niallon – Black Is The Colour

This was actually a nerve wracking song to cover. Amongst my family it’s an absolute favourite and specifically Christy Moore’s take on it, it’s gospel in our house. Why would I ever dare cover it? Well it’s because I like to make rash decisions and worry about consequences later of course! Wait no that’s not right…let’s see if we can figure this one out.

niallon – I Knew You Were Trouble

I Knew You Were Trouble

Taylor Swift. Taylor. Swift. Honestly there are rants I could go on, but I won’t. Suffice to say nobody should be all that surprised to hear I’m really not much of a fan, save for the handful of her songs that I’m really a fan of. That is, I can recognise great songwriting regardless of my thoughts on the artist. This is one of said songs, an absolutely cracking pop tune. Not entirely lyrically though, contrary to what I would usually find praise for. So what makes it so good?

niallon – Toca’s Miracle

Toca’s Miracle

So the plan was to catch up on all the articles I skipped over as I desperately tried to stay weekly with these publishings. Thing is that as I looked back I realised I’d missed more than I thought and, well, it’s taken me so long to get back to this blog that I figure it’s best to just start at the beginning of this year and move on from there! The beginning of this year…something that easily feels like it was decades ago at this stage. But we’ll get to pandemic talk and such later on in this series, now let’s talk acoustic EDM instead.

niallon – No One

My history with Alicia Keys’ music is definitely the most accidental hipster I’ve ever been. When she exploded onto the scene with “Fallin'” I didn’t think it was bad but as a song it didn’t totally grab me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great great modern classic and in a general sense I felt that way from first listen. I didn’t seem to see what the world was seeing though. No it was later in her career that my interest was well and truly piqued. It was ‘As I Am’ that sealed the deal.

niallon – Just Like A Pill

niallon – Just Like A Pill

I’d like to say this is the last time I’ll neglect this site massively, but you and I both know that would be a lie. What sort of happened is that through the Facebook posts and YouTube descriptions accompanying new uploads I was covering mostly the same ground here and to be honest, time doesn’t allow me to repeat myself!

niallon – Stand By Me

And yet again I’ve totally dropped the ball on getting these written up. With that in mind, how about I just commit to getting them all done with no deadline, sound good? Cool. Context is always a big thing with regard to your fondness for a song. Sometimes you’ll have a song that you could take or leave, but if it serves as the soundtrack to a significant milestone in your life it takes on an elevated meaning. Sometimes it can just be the connection between that song and a movie or a TV show. For me, “Stand By Me” is one such song.

niallon – Wicked Game

Really who doesn’t immediately think of Slipknot when they think of Chris Isaak, and vice versa? Ok I’m being a bit liberal with the facts there for the sake of shock factor, I of course mean Stone Sour. Either way, most of us are familiar with this song in one way or another but for me it was hearing their cover that really turned me on to it being more than a slightly cheesy late eighties croon fest. I mean, if Cory Taylor says so right? Now I’m sure it’s not the case for this song in particular but the curiosity of when a cover becomes more popular than the original is something that always fascinates me. Is it just because of timing? Is it the alternative spin the cover artist put on it? Or just dumb luck?

niallon – The Lakes Of Pontchartrain

In another life I’m just a straight up trad fan. I was raised on a musical diet consisting primarily of Christy Moore and there’s rarely a traditional song I come across that I don’t enjoy listening to and singing immensely. It was just never really the music of our household growing up, besides the aforementioned Christy. This song served as a gateway between both his music and my introduction to the broader world of trad music though.

niallon – Together Far Apart

Been a crazy couple of weeks right? All those worries that you had? Well forget about them. Plans? What plans? Don’t even think of mentioning the word summer. I really hope it has fully dawned on everyone by now, though I know it hasn’t, that this is the most cataclysmic “natural” event the human race has experienced in over 100 years. You are being asked to do things that go against every fibre of your being. You are being asked to defy every natural instinct in your body. Worst of all, you have to.

niallon – Everywhere

Hi, my name is Niall and I only finally listened to a Fleetwood Mac album for the first time six months ago. At 31. Worse still, it wasn’t even the album this song is from. I finally sat myself down a few months back and listened to Rumours start to finish. Then did so three more times over the next few days. I’ve been hearing various Fleetwood Mac hits my entire life and throughly enjoyed every single one but I would just always get sidetracked when I reminded myself to listen to their albums. Then again if you’ve read any of my previous posts it’ll be nothing new to you that I’m absolutely awful at immersing myself in new music, modern or classic. Anyway, confessions out of the way, I finally made it full circle to covering one of their tracks, probably one of my favourites.