Kilmorna Collection
Notes from Eamon Lane on artists, studio visits, objects, records and the life of The Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Notes from Eamon Lane on artists, records, studio visits, Listowel life and the ongoing story of The Kilmorna Collection.
The blog archive is a useful route into the people, objects and ideas behind the shop.
17 October 2026
Foo Fighters make room for more than impact on The Colour and the Shape. Across four vinyl sides, the strong choruses and quieter passages give each other something useful to push against.
16 October 2026
Elvis Presley’s ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits puts familiar songs back into a listening sequence. Across four vinyl sides, the interest lies in the changes of pace, from compact early singles to the...
14 October 2026
Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde gives its winding songs plenty of room without asking them to stand up straight. Organ, twanging guitar and a relaxed rhythmic footing keep the writing in...
13 October 2026
David Bowie makes six songs feel like a considerable distance on Station to Station. The rhythms keep their appointments; the mood is less dependable. That tension is where the listening...
12 October 2026
David Bowie makes the inviting and the awkward share a room on Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). The melodies offer a way in; the guitars make sure nobody gets too comfortable.
11 October 2026
David Bowie's Aladdin Sane keeps its rock hooks close and its composure rather less so. Across two vinyl sides, theatrical singing and restless arrangements make a familiar doorway lead...
10 October 2026
Daft Punk make room for both the dance floor and the pause beside it. Random Access Memories rewards listening past the familiar hooks, where its quieter songs and longer arrangements give...
7 October 2026
Bruno Mars keeps Unorthodox Jukebox moving between bold pop hooks, funk and a quieter piano-led centre. Ten songs leave room for plenty of character, but very little hanging about.
6 October 2026
Bruno Mars gives The Romantic a compact, nine-song shape. Soul, R&B and disco-leaning pop carry the invitation, while the running order leaves room for the less comfortable business of...
5 October 2026
Bruno Mars gives Doo-Wops & Hooligans a changing gait: earnest choruses, loose grooves, and a sudden burst of mischief. Heard across two vinyl sides, its familiar songs have useful company.
4 October 2026
Bruno Mars gives 24K Magic plenty of shine, but its discipline is just as interesting. Nine songs move between funk, R&B and pop, with the grooves doing more work than the glitter.
3 October 2026
Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Volume I & II makes a useful distinction between recognising a song and spending time with it. Across four vinyl sides, the familiar hooks leave room for longer...
2 October 2026
Aretha Franklin's Aretha's Greatest Hits rewards listening beyond recognition. Across two sides, the familiar songs become a study in vocal authority, emotional scale and the usefulness of...
1 October 2026
Alice in Chains make room for acoustic guitars, close harmonies and uncomfortable quiet on Jar of Flies. The weight remains, but it travels differently across these seven songs.
30 September 2026
Motörhead's On Parole: The Alternative Mixes puts the working versions in the foreground. Instrumentals, alternate takes and a demo offer a way into the arrangements, not merely another...
29 September 2026
Linkin Park put recent songs and familiar titles into the same live frame. This São Paulo film soundtrack makes a useful listening proposition: follow the contrasts, rather than simply...
28 September 2026
Korn's The Path of Totality makes electronic production part of the load-bearing structure. Beneath the drops and digital distortion, the familiar groove and vocal tension still do their...
27 September 2026
Hard-Fi make everyday pressure move on Stars of CCTV. Money, work and the promise of a weekend supply the subject matter; clipped rhythms and generous choruses give it somewhere to go.
26 September 2026
Brass, taut rhythms and a voice that will not settle: Dexys Midnight Runners make Searching for the Young Soul Rebels an album of discipline and exposed nerves.
25 September 2026
Sister Rosetta Tharpe brings gospel conviction and blues movement into the same room. Gospel Train (Verve Vault) offers twelve songs worth hearing for the exchange between voice, guitar...
21 September 2026
On She Walks in Beauty, Marianne Faithfull's readings and Warren Ellis's music ask for a different kind of attention. Follow the pace of a sentence, then notice what remains around it.
20 September 2026
ZZ Top's compact riffs have plenty of room inside these precise rhythms. Eliminator (40th Anniversary Edition) invites a listen beyond the familiar songs, where the slower blues passages...
19 September 2026
Tina Turner's voice gives this polished pop record its friction. Behind the anniversary label is an eleven-song sequence whose quieter spaces matter as much as its rhythmic lift.
14 September 2026
David Bowie's 1965 sessions offer more than a route towards the familiar records. The Shel Talmy Recordings puts the early band settings, direct vocals and compact arrangements back in the...
13 September 2026
Boy Harsher’s Get Mean begins from loss without making loss its only destination. Twelve tracks give grief, relationships and the possibility of recovery a place in the same conversation.
12 September 2026
Roxette, Boy Harsher, Tina Turner and seven more share a release date. A look through our 18 September vinyl selection, from new albums to anniversary editions.
11 September 2026
Lana Del Rey steps away from conventional song form on Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. Fourteen spoken readings make room for cadence, small details and the useful pause between two...
10 September 2026
Essential John Coltrane places tenderness beside sustained exploration across four vinyl sides. The attraction is not simply the range, but the chance to hear those different impulses...
9 September 2026
Beyoncé makes momentum feel like a matter of character. B'DAY (20th Anniversary Edition) brings the percussion, brass and dramatic changes of scale into a longer listening frame.
8 September 2026
AC/DC's Highway to Hell rewards listening past the familiar outline. Beneath the big choruses, the interest lies in rhythm, restraint and the little decisions that keep a riff moving.