Fatima Mansions for this Tuesday Afternoon lunchroom – recorded at Le Cigale in Paris on October 19, 1990 and broadcast by Radio France FIP.
I don’t think we’re ever going to witness the end of the list of bands that have gone underrated or overlooked in our musical history. Fatima Mansions was one of those legendary Irish bands who gave 110% on stage and left a legacy of great albums, along with dedicated and loyal fans (counting John Peel among them). But for some unixplicable reason, have gone on mostly unnoticed today. Chalk that up to the sheer number of bands and solo artists struggling for a spot in the sun – chalk it up to the vagaries of the Music business itself, who seem to have forgotten the inherent importance of back-catalog as a means of steady income, aside from the glowing few examples. Maybe having people run the Music business who actually like music, rather than imaginary numbers, would be a step in the right direction. But . . .
Needless to say, Fatima Mansions were legends in their own time; a time which lasted all-too-short, but which yielded memorable results.
A little background: The Fatima Mansions formed in 1988 by songwriter and vocalist Cathal Coughlan, formerly of Microdisney. They entered the Top 10 of the UK singles chart in 1992 with a heavily reworked version of Bryan Adams‘ song “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You“, taken from an NME tribute album in aid of the charity, the Spastics Society. The single was a double A-side; the flip-track, Manic Street Preachers‘ version of “Suicide Is Painless” received most of the radio airplay. They also gained mainstream exposure by opening a European leg of U2‘s Zoo TV Tour in 1992, although they were nearly booed off the stage and almost started a riot when front man Coughlan swore at a Milan audience and insulted the Pope. The band often courted controversy with religion, dictators, empires and general authority being targets for Coughlan’s vitriol.[1] Despite this, The Guardian newspaper described him as “the most underrated lyricist in pop today”, and DJ John Peel said he could “listen to Cathal Coughlan sing the phone book”.
Sadly, in the case of Cathal Coughlan, whose voice and spirit were a guiding light and who continued on with a brilliant solo career after Fatima Mansions demise, passed away in May of 2022 after a year-long battle with Cancer.
Here as a reminder, at least part of the legacy of Fatima Mansions, is their Place Cigale gig in Paris from 1990 as broadcast by Radio France.
Dive in and enjoy – and don’t forget to go exploring.
