2 LP President Michael D. Higgins, Bono, Liam Neeson, Jessie Buckley and more bring the work of Patrick Kavanagh to life on new record . President Michael D. Higgins, Bono, Liam Neeson, Jessie Buckley and more bring the work of seminal Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh to life on a new record, ‘Almost Everything…’ , set for release on Friday 23rd September 2022 from Claddagh Records. Originally released on Claddagh Records in 1964, the double album also features the only recording of the revered Irish poet reading his most celebrated poems. Now remastered and reimagined this new two-part album features the original recordings and Kavanagh’s poetry read by Bono, Hozier, Imelda May, Liam Neeson, Jessie Buckley, Aidan Gillen, Lisa McGee, Lisa Hannigan, President Michael D. Higgins, Evanna Lynch, Sharon Corr, Kathleen Watkins, Christy Moore, Rachael Blackmore and Aisling Bea set to a truly wonderful music composition. The music on this record is recorded by Cormac Butler, producer extraordinaire, songwriter and mix engineer of Faction Records. Cormac has an extensive and wide-ranging discography from All Tvvins to James Vincent McMorrow to Sorcha Richardson to The Academic to Gavin James and The Coronas. The physical formats of this album include a booklet containing all the poetry one will hear on the album. The vinyl format of this release contains two truly unique vinyl sleeves. The first hosts a printed collage of sketches of all the celebrated readers around Patrick Kavanagh, with Kavanagh himself visible through the gold-foil cut-out square on the cover itself. The second vinyl sleeve is an exact replica of the original 1963 release. LP 1 – Side A 1. On Raglan Road (read by Bono) 2. Stony Grey Soil (read by Michael D. Higgins) 3. Memory of My Father (read by Liam Neeson) 4. Canal Bank Walk (read by Imelda May) 5. Peace (read by Hozier) 6. Inniskeen Road: July Evening (read by Lisa McGee) 7. In Memory of my Mother (read by Kathleen Watkins) 8. The Hospital (read by Lisa Hannigan) 9. Pegasus (read by Rachael Blackmore) LP 1 – Side B 1. October (read by Christy Moore) 2. Shancoduff (read by Aisling Bea) 3. Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin (read by Evanna Lynch) 4. Extract from ‘The Great Hunger’ (read by Aidan GIllen) 5. A Christmas Childhood (read by Sharon Corr) 6. Epic (read by Jessie Buckley) LP 2 – Side A (Read by Patrick Kavanagh) 1. Autobiographical Prose LP 2 – Side B (Read by Patrick Kavanagh) 1. The Same Again 2. Jungle 3. Narcissus and the Women 4. Epic 5. God in Woman 6. Kerr’s Ass 7. Peace 8. The Hospital 9. On the Death of Jim Larkin 10. Extract from ‘The Great Hunger’ 11. Living in the Country: Part One 12. Dear Folks 13. Miss Universe 14. About Reason, Maybe 15. To Hell With Commonsense 16. October 17. Come Dance With Kitty Stobling 18. Prelude 19. Having Confessed About Claddagh Records: Claddagh Records was set up in 1959 by the Hon. Garech Browne (19) and his friend, Ivor Browne, both students of Leo Rowsome, one of Ireland’s leading uilleann pipers. Their efforts to interest the established international record companies in recording a long-playing record of Rowsome’s music met with little enthusiasm. And so, the two young men set about establishing a record company that would record traditional Irish music, poetry and the spoken word. The following year Claddagh Records was born when Leo Rowsome’s Rí na bPíobairí (King of Pipers) was released. The Chieftains recorded their first album on the label in 1964. Other artists that recorded on the label included Tommie Potts, Willie Clancy, Seamus Ennis, Liam O’Flynn and Sean O’Riada. Spoken word albums with Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett, Austin Clarke, John Montague, Thomas Kinsella and Seamus Heaney were also released on Claddagh.
