Marc Carroll

Posted in Live - reviews on 20/05/2011

The Spirit Store, Dundalk.

January 26th 2006

Mooching around the ex-pat periphery of Irish rock for many years now, Marc Carroll

has gradually established himself as something of an unwitting, unwilling maverick.

A founding member of the venerated Dublin band Puppy Love Bomb (perhaps remembered as much now for their "Dublin Is Dead" T-shirt as for their extremely catchy pop/punk music), Carroll has eked out a living in London for the past 10 years, releasing a few albums (Ten Of Swords, All Wrongs Reversed and World On A Wire) to heaps of critical success but not much else besides.

Incorrectly percieved as the Irish saviour of power pop (although he does that genre better than most), latterly Carroll has dispensed with his love of guitar drenched "B" bands (Beach Boys, Beatles, Byrds) and grown into the skin of someone that can fuse pristine pop/punk and morose, reflective songwriting with Irish folk idioms without coming accross as a chancer.

He rarely returns home to play gigs, but this performance - part of a triple pack of concerts around the country - even further enhanced his reputation as a solitary and singular songwriter who is surely in it for the love of the game and the long haul. Well, you would have to be to play in front of 10 people, a gathering that included the promoter, the sound man, the bar staff and yours truly.

Unphased by lack of atmosphere and poor attendance, Carroll filled his one hour set with songs from his back catalouge (every one a winner) and some superb covers (Including Grant Hart's heartbreaking 2541). With a strong voice a fine, tough acoustic guitar playing style, Carroll put to rest the power pop image (for a while at least; his next album, he imparts, will be electric guitar heavy) via a sequence of bruised and battered Dylanesque flourishes, as equally adept as idiosyncratic yet always beholden to no one but himself.

For an artist of his calibre to play in front of less than a dozen people borders on the shameful; stuff em all that didn't show up, seemed to be Carroll's implicit response.

By implication alone he was dead right.
The Irish Times.

Posted in Live - reviews on 20/05/2011

Guilford Festival

July 5th 2003

Marc Carroll follows, saying nothing at first, instead letting his songs picture storm-lashed apocalypse and drug drained romance, the Irishman's attacking presence ignores the crowd's somnolence, burning though it.
Uncut

Posted in All Wrongs Reversed - reviews on 20/10/2010

ALL WRONGS REVERSED

Mojo

Irish singer - songwriter's classy compendium of lost songs and rarities.

Following last year's acclaimed Ten Of Swords, Marc Carroll returns with the equivalent of a rummage through the attic, selecting demo's, folk standards and cover versions presumably intended to fill the gap while we await his next aural adventure. As ever, his pop sensibility is positively tangible, permeating almost every track and throwing up influences ranging from The Beach Boys, Byrds and Buzzcocks, through more reflective, darker musings.

The affectionate Mr Wilson is a composition made up of Brian Wilson song titles, there's the sprightly demo of radio favourite Crashpad Number, and two surprising Dylan covers, Gates Of Eden and Senor. A mournful version of Patrick Kavanagh's On Raglan Roadcloses the album on a chilling note. Overall, it whets the appetite for another helping of the Dublin bards original material.

Posted in All Wrongs Reversed - reviews on 20/10/2010

ALL WRONGS REVERSED

Uncut Magazine

On the up Irishman offers lost songs and rarities.

Last year's Ten of Swords was one of the finest debuts of recent times, pulling off the enviable feat of lacing together classic English psychadelia and driving power pop without leaving the join.

All Wrongs Reversed, serving as a stopgap until the follow up proper, has the choppy fuzz punk of "Patterns" ; countryish lament "Nobody's Child". It overloads the pop at the expense of the trippy stuff but That said, "Mr Wilson" and his take on "Gates Of Eden" have both earned the thumbs up from Brian and Bob themselves. So who are we to argue?

Posted in All Wrongs Reversed - reviews on 20/10/2010

ALL WRONGS REVERSED

The Irish Times

This compilation follow his previous studio album, the beleaguered but rather brilliant ten of swords and is an equally compelling collection that gathers waifs, strays and runts. Using his bitter sweet template of armour plated pure pop guitars and often bewildering mix of cover versions and Irish heritage (including Dylan's Gates Of Eden & Kavanaghs Raglan Road).

Carroll's more passionate love of the beach boys and sugar is evident on tracks such as don't let them get you down, if, patterns and perhaps a tad too obviously Mr Wilson. If you haven't yet heard Carroll, don't let this gorgeous occasionally frustrating taster pass you by.

Posted in All Wrongs Reversed - reviews on 20/10/2010

ALL WRONGS REVERSED

Channel 4 Teletext

Marc Carroll - All Wrongs Reversed (7/10)

There will be something very wrong indeed if Carroll's `Ten Of Swords` album isn't on the Mercury shortlist. Here's where it all began for him. The first fruits of an album that sat around various record labels trying to work out how to market him. It's a lesson in why the industry's failing.More importantly it's full of gorgeous summer melodies a la Lemonheads.
Start with the better still `Ten Of Swords` but don't wait too long to discover this joy too.