Aussies listening to Aussie Music - finally

[HenryMc]

WARNING: Long, Boring Post which contains Bad Language

There has always been a degree of Australia Music being listened to in Australia but for many years we have been dominated by what comes out of the UK or USA.

Sure we've had some great bands over the years

In the 1960's

The Atlantics - a premier surf band if ever there was one
The Easybeats - Friday on my Mind is an anthem Man
The Master's Apprentices - This was one hell of a band - I saw them at the Carina reserve in 1969 and mate, wow

In the 70's

Chain - premier Blues featuring Phil Manning (Tommy Emmanuel fans - Manning is better ..not as flash)
Daddy Cool - Kitch but fun
Skyhooks - one of the great tongue in cheek banks of Australia
Sherbert - hate them but they did get a number on in England with "how's that"
The Saints - 1975's "I'm Stranded" was one of the first punk songs of the 1970's
Little River Band/Air Supply - Australian revenge for the put a shrimp on the barbie remarks
Radio Birdman - So Deniz Tek's a yank - the band is still great - Saw the Birdman in 1976 in Sydney - talk about good
Mental as Anything - has there ever been a better debut single than "The nips are getting bigger"?



In the 80's

The Angels - one of the greatest live acts of all time - imagine yourself standing in a huge beer barn with two thousand guys and gals dressed in flannel shirts singing along to "Am I ever going to see you face again...(crowd response: no way ...get fucked ...fuck off) - heaven, Hey dickhead did you just knock into me...yeah...well you spilled my beer ****...yeah..you fuck off...no you fuck off .....ya wanna go mate ...well meet me outside dickhead ....as I said heaven!!
Cold Chisel - same crowd - but dumber - Barnesy's scream defined a generation
The Go- Betweens - from the Brisbane Curry Shop to the world ....The GoBees defined Australia....From 1978 to 1990 they ruled
Nick Cave and Bad Seeds - Um what can I say - f*cking melbourne pseud
Hoodoo Gurus - a really good singles band who didnt make bad albums
Yothu Yindi - Treaty Now - Yeah


In the 90's

Silverchair - From Newcastle to bonking Natalie Imbruglia, the lad done good
Savage Garden - the 1990's Air Supply
Archie Roach/Kev Carmody - great Aussie singers
Ed Kuepper - former saint - makes continually good music


Now

Kacey Chambers - premier country singer
Keith Urban - Another Queenslander - doing the country thing in the States
Missy Higgins - annoying sub waifina vocalist but great album
Ben Lee - former tyro gets thrown by Claire Danes makes great Album "Awake is the new sleep" - downlkoad it from E Music now
The Waifs - New folk
Pete Murray - From Chinchilla mate - pretty damn good
Bernarrd Fanning/Powderfinger - Brissie again? what is it about the place
Grinspoon - good alterno sludge

What's my point - I just read the charts and 5 out of the top 20 are Aussie artists

Ben Lee, Pete Murray, Bernard Fanning, Savage Garden and Alex Lloyd ......and its been like that this past year! Aussies are finally listening to Aussie YAY

[john williams]

Yes speaking of Ed Kuepper, I just purchased the fantastic Laughing Clowns box "Cruel But Fair".

If you like The Saints/Kuepper Henry, I'd highly recommend you pick it up.

[HenryMc]

Originally Posted by JBW

Yes speaking of Ed Kuepper, I just purchased the fantastic Laughing Clowns box "Cruel But Fair".

If you like The Saints/Kuepper Henry, I'd highly recommend you pick it up.

Grew up with the Saints and Laqughing Clowns. Saw them at the National In Brisbane in about 1979 and again at the Trade Union Club in Sydney in about 1982.

Ed Kuepper is a great. If you havent got tghem. I would recommend "I was a Male Order Bridegroom", "Honey Steels Gold" and "Fronterland"

I'll head down to J and B Hi Fi later and see if they have that LC set. Thanks mate.

[Scott Dolan]

"Am I ever going to see you face again...(crowd response: no way ...get fucked ...fuck off) - heaven, Hey dickhead did you just knock into me...yeah...well you spilled my beer ****...yeah..you fuck off...no you fuck off .....ya wanna go mate ...well meet me outside dickhead ....as I said heaven!!

Oh my!

This posted by the author of the "Swearing In Threads" thread?

*tsk tsk*

[HenryMc]

If you cant beat em Scott.....

[Scott Dolan]

[Gary Sisco]

Hi, Henry -- There's some interesting improv/noise stuff coming out of Australia, too, these days.

I have an Aussie (actually a Swede but she's lived in Australia many years) email pen pal, another horseperson. We met her e-wise when she applied for a job with us a couple of years back. Visa situation was too tough timewise so that fell through but we ended up maintaining a correspondence. She's *nuts* about Keith Urban. I mean, rabid.

[Dan G]

Do Aussies actually listen to

or is that just some mental cruelty you've unleashed on the world (something like we Canadians did with Celine Dion and Brian Adams)?

One of the oddest things I've heard from Oz lately was Colin Hay, the leader of Men at Work, doing some really good solo stuff. Couldn't stand the band, but his new folkie persona is OK.

And Kasey Chambers is amazing!

[Richard Pinnell]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

There's some interesting improv/noise stuff coming out of Australia, too, these days.

Agreed here, a pretty vibrant scene down there at the moment and a few good labels in Impermanent, Antboy and Document Records. I'm sure Will G will provide the Antboy distribution URL within the next few posts....

Matte Earle, Adam Sussmann, Arek Gulbenkoglu, Joel Stern, Anthony Guerra, Will Guthrie, Oren Ambarchi and Philip Samartzis are some of the names I am enjoying the music of. Admittedly not all of those remain Australian residents, but some nice music coming from that direction over recent months.

[HenryMc]

Mate, I saw ACCADACCA when Bon was still alive. They played the Beer barn circuit then but they pretty quickly buggered off from here. They are absolutely beloved by guys who still have mullets and tatts and who drive hotted up cars.

I forgot some great bands that should be mentioned:

The Triffids from Perth - the late David McComb - there albums really define Australia especially Treeless Plain and Born Sandy Devotional.

Paul Kelly - consistently great singer songwriter with bands the Coloured Girls, the Messengers et al.

The Lucksmiths - fun pop from Melb...the anti Bad Seeds

[kenny weir]

My musical habits are undergoing another upheaval with the arrival of two double CDs on Savage Beat! (through Shock), covering the Hitmen's first two albums and a WHOLE lot more.

The double CDs are "Hitmen" and "It Is What It Is", and as well as the two early '80s LPs the releases are stuffed with B sides, demos, radio shots, essays and heaps of pics and whatnot.

Blowing my mind and bugging the neighbours, baby!

Given the Hitmen included two members of Radio Birdman, it's no surprise they're the main influence - but there's a whole lot of other stuff going on, as covers of Blue Oyster Cult, Flamin' Groovies, MC5, Stooges, Dictators and Johnny Rivers indicate, with the Birdman schtick gradually giving way to a poppier but no less agressive sound that points the way towards various Hitmen heading for the Hoodoo Gurus and the Screaming Tribesmen.

These fabulous albums have been put together by a long-time Oz rock supporter and zealot Dave Laing, who has two more Hitmen albums in the works.

Dave was also responsible for another amazing double CD, "Do The Pop", which anthologised significant slices of like-minded music.

Incredibly, he has three more "Do The Pop" redux double CDs headed our way in coming months.

I have a promo of the first, which features The Hitmen, Birdman, the Saints, X, The Scientists, The Lipstick Killers, New Race, New Christs and a whole bunch of more obscure but no less excellent outfits. (The 1976 Birdman version of New Race, live at the Paddington Town Hall, is also on youtube).

I'm gratified - but not really surprised - but just how good this brilliant stuff stands up today.

I moved to Melbourne in 1986, so this whole scene was the high-volume, high-life soundtrack for my life for a decade or more. It's fucking great to find out it really was that good - some of the best rock 'n' roll you'll ever hear - and not just youthful spirits.

I'm 51 now, but this stuff still fits like a glove.

[john williams]

My favorite Australian band is easily The Dirty Three from Melbourne. Although their latest album isn't so great all the ones that precede it are worthwhile particularly Horse Stories and Ocean Songs. Jim White of D3 has to be one of the most creative drummers I know of and his latest album with Nina Nastasia (not Australian) is truly remarkable and contains the best recorded drum sound I've ever heard. I also enjoy Mick Turner's, guitarist from D3, solo work/Tren Brothers. This is some of my favorite music of all time.





Mick Turner : Moth

[john williams]

Originally Posted by kenny weir

...The Scientists...

I recently bought a reformed Scientists live album - Sedition.
they haven't lost any of their fire. It's very good indeed.

[AntManBee]

What?! An Aussie rock thread and I've missed it! Being geographically opposite, my heart is nevertheless close to Australian rock. I was quite manic about many of the Aussie bands of the 80's, and I still claim with the persistency of a madman that the Triffids were one genuinely great band. "Born Sandy Devotional" spells C-L-A-S-S-I-C!

And I say it again: "Igloo" by the Screaming Tribesmen is one of the greatest 45's ever! Yup.

Speaking of 60's Aussie music, these are a couple of pretty fine garage/psych comps:

[kenny weir]

Igloo, um, rocks!

I'm gonna check out those two comps. Thanks for the tip.

You can come home now. Howard & Co have gone.

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by kenny weir

Igloo, um, rocks!

It sure does! And the flipside isn't that bad either!

I'm gonna check out those two comps. Thanks for the tip.

You're welcome. Can't say how easy they are to find nowadays though, but you should at least be able to pick up a copy of "A Forest of Gold Tops" somewhere.

[Root Doctor]

In addition to Radio Birdman and the Scientists, I threw these on last night:

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by Root Doctor

In addition to Radio Birdman and the Scientists, I threw these on last night

I love the Beasts of Bourbon's take on "Psycho"!

The Lime Spiders were so good too.

[Root Doctor]

Originally Posted by AntManBee

The Lime Spiders were so good too.

There's nothing quite like cranking "Weirdo Libido".

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by Root Doctor

There's nothing quite like cranking "Weirdo Libido".

Add the early 45's and you have a party.

[kenny weir]

When I went to see the Hitmen just between NYE and Xmas, I opined to a friend that the most anxiously awaited - a wait strateching into decades - reissue in my life was the mid-'80s classic Pilgrim's Progess by Melbourne outfit Harem Scarem.

At last.

It's here.

Back in my life - and making my hair stand on end, sending chills up my spine and giving me multiple cases of goose bumps as I write.

Put out in a masterful reissue by Aztec.

Oddly enough, the balls to the wall, Stonesy guitar riffing sounds perfectly obvious; at the time it sounded like rock 'n' roll cataclysm to me, such an invigorating blast was it. Still sounds awesome, though - simply a brilliant rock 'n' roll album.

Chris Marshall's singing bears comparison with the likes of Tim/Jeff Buckley - any tendancy to the pretentious is swept aside by sheer bravado and passion.

The arrival of harp man Chris Wilson, drummer Peter Jones and guitarist Barry Palmer - all future fixtures, along with the other guitar man, Charlie Marshall, on the Australian scene in years to come - lifted a workmanlike Melbourne blues/rock outfit into the stratosphere.



http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndID=194624636

[kenny weir]

Extract from the liner notes to Harem Scarem’s Pilgrim’s Progress Reissue cd due Feb 2008

So many roads: Pilgrim's Progress, and how we got there by Christopher Marshall

I remember when I was about twelve I once bought a cheap electric guitar from a friend at school. But then the strings cut into my fingers so I left it to gather dust in my room. Fortunately my brother Charlie picked it up and showed more perseverance than I did. Several years later we were rehearsing as a band of sorts. The founding reference points for what would become Harem Scarem were the unholy trinity of what every slightly mixed up teen outsider looking for release was into at that time: the Stooges, the Velvets and the Saints. I was also very taken with the raw aggression of 60s garage punk – a sound that I can still hear in "Love Attraction", our first ever recording – made for a compilation on the Melbourne independent music scene, when we were still unsigned youngsters looking for a break. That recording started our relationship with Au Go Go Records who handled all our releases from then on.

At that early stage two old school friends were also in the band: Phil Wales who would leave a little while later and Glen Sheldon. Glen played guitar in a slashing kind of Ron Asheton style that perfectly suited the first step along the path of where we were headed. Charlie played bass by default – since we couldn't find anybody else - and you can also hear his driving, muscular bass on "Love Attraction".

Ultimately though, as the co-leader of the group with the core song writing duties, Charlie needed to move to rhythm guitar, a switch that occurred around the time of our first extended record, the Dog Man EP, which was recorded for the most part live to two track in an inner-city warehouse studio. It was at this stage that we started to think beyond our initial references and to work a little harder on crafting the sound that would ultimately come together for Pilgrim's Progress. I was becoming obsessed with old blues records by the likes of Robert Johnson, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker and Howling Wolf. And so our next phase – and one that would set in train the essential change in our musical thinking – was to try to blend the original inspiration of the rough, punk drive of the Stooges et al. with a warmer, more rhythmic roots oriented approach that we got deeper into the more we listened to people like Doctor John, Exile period Stones, Tim Buckley, Al Green, Tony Joe White, Stax Records and others of their kind. We didn't set out to emulate them directly – since we knew that, apart from anything else, there was no way we could match their evident years of experience and musicality. But it was more the spirit of the kind of deep feeling that they seemed to be able to conjure up so effortlessly that we were after.

Remember also that this was back in the days before CD re-releases and even before the Internet itself so that it often wasn't that easy following up on obscure references to battered old vinyl. It took me two years, for example, to find a copy of Sly Stone's There's a Riot Goin On after being clued onto it a long time earlier through reading about it in Greil Marcus's Mystery Train. It sounded extraordinary from what he was saying and when we finally did hear it, it turned out to be a key influence on Pilgrim's Progress as well for its warm and fuzzy, rhythmic sound and incredibly free and loose singing style. Our knowledge of a lot of those early records also came from hanging out with people with better record collections than we had ourselves. Our first proper drummer, for example, Cliff Booth (who played with us up to Dog Man) was a key early friend along the way. He was from Perth and had played in more bands than we had - including a garage surf outfit called the Beach Nuts – and he had picked up more knowledge about the kind of music we were after in the process – I remember him introducing me to records like John Hammond's Southern Fried, for example, and other things like that.

So over the course of 1984 and into the beginning of 1985 we started to make more systematic changes to the band's line up to try to bring it closer to the evolving sounds in our heads. Charlie moved to guitar where his unique whomper stomper rhythmic style could be foregrounded and Glen swapped to bass. Since we were still heavily into the blues, we initially took on a harmonica player named 'Dirty' Kurt Lindtner and his friend Dave Moll on guitar. They were great. But we also wanted to avoid the problem of going too far in the other direction and sounding too 'straight'. The last thing we wanted to do was to end up sounding like Canned Heat or some other boogie band doing blues covers. So those players ultimately moved on and we were left looking once again for new people who could take all of that roots background and convert it into something a little more shook up – a little wilder and less predictable, in other words.

Ultimately we found what we were looking for in the form of the great twin talents of Barry Palmer (on lead guitar) and Chris Wilson (on harmonica). Those two went way back since they had played for a long time in an incredibly tight and thoroughly road hardened R&B act called the Sole Twisters. Fortunately for us their band broke up around the same time as we were casting around for new people. They had all the chops – they could play those old blues licks backwards. But at the same time they were also looking for something a little more lateral and experimental. We also got extra lucky in finding a new drummer in the form of Peter Jones – fresh in from Sydney – who was (and still is) one of the most outstanding, exciting and gifted musicians we had ever encountered. His playing took us to a whole new level that we had never been able to reach before. This new incarnation clicked almost immediately and we were soon on the way to recording Pilgrim's Progress.

We played live a lot in those days, so the songs on Pilgrim's Progress had plenty of time to evolve and to be road tested on stage. It was an exciting scene back then and we took a lot of our energy from it as well. The Birthday Party had come through Melbourne in 81-82 and had blown everybody away thereby sowing the seeds for the next crop of headliners like the Hunters and Collectors, the Scientists, the Sacred Cowboys and the Moodists. They were all great to see live and they were supplemented by frequent interstate acts like Paul Kelly, the Go Betweens and the Laughing Clowns. The Clowns in particular had an improvisational jazz approach that we were particularly drawn to. There was a lot to take in. A night out at the Crystal Ballroom in St Kilda, for example, might involve three stages with as many as nine bands all appearing on the same bill. Further down the road, the Prince of Wales was also happening as a venue, and then the Esplanade overlooking the sea was the perfect setting for the end of the night when everything else was closing down. It was exciting to go out and see what was going on, and we very soon took an active role in all of that scene, playing scores and scores of gigs as a slowly building following grew in our wake.

All good things must pass, however, and it felt as if we had only just got it together with Pilgrim's Progress and then started thinking about what to do next, than it started to unravel somewhat as well. There were the inevitable musical tensions, as there always are. Charlie started to prefer more tightly structured, shorter songs, with a number of different sections in them – whereas I got more into the idea of rolling, loose grooves. I liked the longer, slower jams like Pilgrim's Progress and Let Me In. I liked, in other words, to stretch things out, to leave it a little loose and unresolved, so as to be able to reach into the groove and find something new to add to it each night. Charlie, on the other hand, got a bit tired sometimes of just hanging about on a couple of chords for ever. Of course both points of view were equally valid. And looking back on it now I can see that we were also very young and unrelenting with each other and on those around us. Everything was intensely black and white and now or never in those days.

So, we pushed ourselves a little too hard, the fragile equilibrium of the band gave way, and we took our separate paths. Glen Sheldon went off to work in publishing – in fact the first book he ever published, with Cliff Booth as co-publisher, was Vivien Johnson's excellent biography of Radio Birdman. For his part, Charlie kept the name of Harem Scarem and went on to make one more album under that title before going out on his own and releasing many Cds as a solo act over the years. Barry Palmer was immediately picked up by Hunters and Collectors, before going on to front Deadstar and then moving into producing more recently. Chris Wilson went solo as well, after an initial period touring and recording with Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, and Peter Jones played with various acts including even Crowded House for a period. All of this is a tribute of course to how tremendous those players were – and I have to say that it was a great feeling to be singing for that band on a good night. Harem Scarem were a band that could rock out incredibly hard in one moment and then turn things around in an instant and open the music out so as to float and weave around it in the next. To be lost in that moment of unpredictable potentiality – of sensing our way collectively into something strong and fresh and new – that was a great thing. And I can still hear all of that combined experience, sweat and inspiration, together with the sound of us listening to each other to see what will happen next, embedded in the grooves of Pilgrim's Progress. I hope you enjoy listening to it too.

[HenryMc]

Thanks for posting that Kenny.

Can I recommend a recent Aussie release to add to the mix?

Ed Kuepper and the Kowalski Collective's "Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog"

I really like this disc.

Other than that I have been playing a lot of Geoff Acheson and Jeff Lang CDs.

[Ron Thorne]

HenryMc-

It's very nice to see you posting again, mate!

This conversation is out of my bailiwick, but I wanted to extend greetings.

[HenryMc]

Thanks Ron - I appreciate the greetings.

[kenny weir]

Sunday Herald Sun, fEBRUARU 17

A Harem full of beauties

By: KENNY WEIR

ROCK
Pilgrim's Progress
Harem Scarem
(Aztec)
5 STARS

In short: Melbourne band's unforgettable chunk of joy.

IS this the greatest Australian rock 'n' roll album of all? Well, it's a strong contender, certainly.

A lamentably unacknowledged treasure that deserves to be adored and enjoyed by hordes of music fans? Indisputably.

Singer Christopher Marshall attributes Harem Scarem's subsequent implosion largely to the friction between his own desire to explore the band's sprawling, bluesy grooves as far as they would go and the desire of his brother, guitarist Charlie, for tighter song structures.

Whatever the truth of that, there is no doubt that that in-built tension - as it does with so much great music - also contributes to the incandescent brilliance of 1986's Pilgrim's Progress.

It is enjoyable spotting the reference points - Exile-era Stones, Detroit rock filtered through a deep love of the blues, the Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon, Rory Gallagher, the Gun Club.

And while the band and its fans might have bristled at suggestions Harem Scarem was "the next Cold Chisel'', there's a kinship between stompers such as Miracle Mile and Animal Tracks and the Chisel's Khe Sanh.

But genius is genius, even when it's wearing its heart on its sleeve.

When the Marshalls and bassist Glen Sheldon were joined by harmonica man Chris Wilson, guitarist Barry Palmer and drummer Peter Jones, the fuse was lit for an ecstatic explosion of rock 'n' roll power.

Among the many glories of Pilgrim's Progress are the vocals of Christopher Marshall, who fearlessly walks a tightrope between the divine craftsmanship of the other players and a Tim Buckley-style swooping and hollering full of holy fervour.

It's an all-or-nothing approach that risks sounding pretentious but promises deliverance.

As a new generation of listeners will hopefully soon discover, thanks to this top-notch reissue, Harem Scarem delivers in full on that promise.

*Harem Scarem will perform at the Corner Hotel, Richmond, on March 29.

[BFrank]

Any fans of Radio Birdman?

[kenny weir]

Originally Posted by BFrank

Any fans of Radio Birdman?

Oh yeah, of course. But seeing as I arrived in Melbourne in 1986 (IIRC), my natural inclination is to groove fully to the Many Children Of Radio Birdman.

[HenryMc]

Kenny

As I said originally, saw the Birdman of a few occasions dating back to the 70's. Great Detroit influenced band. In fact you were a Sydney boy KW werent you? You must have spent a few nights at Salinas or the Trade Union Club? I had some great nights I cant remember in both places!! (Oh and the bloody Lifesaver, gees - I saw Dragon there once and the road outside crunched under the sound of broken syringes!!)

One day I will post my Brisbane Vs Melbourne hypothesis in which I propose that Ed Kuepper is 'better' than Nick Cave!! (Maybe its cause I could relate to Kuepper and Bailey and even Forster and McLennan (GBs) rather than Cave who I've always seen (probably unfairly) as a Melbourne pseud!)

[kenny weir]

Originally Posted by HenryMc

Kenny

As I said originally, saw the Birdman of a few occasions dating back to the 70's. Great Detroit influenced band. In fact you were a Sydney boy KW werent you? You must have spent a few nights at Salinas or the Trade Union Club? I had some great nights I cant remember in both places!! (Oh and the bloody Lifesaver, gees - I saw Dragon there once and the road outside crunched under the sound of broken syringes!!)

One day I will post my Brisbane Vs Melbourne hypothesis in which I propose that Ed Kuepper is 'better' than Nick Cave!! (Maybe its cause I could relate to Kuepper and Bailey and even Forster and McLennan (GBs) rather than Cave who I've always seen (probably unfairly) as a Melbourne pseud!)

Henry - nope, I'm a Kiwi. One, who after more than decades in Melbourne, has very complex, contradictory pecking order when it comes to various teams in various footy codes.

Despite time in London in the mid/late '70s, when I arrived in Melbourne I was pretty much oblivious to ALL forms of Aussie music.

So Melbourne in the mid to late '80s and onwards was a mind-shredding thing of much glory and many hangovers. My haunts were the Espie, Seaview Ballroom, Prince of Wales, the Tote and so on.

Luckily, I tapped right into the local media and got a show on PBS within a year, so have been pretty much hard at it ever since. Although much of the past decade was spent devoted almost exclusively to the also excellent local jazz scene. But now I'm back into the rock stuff again, and appreciating the reissues such as Harem Scarem. It really is a masterpiece.

My arrival and lack of prior experience with Oz music has much to do with the stuff I liked then and now.

Nick Cave and his various incarnations are pretty much a blind spot. And I always found Keupper a little, er, fuzzy for my liking. Not that I've ever tried that hard.

And inbetween all that there were about 10+ visits of several months duration each to New Orleans.

My musical history is getting more confusing and/or richer as I get older. Very confusing, certainly, for the long-time listener who rang up during last week's show to complain about the amount of Grateful Dead I've been playing for the past six months - at the expense of Maceo Parker and so on.