Revelino celebrated the release of their eponymous debut album back on 6th October back in 1994 and 26 years to the week since that original release date and on the same day that would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday they brought it out on vinyl for the first time ever, but with some added extras.
The album has been remastered and a bonus EP that features a remixed ‘Happiness is Mine’ plus five previously unreleased songs. ‘Try It On ‘and ‘Ennio’ (a timely rediscovery following maestro Morricone’s recent passing) were outtakes from the debut album and have been remixed. ‘The Only One Alive’ and ‘Little Bird’ are demos that have been salvaged and remastered from a cassette, while ‘Place In The Sun’ features the band’s much-missed departed friend Gavin Ralston.
When originally released the album received rave reviews and lead single ‘Happiness is Mine’ had an immediate impact on radio in Ireland. Hot Press critics voted it third best single of the year and in January 1995 they received 9 top five places in the Hot Press Readers Poll, including No 1 best New Act. In 2004 the album was voted no 47 in the 100 Greatest Irish albums list.
‘Happiness Is Mine (Remixed)’ became available in September and they followed that with ‘The Only One Alive’, and last month ‘That’s What Emily Says‘. You can watch the videos for all of them right here at RAMzine.
When the band found ‘The Only One Alive’ on a cassette tape from 1998 they were blown away by what they discovered. At the time they didn’t think it suited the tone of the final album and are now delighted to release it as the follow up single to the remixed ‘Happiness Is Mine’. The new video has been edited by their good friend Michelle Spillane (who directed four of their original videos) and features camcorder footage of one of their final recording sessions in Sun Studios Dublin in 1998 plus live footage from 1996.
First time around the band became big favourites with the late John Peel and they achieved much in the years following the release of their debut album.
‘Don’t Lead Me Down’ released in April 1995 went on to feature in two film soundtracks – British gangster movie Hardmen and Irish cult comedy crime classic, I Went Down written by Conor McPherson and featuring a great Irish cast including Brendan Gleeson & Peter McDonnald. I Went Down also featured ‘Hello’ from the Revelino album.
The remastered version ‘Don’t Lead Me Down’ has now been released as a single and there’s a new video featuring Brendan Gleeson in footage from I Went Down in it. You can also catch the video for that here at RAMzine.
1996 kicked off with an epic Heineken Rollercoaster Tour of Ireland co-headlining with Whipping Boy. While working on their follow-up album, the band signed an international licensing deal with French / UK label Musidisc and the debut album was released internationally in March 1996 to great reviews.
They toured the UK and France and appeared live on French cultural TV chat show Nulle Part Ailleurs, introduced by football legend Michel Platini! They secured two spots at The Phoenix Festival that summer and, more impressively, the band also reached the final of the celebrity five-a-side football tournament at the festival, hammering Massive Attack (and Banksy?) 4-1 and Dodgy 3-0 along the way. They were pipped for the trophy by The Guardian newspaper team featuring Mick Talbot from The Style Council and a bunch of professional ringers including players from Chelsea and two of the Stein brothers!
The second album Broadcaster was released in 1996 and mixed by Pat Collier who had worked with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream and The Wonder Stuff. It was preceded by the single ‘Step On High’ in August that John Peel said was as one of his favourite singles of the year. It also featured on the soundtrack for the film Blow Dry (starring Alan Rickman and Natasha Richardson). Years later in 2005 on the first anniversary of Peel’s death, the NME wrote a feature about Peel’s box of favourite 120 singles – Revelino’s ‘Step On High’ was the only Irish single in the box other than The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks and the following month Channel 4 broadcast the documentary Peel’s Record Box with it featured.
You can order the album by clicking here.
