39 Minutes

{{Infobox album | name = 39 Minutes | type = studio | artist = Microdisney | cover = Microdisney-39minutes-lp-cover.jpeg | alt = | released = {{start date|1988}} | recorded = | studio = | genre = Pop | length = {{duration|m=37|s=49}} (Vinyl) | label = Virgin | producer = Jamie Lane | prev_title = Crooked Mile | prev_year = 1987 | next_title = The Peel Sessions Album | next_year = 1989 | misc = {{Singles | name = 39 Minutes | type = studio | single1 = Singer's Hampstead Home " / "She Only Gave In to Her Anger | single1date = October 1987 | single2 = Gale Force Wind " / "I Can't Say No (Betty Lou Version) | single2date = February 1988 }} }} '''''39 Minutes''''' is the fourth and final studio album by the Irish pop group Microdisney, released in 1988.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |date=2003 |publisher=Rough Guides |page=673 |edition=3rd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smyth |first1=Gerry |title=Noisy Island: A Short History of Irish Popular Music |date=2005 |publisher=Cork University Press |page=81}}</ref> It was a commercial disappointment.<ref name="AM">{{cite web |title=Microdisney Biography by Jason Ankeny |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/microdisney-mn0000891124 |website=AllMusic |access-date=13 November 2024}}</ref> The first single was "Singer's Hampstead Home", allegedly a criticism of Boy George's celebrity persona.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Meagher |first1=John |title=Microdisney—gone but not forgotten |work=Irish Independent |date=28 Nov 2015 |department=Review |page=16}}</ref> It was followed by the release, from this album, of Microdisney's final single, "Gale Force Wind",<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Nicky |title=Micro 'next big thing' |work=Gateshead Post |date=11 February 1988 |page=26}}</ref> which reached number 98 on the UK singles chart.<ref name="chart">{{cite web |title=Gale Force Wind |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/microdisney-gale-force-wind/ |website=officialcharts.com/ |publisher=Official Charts |access-date=14 November 2024}}</ref>

==Critical reception== {{Music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite web |title=39 Minutes Microdisney |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/39-minutes-mw0001882062 |website=AllMusic |access-date=13 November 2024}}</ref> |rev2 = ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'' |rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music |date=1997 |publisher=Virgin Books |page=322}}</ref> }} The album attracted some derisive reviews at the time, with singer Cathal Coughlan saying in a 2022 interview with the BBC, "The press on ''39 Minutes'', as I recall, was pretty bad."<ref name=bbc>{{cite AV media|people=Perkins, Julie (Director)|title=The Story of Microdisney: The Clock Comes Down the Stairs|publisher=BBC Television}}</ref> David Stubbs, in a review for ''Melody Maker'', described the album as "horrible, frankly".<ref name=melody>{{cite magazine|author=Stubbs, David|date=2 April 1988|title=Time Fades Away|magazine=Melody Maker}}</ref> However, the album was acclaimed by ''Hot Press'' as "some of the best and most provocative pop music ever to have emanated from this country".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Byrne |first1=George |title=39 Minutes |url=https://www.hotpress.com/music/39-minutes-443570 |access-date=11 November 2024 |work=Hot Press |date=28 March 2001}}</ref>

''Trouser Press'' later opined that ''39 Minutes'' "restores the group's sense of purpose, balancing the slick production of recent efforts with a slightly more aggressive attack and Coughlan's sharpest lyrics in ages."<ref>{{cite web |title=Microdisney |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/microdisney/ |website=Trouser Press |author1=Gethers, Altricia|author2=Schinder, Scott |access-date=13 November 2024}}</ref>

==Track listing== All tracks composed by Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan.

'''Side one''' # "Singer's Hampstead Home" (4:02) # "High & Dry" (3:04) # "Send Herman Home" (4:03) # "Ambulance for One" (3:26) # "Soul Boy" (5:04)

'''Side two''' # "Back to the Old Town" (3:13) # "United Colours" (3:16) # "Gale Force Wind" (3:57) # "Herr Direktor" (3:42) # "Bluerings" (3:55)

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Microdisney albums Category:1988 albums Category:1980s in Irish music