Greatest Irish Bands 'Greatest Irish Bands/Sightings of Bono DVD' album

If a fan could create the ultimate Irish rock concert, Greatest Irish Bands (Hip-O/UTV Records), released February 24, 2004, just three weeks before St. Patrick's Day, would be that Celtic rockfest. With signature songs from U2, Sinead O'Connor, The Pogues, Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, The Corrs, Stiff Little Fingers, Hothouse Flowers, The Undertones, Boomtown Rats, The Cranberries, Rory Gallagher, and Clannad featuring Bono plus the bonus DVD short film Sightings Of Bono, a must-have-for-any-U2-fan available for the first time, Greatest Irish Bands rocks the Emerald Isle and beyond.

U2 is heard with "Where The Streets Have No Name," the Top 20 hit from 1987's The Joshua Tree, the band's first #1 album. Bono is also part of Sightings Of Bono, a seven-minute film shot in Dublin in 2000 about a girl who sees the U2 lead singer everywhere until she eventually meets him in the shop where she works. The short was seen in a few theaters and on the Internet but has never been released elsewhere until now. Another Bono appearance is as guest vocalist on Clannad's "In A Lifetime" from the trad-pop family band's 1986 Macalla album. And another recent Irish family band, The Corrs, chimes in with "Breathless," their Top 40 hit from 2000's In Blue.

The Cranberries, the biggest-selling Irish rock artists outside of U2, are represented by "Linger," their gold Top 10 hit from their 1993 breakthrough Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? Sin?ad O'Connor's Prince-penned "Nothing Compares 2 U" was a stunning #1 from her 1990 #1 album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.

The album also extends back in time, beginning with Van Morrison's 1967 Top 10 classic "Brown-Eyed Girl." In 1973, legendary blues-rock guitarist-singer-songwriter Rory Gallagher released "Tattoo'd Lady." That same year, the Phil Lynott-led Thin Lizzy reached the U.K. Top 10 with a rock version of the traditional Irish pub ballad "Whiskey In The Jar."

Then came punk. The Undertones first issued "Teenage Kicks" in 1978 before putting it on the band's 1979 self-titled debut album and opening for the Clash on their U.S. tour. Also that year, Stiff Little Fingers, known as "The Irish Clash," was heard with "Alternative Ulster." Another track that year, "I Don't Like Mondays," was the second straight U.K. #1 for the Boomtown Rats. Yet the most admired Irish punk band is The Pogues, led by Shane MacGowan. Their biggest hit (#2 U.K.) was 1988's "Fairy Tale Of New York," which featured Kirsty MacColl. 1988 also saw the Hothouse Flowers' "Don't Go," a #2 U.K. hit.

So raise a pint and turn up the stereo to Greatest Irish Bands.

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Greatest Irish Bands - Greatest Irish Bands/Sightings of Bono DVD