiddling about with the sound, Sean's guitar playing was as 'tasty' as ever, if I can be allowed to lapse into NME speak ca.1974. Sean's tribute to Cathal at the end was so heartfelt and touching, I get the feeling he really meant it when he said he would never have had a career in music if he hadn't met him.

After some 30 years the band reconvened to perform their seminal album, The Clock Comes Down the Stairs at the National Concert Hall and The Barbican in 2018. Having enjoyed that experience, the band will play a fully standing show at Vicar Street.

Cathal: “We were genuinely moved by the response to the 2018 shows, and we feel it’s right to play once more, to a standing audience at Vicar St, and to offer a fresh slant on the Microdisney songbook.”

How I fell in love with Microdisney

Goodbye, and goodbye...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhu9x3fD04Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8xLVIlZmw

Candy Clock by Sean O'Hagan https://t.co/VlbJeEyROa #NowPlaying
Featuring Cathal Coughlan.

— High Llamas (@High_Llamas) September 19, 2019

Cathal sings on two other tracks as well.

Listening to them a bit again recently, Sean O'Hagan is such a great guitarist, not a wasted note to be found anywhere.

Absolutely.

https://www.guitars101.com/forums/f145/microdisney-2019-02-19-cork-ireland-aud-flac-remastered-691157.html

Full set from Cork for download at the link:

Track List:

1 - Intro
2 - Mrs Simpson
3 - Horse Overboard
4 - Our Children
5 - Birthday Girl
6 - Past
7 - Are You Happy
8 - Genius
9 - Begging Bowl
10 - A Friend With A Big Mouth
11 - And
12 - Rack
13 - Everybody Is Dead
14 - Pink-Skinned Man
15 - Sun
16 - 464
17 - Loftholdingwood
18 - Gale Force Wind
19 - Band Intros
20 - United Colours
21 - Singer's Hampstead Home
22 - Town To Town
23 - High And Dry
24 - The Night

Just got this Coughlan/O'Hagan website off the ground, will be growing it over the coming months:

https://coughlanohagan.com/

This is a fair revival.

Now, stop.

I've been obsessively listening to Microdisney's Love Your Enemies since Cathal's last LP came out a couple weeks ago. Golly, I think it should be elevated to classic album status and canonized immediately. It's a truly original little compilation/EP/hybrid, whatever. You get bits of Felt/Durutti Column, OMD, Steely Dan, Black Flag in one album. I want so badly for it to get its due, as well as the band itself.

Idiots
Fucking ugly fools
Fucking idiots
Fucking idiots
Fucking all my friends…

Is there a more cathartic verse in pop music?

LOL read that as "Is there a more Catholic verse in pop music?", which I think Cathal and Sean would appreciate. It is of course a hybrid: Cathaltic.

I thought this said Wednesday: C/D? Wednesday is classic. I have no thoughts on Microdisney

Really? Other than having a cool nickname (Humpday) what the hell does Wednesday have going for it? I can't think as single good song written about Wednesday. Wednesday is pretty much yesterday's news afaiak.

Umm, hmm, I'm sure there's a nice Wednesday Adams instrumental on the Addams Family Values OST.

Wednesday Week, the undertones.

(xp) Uh excuse me, only another Irish band that's all ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FswDoZKFXVc

(xp) Beat me by a millisecond there.

BREAKING: The death has been announced of Cathal Coughlan, the Cork music legend who fronted such acts as Microdisney and Fatima Mansions... more to follow pic.twitter.com/ktq2Udl36x

— Irish Examiner Arts & Culture (@IEArtsCulture) May 23, 2022

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck :(

These performances feels very poignant now. Think it may've been the last time Sean and Cathal were on stage together?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKcA0HimgmE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCwgJJW09pg

I was there!

Four years ago, and it feels a lifetime away now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnudQE0Oi4Q

“464” has been blowing me away lately. What a marvelous, weird song.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001x9fs

^ documentary on bbc4 this weekend

Thanks for that.

(specifically Friday at 10 and then iPlayer i guess)

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2024/0314/1437812-new-microdisney-film-is-raw-and-tinged-with-sadness/

I loved the doc. Full marks, and I say that as a Microdisney agnostic, so for the believers it must be quite something.

I havent seen it but apparently there's a clip of me and my mate Ray at their Cork gig on the documentary. Anyway to see this for people who don't have BBC in Ireland? Maybe ze torrentz?

I saw most of the doc last night, I was delighted and amazed it existed, I don't think it was any good tho really, which is a general observation about music documentaries

I presume that this was the final show in 2019 and not one of the early ones.

(xp) Agreed. It wasn't very well made but I'm so pleased Cathal and Sean got at least some of the attention they deserved - at long last.

Yeah that

I was out with a friend tonight who also loved this who is also not particularly into Microdisney. Perhaps the less one is into them the more likely it is they'll like it? I thought their story was really fascinating even if it was the usual talking head formula.

I enjoyed it a lot, fairly standard talking heads, cut and paste old footage format. Some great clips, lolled at their appearance on the Tom O’Connor show. Pedant nitpicking, I was mildly annoyed that they were talking about 83-85 era indie but used clips of 77 punk singles to highlight this.

Found a clearly unwell Coughlan talking about his regrets for his behaviour really moving. I hope he found peace before he died.

Enjoyed the documentary as well despite the fairly standard format. If nothing else, the positive feedback might encourage someone to make Microdisney's albums available again. Crooked Mile and 39 Minutes have been out of print for ages and the cheapest used copy of the 2013 re-release of Everybody is Fantastic is going for £75 on Amazon. Even the 2-disc Daunt Square to Elsewhere anthology is now as rare as hen's teeth.