34 years ago this year, one of my favourite groups played a free concert in HMV, Grafton Street. As a rebellious 17-year-old who happened to have a Walkman-sized cassette recorder, I surreptitiously recorded their set.
Fast forward more than three decades and, back home in Dublin for Christmas, my brother handed me three cassette tapes he’d discovered in my Mam’s house. One was junk, one was a signed copy of Dignam & Goff’s Walk On Water single and the third was the recording of the set.
When I got home, I ripped the tape into Audacity, tidied up the tape noise a bit and it turned out pretty decent. So, having OKed it with Kiera, Christy Dignam’s daughter, I’m sharing the files – ZIP file: Dignam & Goff live in HMV 2 July 1992.
Tracklisting:
- Look Out
- The Creed
- Heartbeat
- The Hand of Love
- Walk on Water
- Chasing Shadows
- Never Stops
- Pretty Thing (Aslan cover)
- Crazy World
The last track was a surprise, as, officially, it was an Aslan song from when they reformed in 1993. But, clearly, it was originally a Dignam & Goff song.
The Dignam & Goff story
The Dignam & Goff story starts with Aslan back in 1986 when they released the single ‘This Is‘, which became a favourite of Ireland’s 2fm radio station. The band received a huge amount of media attention in Ireland and the UK over the next two years – they were the next U2.
Their first album was released in 1988 and went gold. They were ready to take on the US, but Christy had become addicted to heroin and the band chose to fire him.
The media was relentless – back in the 80s, heroin addiction, particularly in Ireland, wasn’t seen as an illness – it was seen as a selfish act that had prevented Aslan becoming as big as U2. The whole country had been injured.
The hostility continued into Christy’s rehabilitation as he returned to making music with guitarist Conor Goff. How could a singer and a guitarist be the new U2 that Aslan were supposed to be? The media obsession with finding the next U2 continued until 1993/94 when the Cranberries broke the US despite being completely unlike U2. The obsession suddenly looked stupid.
But, despite the media hostility and the lack of interest from big record labels, Dignam & Goff lasted from 1990 until 1993 until, following a charity reunion, Aslan decided to give it another go. In that time, Christy and Conor released six singles and played an awful lot of gigs, including residencies in the long gone (but not forgotten) Baggot Inn. They could often also be found in the small print of festival line-ups.
Personally, I was a huge fan of Dignam & Goff, much more than I was of Aslan after 1993. The stripped back sound showcased Christy’s amazing voice. And it was nice to be able to see them in small venues. But it couldn’t last forever.
Aslan are still going, but Christy is sadly no longer with us,
So, I hope people enjoy this time capsule from the last year of Dignam & Goff.
The revolution will be streamed 