On Dec 1, 1985, “A Good Heart” by Feargal Sharkey was enjoying its second week at No. 1 single in Ireland. Meanwhile, BP was playing “Rockin’ at Midnight,” from Robert Plant and The Honeydrippers show in Dallas in June of the same year, Lloyd Cole, Talking Heads, The Staples Singers, Sir Douglas Quintet, The Beatles, Nick Lowe, Gene Vincent and the Blue Cats, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Jesus and Mary Chain, Kirsty MacColl, Grace Jones and Artists Against Apartheid.
Throughout the course of the show, BP mentioned Lloyd Cole and The Commotions playing Dublin that week, and the ongoing anti-apartheid marches taking place throughout Ireland at the time.

Dec 1, '85: BP Fallon's Nothing Special [AGFA, Side A]

"You don't sound like anyone else," said Danny Thompson - renowned bass player for Nick Drake and Joe Strummer - about English musician Conil.

The GRAMMY-winning engineer for Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, Tchad Blake said: "Strange Part of the Country is an awesome album! I still listen to it."

Fleetwood Mac legend Peter Green liked Conil's music so much he stopped by Conil’s house to record with him. They recorded a version of Conil's homage to the jazz greats "Round Midnight". 

Strange Part of the Country never conformed to any current trends and has remained timeless. Now, people are discovering this album and it is becoming an all-time favourite. 

When the album was released in the UK, it received some amazing press. Britain's biggest selling music monthly Q magazine gave it: "Four stars - Q Recommends". Blues Matters magazine wrote: "One of the most original artists out there". In the next issue, Blues Matters put him on the front cover.

Conil left London after Strange Part of the Country was released and has spent the last ten years living in the United States and Europe - including New Orleans, New York City, and Berlin.

Songs from the edge of somewhere. Bluesy, soulful rock with roots in folk and blues, shaped by years of traveling and chasing sound.

My debut album Strange Part of the Country earned ★★★★ from Q Magazine, a Blues Matters cover feature, and reached #3 on the U.S. Alternative Radio Chart, with airplay on BBC Radio 2, WWOZ New Orleans, and KROQ Los Angeles. Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), Marc Ribot, and Danny Thompson have all been part of the journey.

I’m now finishing a new album with Marc Ribot, Tchad Blake, and Danny Thompson — music that digs deep, raw and real.

BP Fallon is a legend in the music world. A storied manager, publicist and friend of some of the world's best-known artists, he also hosted radio shows in the 1980's on Ireland's RTE 2FM. 
On Saturday nights, he hosted the BP Fallon Orchestra (BPFO), an interview-and-listen format. 
On Sunday nights, 9-10pm, it was BP Fallon's Nothing Special (BPFN), a music show where BP often dug into the past, introducing new audiences to musical dynamite that was often dismissed by the mainstream. 

The recordings here are from a batch of cassette tape recordings I made live from the radio from approximately 1984-1986. The one-hour format of the show wasn't very conducive to tapes, which were 45 minutes per side. So, I would record them, skip the ads, and sometimes skip tracks I already had captured, and occasionally edited BP's commentary, all of which I regret today, as it would have completed the time capsule.

Posted with gratitude to BP Fallon, who taught me a lot about music and has influenced my musical taste ever since.

About Rochey: "Sunday nights in the mid-80's were the highlight of my week. Whatever I was doing, I had to be home before 9pm so I could position myself the family's stereo system in our back room, fingers on the record+play buttons, ready to "BP Fallon's Nothing Special" on RTE 2FM. I recorded almost every show during that period, all the way up to BP’s very last one. 

After keeping those cassettes with me for almost 40 years, I finally bought a tape-to-USB converter, and will be posting the digitized shows over the coming months.”

Dec 1, '85: BP Fallon's Nothing Special [AGFA, Side A]

Rochey's Box of Cassettes