"And the Days Go By / Midnight Blues" - Geoffrey's First Affair...
Single
U2 Related Content:
- "Midnight Blues" (Studio Version) - Geoffrey's First Affair... (03:13)
Full Track Listing:
- And the Days Go By
- Midnight Blues
Background Information
Geoffrey’s First Affair… was a short lived project fronted by Ed Darragh (AKA Adrienne Darragh) on vocals, and featuring John McCrea. Hughie Purcell was also involved with the band in some function. The band was a shortlived affair and only produced one single, a double A-Side featuring “And the Days Go By” on the A-Side and “Midnight Blues” on the AA-Side.
The band was formed in 1986 by Darragh who had previously been associated with Toy With Rhythm, the Boy Scoutz, and the band Modernaires. Steve Rapid AKA Steve Averill was vocals in the Modernaires with Darragh. Darragh was not with that band when they played with U2 at the Project Arts venue in Dublin.
The band won a Battle of the Bands radio contest on Q102 and recorded their first (and only) single at Windmill Lane. The band would also record a session with David Fanning.
The A-Side of the single was produced by Chris O’Brien. The AA-Side of the single, “Midnight Blues” is credited as having been produced by L.M.J. The “L.M.J.” stood for Larry Mullen Junior. At the time, U2’s record contract did not allow them to easily work on outside projects, and thus they probably just included his initials to avoid having issues with the contract. Darragh however does confirm that Larry Mullen was the producer who worked on this single.
The blog on Darragh’s site lists:
In 1986 she fronted R n’ B outfit “Geoffrey’s First Affair”, they played the Cork Jazz festival the same year under the name of Adriana. Their first and only single ‘Midnight Blues’ was co-written by Ed Dara and John McCrea and produced by U2’s Larry Mullen.
The single was the first record released on the new label, Solid Records, based out of Dublin Ireland.
The band played a few shows around Ireland, but in 1987, Darragh suffered a family tragedy involving kidnapping and terrorism, forcing the family to live under police protection, and Darragh to give up her career in entertainment.
Liner Notes
Midnight Blues:
Written by Ed Darragh / John McCrea. Prod. by L.M.J. Eng. by Pearse Dunne, Recorded at Windmill Lane Studios, Management: Mr Brian Stein.