Installation celebrates history of iconic Dublin studio Windmill Lane
The history of iconic Dublin recording studio Windmill Lane has been honoured today with the unveiling of a special installation.
A 'vinyl walkway' featuring the sleeves of 21 of the most famous albums to be recorded at the studios original Dublin docklands location can now be found at the South Docks.
A host of homegrown and international artists have recorded some of their most famous albums at the Dublin studios including U2, Clannad, Van Morrison and Kate Bush.
The 21 albums featured in the walkway include a U2 collection of six albums, Kate Bush's The Hounds of Love, Def Leppard's Hysteria, Clannad's Magical Ring and Elvis Costello's Spike.
The album covers are embedded beneath perspex glass, set into the pavement of the redeveloped Windmill Lane in Dublin's South Docks and will be illuminated so that they can be viewed at night.
To mark today's unveiling, the first of a planned series of Windmill Live concerts will take place tonight.
The series, which is curated by Hot Press magazine, is headlined by Hothouse Flowers who will be joined on stage by special guest Moya Brennan of Clannad.
Founder of Windmill Lane Recording Studios, James Morris said: "This commemorates not just the musical heritage of Windmill Lane but also celebrates the extraordinary talent of those in Windmill – particularly my former partner and co-founder of Windmill Recording Studios Brian Masterson – that made it the place it was.
It is appropriate that both they and all the musicians and artists who worked here will be permanently remembered through the artwork of their album covers in Windmill Lane.
The 21 albums that make up the walkway are:
- Boy
- October
- War
- The Unforgettable Fire
- The Joshua Tree
- Achtung Baby
- Kate Bush - The Hounds of Love
- Phil Lynott - The Philip Lynott Album
- The Waterboys - Fisherman’s Blues
- Van Morrison and the Chieftains - Irish Heartbeat
- Clannad - Magical Ring
- Def Leppard - Hysteria
- The Chieftains - 10
- Vinnie Kilduff - The Boys from the Blue Hill
- Planxty - After the Break
- Elvis Costello - Spike
- James Galway and the Chieftains - In Ireland
- Gilbert Sullivan - Life & Rhymes
- Bill Whelan - The Seville Suite
- Status Quo - Never Too Late
- Elmer Bernstein - My Left Foot soundtrack
