Ghostown (The Radiators album)

Ghostown is something of a concept album, documenting the sense of social and cultural isolation felt by many Dubliners throughout the 1970s, sometimes noted as literary and "difficult",[2] especially for a snappy record from a punk band.

The best-known song from the album is probably "Song of the Faithful Departed", written by Philip Chevron, which was originally released as a B-Side but is the Radiator's song that tends to appear on overview collections such as 101 Irish Hits (from IrishMusicMail.com) or compilations that hope to be critically representative such as Dave Fanning's Fab 50.

In 2008 The Irish Times named Ghostown the third best Irish album of all time (jointly with I Am the Greatest by A House), behind Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and Achtung Baby by U2.[3]

At the time of its release the record had also received rave reviews.[4] The ambition and literacy of Ghostown may have, however, impacted on its popularity on the charts (although "Million Dollar Hero" was a "near hit"[2]) and when performed live,[4] effects amplified by its release having been delayed by about a year into 1979. Thus, the entry for Philip Chevron on The Pogues website ruefully notes that despite Ghostown's positive critical reception, "unfortunately the reviews were too late, and shortly after the release the group broke up".[5]

Ghostown turned out not to be the final album of The Radiators. In the 2000s, mainstays Chevron and Holidai reformed the band with original founding member Steve Rapid, and new members replacing Crashe and Megary with, Johnny Bonnie, and Jesse Booth; Cait O'Riordan was also involved for a time.[1] This line up has since released some EPs and the album Trouble Pilgrim.[6]

For Ghostown the nom de guerre of The Radiators from Space was shortened to The Radiators. The personnel of "The Radiators" on Ghostown was as follows:

• Philip Chevron: guitar, synthesizer, vocals
• Mark Megaray: bass, keyboards, vocals
• Jimmy Crashe: drums, vocals
• Pete Holidai: vocals, guitar

The same line-up recorded the two tracks for the 1989 reissue.[1]

Main song writing duties were shared by Holidai and Chevron, but every member of the band contributed song writing to the album.[7]

The shortened version of the name seems to represent the fact that founding member Steve Rapid had left the band after TV Tube Heart so that The Radiators were now a four-piece, with Chevron taking responsibility for lead vocals on Ghostown.[5] The band had also moved to London, partly because they suffered fall-out following the death of an audience member at a punk festival they had organised in Dublin,[5] so the different name for this record might represent an attempt to escape that memory.

The Ghostown recording sessions in London were overseen and produced by Tony Visconti. Visconti also provides piano, synthesizer, organ, mandolin and string arrangements.. Ruan O'Lochlainn contributes saxophone on many of the tracks. John Ryan and Mary Hopkin are the other guest musicians.[7][8]

The two tracks for the 1989 reissue were produced by Pete Holidai and Phil Chevron

The cover of Ghostown is based on a still from F.W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu. A different cover would be used for the 1989 re-release of the record (a photo of the band silhouetted against the bright waters of a docklands scene), with the original again restored for later re-releases.

Ghostown was released by Chiswick Records on 10 August 1979 (catalogue number CWK 3003). A re-released tenth anniversary version from 1989 (catalogue WIK 85) added two extra tracks and rearranged the track order; some songs on this release have slightly shorter names (the album cover is also different). A 2005 reissue (catalogue CDWIKM 292) restored the original track listing (and cover).[7][8] A 40th anniversary edition released by Ace Records in 2019 (catalogue CDTOP2 343) included 35 bonus tracks of outtakes, alternate mixes, single versions, live tracks and more.[9]

All tracks produced by Tony Visconti except as noted.