The Clock Comes Down the Stairs | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1985 | |||
Recorded | 1985 | |||
Genre | Indie pop | |||
Length | 41:35 (vinyl) | |||
Label | Rough Trade | |||
Producer | Jamie Lane | |||
Microdisney chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Clock Comes Down the Stairs | ||||
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The Clock Comes Down the Stairs is the second studio album by the Irish band Microdisney. It was recorded and released in 1985, and was their last album for Rough Trade Records before signing to Virgin Records the following year. [1] The album was mainly recorded in the flat of producer Jamie Lane, with additional recording, including the drums tracks, completed at a professional studio in Shoreditch [2]
The album reached number one on the UK Indie Chart. [3] . The New Musical Express would later place it 49th in its list of the best albums of 1985, with the lead single from the album, "Birthday Girl", also placed in the top 50 of the best tracks of the year. [4]
In 2018 the album was awarded the inaugural "IMRO | NCH Trailblazer Award", a new music award presented by the Irish Music Rights Organisation and National Concert Hall "celebrating seminal albums by iconic Irish musicians, songwriters and composers." [5]
in 2024 the album gave its name to the documentary film The Story of Microdisney: The Clock Comes Down the Stairs, broadcast on BBC Four on Friday 15 March 2024, which told the story of band's formation, career and reformation. [6]
All tracks composed by Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan
Side one
Side two
In 2013 the album was reissued on Cherry Red Records [1] with the following songs added as bonus tracks.
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Microdisney were an Irish rock band formed in Cork in 1980. They were founded and led by songwriters Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan (guitar). Originally typeset as Micro Disney, the band had become Microdisney by the time they had relocated to London in 1983 and signed to Rough Trade Records. Between 1983 and 1986 the band recorded six Peel Sessions for BBC Radio and released their debut album for Rough Trade called Everybody Is Fantastic.
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Cathal Coughlan was an Irish singer and songwriter from Cork, best known as the frontman of the band Microdisney, formed with Sean O'Hagan in 1980. Their second album The Clock Comes Down the Stairs reached number one in the UK Indie Chart. They developed cult followings in the Irish and UK indie music scenes before breaking up in 1988.
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David Anthony Healy, who performs as David Virgin, is an Irish-born Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. In the 1980s he was a member of punk industrial noise group SPK, and later formed a post-punk band, Sekret Sekret. He was active in the 1990s and 2000s touring Australia and Europe. He performed and recorded both as a solo artist and as a member of numerous bands. Virgin is the owner of Beardfire Recording Studios in Dublin, Ireland where he has produced music for artists including Ailsha, All The Queen's Horses, RUNAH, Patricia Lalor, and SPK.
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Ricky Dineen is an Irish musician best known as the guitarist with the post-punk band Five Go Down to the Sea?, earlier known as Nun Attax, who later developed into Beethoven–fucking–Beethoven. He wrote most of the band's music and developed their angular musical style, which he said was in part influenced by contemporary post-punk bands such as The Fire Engines, Gang of Four, The Mekons and Bogshed.
Finbarr Donnelly was a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland, who moved to Cork city at a young age. He is best known as the vocalist with the post-punk band Five Go Down to the Sea?. Known for his striking stage presence and absurdist, surreal lyrics, he and the band were hugely influential on later generations of Irish musicians. Mark McAvoy, author of "Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher to the Sultans of Ping", said in a 2017 interview that "Donnelly probably would have been the most influential musician and songwriter in...the Cork music scene and the bands that stemmed from it."
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