I Loved The Boomtown Rats.

The Boomtown Rats were my first love and first cut is the deepest……..ya we all have our very own favourite band, it has to be said there is a variety of factors that goes into it, timing, music, image, etc, etc. etc. Mine just happens to be the Bob Geldof led outfit, whose new compilation album The first 50 years, Songs of Boomtown Glory was recently released, prompting me to write this blog.
Their glory years were the late 70s/ early 80s. They were part & parcel of an explosion of new talent that emerged from all the big urban areas back then: the Undertones from Derry, Stiff Little Fingers from Belfast, the Buzzcocks from Manchester, the Clash from London, the Ramones from New York, the Skids from Glasgow and a whole lot more besides.
To me, The Boomers, as the Americans slanted them, always delivered the goods, a great initial run of six albums, that sparkled with hit singles, providing plenty of enjoyment whilst listening to them in my own personal stereo system. What of the songs themselves? In common with other songsmiths of the era, like the likes of the late Joe Strummer of The Clash, Geldof’s numbers were mostly about the social consciousness, filling one in on the state of affairs at street level in other words. And there was hardly any contrived material in there.
I made personal contact with one member of the band, namely the guitarist Gerry Cott. He was dabbling in band management at the time and he was one of the people that I invited to a showcase gig we did at a small London venue back in the day.
How did we do? In common with other Irish acts at the time, De Confidence, the spoken word over music outfit that I fronted were a small indie success story albeit within The Republic of Ireland only, although we did manage to get a spin or two by the late John Peel on his BBC radio 1 show.

Favourite single by The Boomtown Rats: House on Fire. This Tony Visconti produced, rock/reggie crossover number oozed class from the first note to the last. It was also the very last of their chart hits.

Favourite album by The Boomtown Rats: Mondo Bongo. This their 4th album very much lived up to expectations: you had the two short surreal numbers Fall Down & Another Piece of Red, you had a cover of the Rolling Stones tune Under their Thumb, you had the instrumental track Whitehall 1212 and not forgetting the two hit singles Banana Republic & Elephants Graveyard.

Favourite gig by The Boomtown Rats: Live at the Hammersmith Odean. I was present & correct at one of their sold out shows at this venue back in the day.

Favourite track by The Boomtown Rats that was not a hit: never in a million years. This 1982 single, culled from their IV Deep album, failed to make the charts despite Bob Geldof’s continued popularity.

Favourite solo single by Bob Geldof: This is the World Calling. This uplifting/positive track ticks all the right boxes for me anyhow, issued during the peak of his charity work.

The First 50 years, Songs of Boomtown Glory by The Boomtown Rats is out now via Phonograph.
The pick of Anthony mac Carthy’s spoken word over music recordings can be found on the album Best of Light Vol 1 issued in 2012 under the moniker of De Confidence. It’s available for download/streaming at the likes of itunes, youtube & amazon.

Anthony mac Carthy’s fourth book, The Bleeps Book, Short Spirit Version is also available now. It’s a short, ultra-positive read about a man who goes on a journey to discover his inner true self. The ebook version can be bought at Amazon for a fiver.