The Memories

• Jim Barry - lead vocals
• Colm Harper - lead vocals, guitar (1967-74)
• Ray Crowe - guitar, vocals (1967-78)
• Mike Swann - keyboards, vocals
• Daire Doyle - bass, vocals
  
  
• Chris Heenan - drums (1972-)
• Liam McKenna - guitar, vocals (from 1974-)
• Dominic Green - guitar, vocals (from 1978-)
  
  
  The Memories in 1976, LR: Daire Doyle,
  Chris Heenan (at back), Ray Crowe (front),
  Mike Swan, Liam KcKenna, Jim Barry
  
  
  
  The Memories in 1978, LR: Liam KcKenna, Dominic Green (?), Mike Swan,
  Jim Barry (front), Chris Heenan, Daire Doyle
  

Bio:

Pop/rock group noted for their vocal arrangements. They recorded for Rex Records from 1968-74 and then appeared on various small/indie labels. They released two albums and many singles over a 20+ year period. While these are bound to be of minor interest only to readers, The Memories certainly had their moments.

The Memories began in the Dublin club scene. Early bios also mention periods of theatre work and involvment in musicals and stage shows. Their live show initially relied on vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars and folky pop material. In 1972 they went electric, enlisted a proper drummer in Chris Heenan, and became a working band, entering the showband/ballroom circuit where they built a considerable live reputation during the mid-1970s (a barren cultural wasteland in Ireland in terms of local rock music). They kept the balance between originals and covers in their live set at around 50/50. The main song-writing partnership in the band was Mike Swan and Daire Doyle. They wrote several good songs over the years, and the inclusion of original material in their set made them stand out from most of their contemporaries on the ballroom circuit, but ultimately the band's watered down pop-rock recordings fail to really impress. They appeared on Ken Stewart's Ken's Klub show om RTE Radio around this time (circa 1972).

Ex Creatures, Real McCoy and Gentry guitarist Liam McKenna played bass in 1974 when Daire Doyle was involved in a road accident which prevented him from playing. McKenna joined full time as lead guitarist when Colm Harper left the same year. Ray Crowe was next to leave, in 1978, and his replacement was ex Sands lead guitarist Dominic Green, who toughened up their sound somewhat.

 
Memories adverts October & December 1978

In 1980 Swan, Doyle and Green left to form The Message. The rest of the band continued as The Memories adding Pat Coldrick (guitar), Tony Kelly (guitar), and ex Miami Peter Eades (keyboards/guitar) who took over Mike Swan's role as musical director. Jim Barry began writing with Peter. Liam McKenna switched back to bass for this lineup.

In 1983 The Message split and Swan and Doyle reunited with Jim Barry in a reformed Memories with Pat Coldrick (guitar) and Liam Bradley (drums). Liam McKenna and Tony Kelly had moved on; Peter Eades continued with his own projects, eventually forming Jump The Gun; Chris Heenan retired. Stephen McGowan became guitarist at some point. The Memories continued to perform into the 1990s and 'a' Memories is probably still doing the rounds to this day, but they ceased to exist as a recording unit many years ago. Their swansong was a surprise Irish number one hit in 1990. Guitarist Dominic Greene now plays with the latest incarnation of Eamon Gibney's Allies; Stephen McGowan later joined Who's Eddie and The Persuaders.



The Memories appeared on Irish TV many times over the years. The sleeve notes for the 1972 album mention an hour long show on RTE. They recorded another hour long show called "Best of the Bands" for RTE in 1981. These may still exist on video somewhere.

 

side one:
Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me (Davis)
This I Find Is Beautiful (David/Weiss)
Sing-Along Song (Nutter)
The Time Is Now (Diamond)
Don't You Hear? (Martin)
Tuesday Morning (Doyle)

side two:
The House Fell Down (Swan/Doyle)
Silent Voices (Swan/Doyle)
I Believe In Music (Davis)
Hasbrook Heights (Bacharach/David)
Never Goodbye (Kennedy)
Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms (Tilman)

Notes:
Produced by Dick Rowe.
Uncredited sleeve notes as follows:

MEMORIS conssit of Mike Swan, Daire Doyle, Colm Harpur, Jim barry, Ray Crowe and Chris Heenan. Now one of the hottest Pop Properties in Ireland, THE MEMORIES were formed originally by Mike and Daire as an act concentrating mainly on Theatre and Cabaret. Within three years they had become the top attraction in these fields and had starred in practically every major show in the country.
They were and still are the only Irish act to have their own hour-long TV spectacular which was shown earlier this year. Consisting mainly of pop it was so successfully received that it promoted the boys to go from Cabaret to the Pop Circuit and their vast stage experience has been a major factor of their success here.
Following a very successful (not to mention entirely imaginary--ed.) (Seems the joke's on me, this tour did happen, see cutting below--ed.) tour in America last year THE MEMORIES are hoping for an exended tour, negotiations for which are going on at the moment. However, with a new record due for release soon, it looks like they may have to wait until the New Year for this.
THis, their first album ranges through Bacharach, Mac Davis and Neil Diamond to originals by the Group themselves, thus blending their various musical tastes into a common pop package.
Their experience in Theatre has enabled them to create a brand new Pop Stage Show which after a month on the road has drawn fantastic receptions everywhere and demands for their album should ensure a major success for THE MEMORIES.
MIKE SWAN: Organ, Flute. The Group's musical arranger. Mike's tastes in music are vast. Writes a lot of material with Daire and Chris.
DAIRE DOYLE: Bass Guitar. Likes writing music and at the moment is wroking on a musical with Chris and Mike which they hope to stage in the New Year.
COLM HARPUR: One of the Group's lead singers with vast stage experience. Loves Bacharach, Jack Kones, Fifth Dimension and Gordon Lightfoot.
JIM BARRY: The Group's other lead singer, is 'huge' on Charlie Drake, Charlie Pride and Alice Cooper, and thinks Danny La Rue is mighty.
RAY CROWE: Lead Guitarist. Has had lots of experinece in Groups before joining THE MEMORIES. Loves listenign to Jerry Reid and Chet Atkins and hopes to do his own album soon.
CHRIS HEENAN: Drums and other percussion instruments including spoons. Favourite music - The Band, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and himself!

Notes: GAA-related single released in anticipation of Dublin's 1974 All Ireland victory. Like all sports related singles, this is best forgotten.

 

side one:
Skyin'
All I've Got
What You Gonna Tell Your Mama
He Was A Young Boy
A Child's Time
Pushin' Me Around

side two:
Hey Jude (The Beatles)
Jesus Christ Superstar (Andrew Lloyd Webber)
Desperado (Eagles)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
The National Anthem

Notes:
Side one consists of Swan/Doyle originals,originally released on 3 singles during 1975-76.
Side two is all covers.
Produced by Jerry Hughes (A1,A2,B1-B5) and Donal Lunny (A3-A6).
The credits read:
Mike Swann - organ, piano, tambourine & back-up vocals
Daire Doyle - bass, backup vocals
Jim Barry - lead vocals, backup vocals
Ray Crowe - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, dobro, backup vocals
Liam McKenna - lead and acoustic guitars
Chris Heenan - drums and percussion

• All The Kings Horses / Skyin'
7" - NEMS Records - NES105 - UK - June 1977
B-side included on the LP 'Time To Go On'.

 

back-cover, left-to-right: Jim Barry, Chris Heenan, Mike Swan (front), Dominic Green, Daire Doyle (front), Liam McKenna

Notes: "The Ultimate World Cup Hit for all soccer Fans". The A-side is a cover of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' with new lyrics relating to the Irish soccer squad. Produced by Peter Eades.

Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic. If you can help, then please get in touch.