U2 takes pride of place at Windmill Quarter installation

By Ronald Quinlan, Independent.ie

The musical history of the original Dublin docklands location of Windmill Lane Recording Studios has been recognised with the unveiling yesterday, by Moya Brennan of Clannad, of an installation featuring the sleeves of 21 of the most famous albums for which recording work was done at the studio. The sleeves have been embedded into the pavement of Hibernia Reit's redeveloped Windmill Lane, in Dublin's South Docks, to create a 'Vinyl Walkway'.

As well as being where U2's first three albums - Boy, October, and War - were recorded in full, the band also did much of the work on The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby in the original studio on Windmill Lane. It also served as the recording location for albums by international best-selling artists, including Clannad, Van Morrison, The Waterboys and Kate Bush.

Two special installations were made public: one dedicated to the six U2 albums; the other to 15 albums that were picked to reflect the breadth of material created there, over the studio's 14 years at the location. The selection of album covers are embedded beneath perspex glass, set into the pavement, and will be lit so they can be viewed at night.

During the construction of the Windmill Quarter, Hibernia Reit took steps to preserve large portions of the graffiti wall on Windmill Lane. Part of the wall is now installed in the museum at the Teeling Distillery in Dublin 8, whilst men's health charity Movember has raised funds through selling pieces of the wall, some of which can be seen as part of the EPIC exhibition in CHQ.

© Independent.ie

Original article: https://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/u2-takes-pride-of-place-at-windmill-quarter-installation-37861567.html