Chris Bailey - Casablanca

For my 49th post we have a very special treat,
A Vinyl rip of an album I haven't seen anywhere on the net
Chris Bailey's 1st solo album.
Not to be confused with the Australian release of the
Saints "Out of the Jungle" Lp with was also called Casablanca.
This is a very rare record released in 1983 by the New Rose
label. Just Chris and his guitar, sometimes electric, sometimes
acoustic, its a delightful low budget record that exposes Bailey's
blues roots. Containing the first recordings of some later
released songs and some songs that were never recorded
again, of particular interest is the song
"Wait until Tomorrow"which is the first recording
of the song that would become "Ghost Ships"
The fantastic blues of "Insurance on me",
"Its Only Time"and "Junko Partner"
The wonderful love ballad that is "Look At me",
The haunting ballad "Why does it Make Me Feel This Way",
which is the first recording of the song "Photograph",
which was later, after the Saints released it,
covered by Mick Harvey.
Including the earliest recordings of the songs
"Rescue", "Curtains" and "Follow the Leader"
all later released on the Saints "Out of The Jungle"
this is well worth hearing and as a follow up from
the last post, a great companion.



Track List
1-Home Again
2-Rescue
3-It's Only Time
4-Insurance On Me
5-Wait Until Tomorrow
6-Curtains
7-Look at me
8-Junko Partner
9-Always the Same
10-Follow the Leader
11-Why Does It Make Me Feel This Way
12-Country Boy

Download Here

Chris Bailey and the General Dog - Bone Box

"For a lot of the tracks, I just banged out the tunes," Chris says.
"I didn't use headphones or a vocal booth, didn't use monitoring,
I just sat down with a guitar and a microphone above my head
and tried to be primitive in a funny sort of way."

"I've always maintained there's a thousand ways to play every song
but it's not often you get the opportunity to revisit them like this.
The whole mindset was that we were a bunch of teens
and this was the first time we'd ever made a record.
I don't mean to pun, but it was a very liberating experience."

Recorded in Amsterdam in 2005, Bone box is a collection of 14 tracks
winding a rewarding journey through Chris Bailey's musical legacy.
Chris Bailey is argumentatively one of this countries greatest
songwriters, blessed with perhaps the best blues singing voice
and a fine feel for blues and roots, he is my favorite Australian
artist.If your a bit unfamiliar with the man and his music,
have a listen to this hard to get but brilliant collection.
Stripped down and often acoustic these songs are transformed.

"I'm Stranded" becomes has an acoustic sitting in the lounge room
type feel, where I can understand all the lyrics.
You can hear the rock and roll influence.
"No time" is fantastic, I hear Ed used to listen to a bit of Status Quo
back then, Chris gives this a wonderful blues rock feel.
"Lets Pretend" always was one of my fav's, it becomes a beautiful
ballad here. "In the mirror" is up tempo and transformed into a
new song, complete with wonderful backing vocals.
"All Fools day" is sublime, another example of Chris's genius
ability to write a perfect song capturing the moment and
a wonderful vocal performance.
I have a special affinity for this song as the day in question
is my birthday.
"Maria Antoinette" is just a perfect pop song, have a listen
to this if your still not convinced, Chris has an excellent
feel for song structure.
"Imagination" is another wonderful pop song given the
stripped down treatment.
"Grain of sand" is a stand out track, rollicking along, just
a simple but very effective song.
"This Perfect Day" becomes a haunting, classical guitar
ballad, almost Spanish sounding.
"Misunderstood" is given the electric blues treatment,
transforming the song from the Eternally Yours version.
"Nights in Venice" is completely transformed,with help
from the Arabic strings of Sanhand Sahebdivan it becomes
a dark ballad, as intense as the original.
"Know your product" is now a steel string acoustic blues
ballad, if you can believe that could be possible.
"Ghost Ships" Chris's greatest song the ode to his
lost youth, so much more relevant to me these days,
is just Chris on guitar and a drone that could be a didgeridoo.
"Casablanca" the dark ballad from the Out of the Jungle
LP is a little up tempo, and much improved.
Finally "Just Like Fire Would" the only song many
Australians know of Chris's, is stripped down and laid
back, a wonderful rock song.
All in all a wonderful showcase of the talent of Mr Bailey.

"I've never been overly nostalgic however when approached
to be involved in this project my immediate reaction
betrays the Aussie influence that still has a hold on me:
"Oh Yeah; I'll give it a go."
Whether or not this hasty reaction has proven successful or
not is up to you dear listener?
The tunes contained herein are culled mainly
from the work of The Saints

Eternally Yours"
Chris Bailey
Amsterdam 2005

Track list

1. I'm Stranded
   
2. No Time
   
3. Let's Pretend
4. In the Mirror
5. All Fools Day
6. Marie Antoinette
7. Love or Imagination
8. Grain of Sand
9. This Perfect Day
10. I'm Misunderstood
11. Nights in Venice
12. Know Your Product
13. Ghost Ships
14. Casablanca
15. Just like Fire would

Download Here

The Saints - Paralytic Tonight, Dublin Tomorrow

For Chris Bailey the Saints implosion in 1979 was the start of the
next phase in his career, reforming the Saints in London he
took off in an entirely different direction to Ed.
Not as quick off the mark as Ed, but without wasting too
much time. this Ep is a testimony to his massive talent.



The Australian version was released as a 7 in Ep,
without "Miss Wonderful"
and The brand new French label New Rose released
it as a 12 in Ep including the track.
It was the first release on that label.
The scans here are from the Lost Records Australian version.
I have both of course, I'm an old Chris Bailey fan.
The songs are simply Wonderful, gone are the complex
arrangements, the jazz instrumentation
and we are left with straight down the line
rock. "Simple love" is simply one of Baileys greatest songs,
it had quite animpression on me when I was in high school.
"Roses "a beautiful guitar ballad,
"Miss Wonderful," a slower version that the one on monkey puzzle,
is nice and dirty rock. "On the waterfront" is a rollicking tune
complete with just a little sax,
but its on "Call it mine" Bailey shines, almost Jagger like
he delivers one of his best vocal performances.
This Ep showed the world the Saints were back with a vengeance.

Track List
01 - Simple Love
02 - (Don't Send Me) Roses
03 - Miss Wonderful
04 - On the Waterfront
05 - Call it Mine

Download Here

Paths of Pain to Jewels of Glory - Phantom Records Compilation

This 1983 Phantom Records compilation is perhaps the finest
Australian various artist compilation ever released in this
country.Phantom records was Sydney's greatest musical
icon in the early 80's.
Single after single of some of the best bands to be found
anywhere in Australia. With some of the best artwork to boot,
talking of which hows that sock on the cover,
its a sticker which I've never peeled back
so don't ask me whats underneath.



The bands on this , one of whom I've covered earlier (Flaming Hands)
are fantastic. Some you will know as they became, lets say successful
later. The Sunnyboys who's wonderful "Love to rule"off their first Ep
shows a band with all the promise later fulfilled.
The Flaming Hands and their J.Sullivan prototype The Passengers
are really, really good pop which should have made a bigger impact.
The Cockroaches are a really fun band which later morphed into
one of this countries biggest earning bands ever, I won't say who
see if anyone can guess.
I'll just say that they also are a really fun band.


And "Le Hoodgoo Gurus " who later dropped the "Le" to become the
"Hoodoo Gurus"after this their 1st single. Other notable bands include
"The Visitors",Denis Tek's band after the legendary "Radio Birdman"
and well all the rest cause they're all brilliant.
This record is a testament to a glorious chapter
in Sydney's proud musical heritage,
which almost is as good as Brisbane's
(just kidding).




Now lets hear some comments on these great bands,
I've got some other stuff to post on some of the individual bands.
And I'd love to hear from Sydney people who lived through
this period of time.

Download Here

Laughing Clowns - Self Titled Ep

After the Saints split in England following the release of their 3rd Lp
Ed Kuepper was first back at work and home in Australia
with his new band the Laughing Clowns.
This Ep was the first release from this incredibly different band
from the saints and yet a band following on from their last release
in a strangely similar direction.
I remember first hearing this at rocking horse records in the city,
when it was still next to King George Square,
one sunny morning, I had got them to play it as I hadn't heard
the band as yet. It was one of those moments you always remember
and when the first track finished I couldn't wait to buy the ep.
This is Different sounding clowns from later versions, with most
of this band not playing on later releases.
Beautiful and haunting with Jeffrey Wegener's trademark sound
stamped on it and some brilliant sax from Robert Farrell
Recorded in Feb 1980, but a few months after the saints implosion
it shows the quite young Ed Kuepper is an artist to be reckoned with.
As a debut its a masterpiece, this is a vinyl rip
I don't think it ever made it to cd.

Download here

James Freud - Step into the heat

Many thanks to New Race from over at the Ausroc forum for this
post. Following on from the Lethal Weapons and
the Teenage Radio Stars, heres James's 1989 solo record,
I have his 1980 "Breaking Silence"record with his band the
Radio Allstars which I will rip and post after Easter.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper,
August 31st 2003, James Freud was quoted saying:

"Once you have a hit record,
your life can never be the same again,
whether it's because you're rich and famous,
or lost in the past, living your life through your glory days,"

Beginning his music career in the late 1970s,
Freud is best known for his early solo career, which spawned the hit
"Modern Girl", and as one of two lead vocalists of the Australian
rock group Models from 1982-88. In 1985, Two Freud-penned hits,
"Barbados" and "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", took the Models
to numbers #2 and #1 on the Australian top-ten charts respectively.
In 1989, Freud went solo, releasing "Step into the Heat',
the most expensive album produced by the Mushroom Records
company up to that point. However, it was not successful,
a fact that Freud blamed in his autobiography on average songs.
He then teamed with Martin Plaza of Mental as Anything
as the dance group Beatfish, releasing an eponymous record in 1992.
n 1995, Freud canned his next solo album, "BigMouth",
but some of the material made its way onto the Hawaiian surf-themed
"Postcard from Hawaii" album released by Moondog,
of which Freud was the lead vocalist.
Others in Moondog included Phil Ceberano and Martin Plaza.
In 1999, he performed the song "One Tony Lockett"
at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and released "
Today's Legends of AFL football" as James Freud and the Reserves.

The James Freud time line.
1977, Freud and his school friend Sean Kelly
formed Teenage Radio Stars, a glam-punk band
with Freud on lead vocals and guitar.
They broke up the next year
and Freud formed James Freud and the Radio Allstars.
1980- The Radio Allstars signed with Mushroom label
and released their debut single, "Modern Girl," in and
the single reaches number 12 on the Australian national charts.
1980 – The Radio Allstars supported Gary Numan
during his Australian tour.
June 1980 - their debut album Breaking Silence released.
1980 - Freud invited to record an album in the
U.K., which was never released.
James Freud changes the band name to James Freud
and Berlin because a U.K. band was already called The Radio Stars.
March 1981- releases the single "Automatic crazy,"
produced by Gary Numan.
April 1981- Freud disbanded James Freud and Berlin.
1982 - Freud joined friend Sean Kelly's band
The Models after a trip to England.
1984 - James Freud was largely responsible for their successful album,
The pleasure of your company.
1985 - Freud's single “Out of mind out of sight” goes to number one,
while the album of the same name got to number two.
June 1988- The Models break up and Freud goes solo.
June 1989- “Step into the heat” was recorded in New York
and peaked nationally at number 16 in Australia.
Mushroom weren’t overly impressed,
as it was the most expensive album they ever made.
June 1989 -The single "Hurricane" peaked at number 15.
1990 - Freud spent the 90s playing bass in Kylie Minogue's touring band.
End of 1990- Freud combined with Mental as Anything's
Martin Plaza for the dance act Beatfish.
January 1996 - Another solo album, Big Mouth,was scrapped.
Writing and production work for TV commercials followed.
January 1996 - The single, "Postcard to Hawaii,"
was successfully released under the Moondog banner,
a new collaboration with guitarist Phil Ceberano.
Jan 1997 - Postcard to Hawaii album was released in January 1997
2002 – Freud leaves the music industry and studies script writing
Aug 2003 – Releases memoir I Am the Voice Left from Drinking

Download Here

Regum - Virgin Ground

Redgum's second album Virgin Ground released in 1980 was met with
critical acclaim and led to the band members finally giving up their
day jobs. Drummer Tom Stehlik and bassist Dave Flett became
permanent members.Virgin Ground is a fantastic album, with
the addition of thepercussion section they finally left the folk label
for more a folk rock one.
Coupled with the release of the Redgum songbook these guys
songs were heavily played by myself and friends back in those early
80's.Theres 3 songs that are portraits of individuals,
my favorite being the brilliant "Ted", born in 1895 I could see a lot in
Ted that mirrored my own Grandfathers life whom was born in 1899.

"Did his bit in the first world war
Took the shilling to fight the hun
Mud up to his crotch in Flanders field
And the gas eating out His lungs
He said "me best mate died hanging
on the barded wire
And when the attack was through
We shared a fag and a yarn or two
They were the same as me and you
And I asked old Ted what history meant
as he sharped his hedging shears
What a bloody fool question that is my boy
I've lived it for 83 years"

Theres the very funny
"It doesn't matter to me"

"I'm in the RSL I joined the lions club Friday
My support of sport is through of highly
I'm a class 6 clerk in the PCD
and who the hell is Ayattollah Khomeni?"

And "Nuclear Cop"

"The sky is red and the earth is black
Its 1990 and we haven't looked back
Load it on a jumbo send it overseas
We've got a lot of money now
who needs trees"

The title track is about the little known, ill fated
expedition to Paraguay in the 1890's, where almost
the entire union movement in Australia left the country
for the jungles of Paraguay to start New Australia.

"The money's no good" is a fantastic song that
captures the struggle of the unemployed in the
Malcolm Frazer years of the late 70's early 80's

"You get out of bed bout half past 7
Your days are hell so sleeping's heaven
Unfold the paper over yesterday's meal
Good morning Mr Howard how do you feel?
Another batch of figures says every thing's fine
But thats not what they're saying on the dole-form line"

But the best is the brilliant "Long Run", this song
is an Australian classic, a song about coming to terms
with our history and our future as a nation.

"Australia marched out of Vietnam
Out on the streets against uncle Sam
We won the fight it was a long one
Uranium demo the other day
One of my mates got dragged away
As they slammed the door
I heard her say
It'll be all right, It'll be all right
It'll be all right in the long run.

Italian bloke who works with me
We swap laughs and company
And he slapped me on the back
Said "your wrong son
This isn't the land I was told
it would be
Its not so equal and its not so free
But it'll be all right, It'll be all right
It'll be all right in the long run."

John was writing those political masterwork statements
long before "I was only nineteen"


Download Here

Lethal Weapons - Suicide Label Punk Compilation - 1977

30 years ago this compilation of Australian Punk was released by
the Suicide label. I was reading over at the ausrock forum that its
about to be re-released, so heres the original ripped from vinyl,
in its unmolested form. Out of the bands on this fantastic classic
compilation, two bands stand out, the teenage radio stars and
the boys next door.
James Freud and Sean Kelly started out in the teenage radio
stars, later worked together in the far more successful band
The Models. James also had in short solo career.
The Boys Next Door Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Phil Calvert
and Tracy Pew, went on to record two Lps and and Ep,
that I can remember off the top of my head, before morphing
into the Birthday Party, the rest is history.
Most of the bands of this were from Melbourne or Adelaide
with the two exceptions The Survivors from Brisbane and
Sydney’s Wasted Daze.
The tracks from the boys next door and
the teenage radio stars alone make this worth having,
But theres plenty other enjoyable songs on this Lp,
I remember playing this a lot when I was a young fella,
so its a bit of a nostalgia trip.
Wasted Daze are a little out of place with their straightforward R& B.
The Jab songs are great new wave pop songs,
The Survivors tracks bit more punk pop,
The Negatives ‘Planet on the Prowl’ is over six minutes long,
probably the reason the Negatives were the only
Lethal Weapons band to get just one track
and quite alike anything else I'd ever heard at the time.
X ray Z's ‘Three More Glorious Years’ is my favorite track,
classic political anthem,written by Doley in disgust at the
Liberal party’s win that year.“A fair few of us were bearing the
brunt of Fraser’s dole queues,” he says.
"It’s a satirical send up of the chosen man."
All in all in interesting listen.
This final quote from a mess and noise article found here

Counting the Beat contains a brief segment on Suicide in which
Gudinski announces that, “The label achieved… nothing.”
But Lethal Weapons has become notorious.
One of the most extraordinary aspects of its story is that
Mushroom’s arty arm White Label saw fit to reissue it a mere
five years after it first appeared; it was already becoming legendary.
Now, Aztec have reissued it with one extra track
a TRS b-side – and spectacular sleevenotes.




Download Here

Various Artists - High Temperature, Hot Records Collection 82 - 85

I've got some fantastic Australian various artist compilations,
but this is one of the best because of both its size
and excellence of artists involved.
These compilation albums were a great way
for me to discover new bands before the internet
and when radio airplay for alternative stuff was limited
This double album from my vinyl collection contains
some of the best artists in Australia operating in the early to mid 80's.
Also some brilliant tracks from some more obscure artists.
Many that I've covered here already and some I haven't
Divided into 4 sides each labeled differently.

Side One - Pure Dynamite
1 - The Triffids - Beautiful Waste
2 - Lighthouse Keepers - Ocean Liner
3 - Mushroom Planet - No More
4 - Wet Taxis - C'mon
5 - Laughing Clowns - New Bully in the Town
6- No Dance - Swimming in the mirror
7 - The Benders - Jukebox

Side Two - Lasting Power
1 - Plays with Marionettes - Hellbelly
2 - Coloured Stone - Black Boy
3 - The Celibate Rifles - Pretty Pictures
4 - Pan and the Passions - Summertime all round the world
5 - Watusi Now - Sound of God
6 - Mix - Do you do it
7 - Wet Taxis - Clock on the wall

Side Three - Cool and Tough
1 - The Triffids - You don't miss your water
till your well runs dry
2 - Chads Tree - Crush the tree
3 - The lighthouse keepers - Seven Years
4 - Mushroom Planet - Take me away
5 - Chris Abrahams - Hyperkinesis
6 - Coloured Stone - Island of Greed
7 - The Celibate Rifles - Sometimes
(I Wouldn't Live here if you payed me)

Side Four - Amazing, Sensation, Thrilling
1 - Ed Kuepper - Master of two Servants
2 - Gasper Lawal - Ija Oyewa
(There is point in fighting each other)
3 - The Wreckery - Badland Yard
4 - Whadya Want - Life on Tv
5 - The Benders - The Island


Download Sides 1 & 2

Download sides 3 & 4

Ed Kuepper and the Kowalski Collective

I had request for this show by bottlelow.

Ed Kuepper and the Kowalski Collective
23/11/07
Fly By Night Club Perth Australia

Track list

01. Electrical Storm
02. Little Fiddle
03. Real To Me
04. Sam Hall
05. La Di Doh
06. Messin Part 2
07. Laughing Clowns
08. Honeys Steel Gold
09. Yellow Dog
10. Miracles
11. Skinny Jean
12. That Depends
13. Hang Jean
14. Eternally Yours
15. The Way I Made You Feel
16. Everything Ive Got Belongs To You


Download Here

The Troubadour in Brisbane 22/06/07

I've just found this video on you tube, its from
The Apartments First gig in Brisbane for 30 years
at the Troubadour the 22nd of June last year
about a month before pig city.
I was at this gig so I'm quite happy to find
something recorded of the night even if
it is only one song.
Its a fantastic song however.
And I've scanned the poster from the gig
That I grabbed on the way out.



Something To Live For - The Apartments The Troubadour in Brisbane 22/06/07

The Shyest Time - P.Walsh

You're at a standstill you're such a kid
I guess it's for keeps
So where will you go?
Whatever we say
Nothing's for keeps
That's like something that
you thought you knew but didn't
Call now. Now it's your call
But nothing's for keeps

Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know
A book you'll wish you'd never closed
The shyest, the shyest
Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know

Here it's November, here it's Spring
It's Winter there soon
There's so much to say
That's better unsaid
Like nothing's for keeps
Midnight, the bus is going
Try to sleep
Was it ever so cold?
Or ever so clear?
This blanket's for you

Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know
A book you'll wish you'd never closed
The shyest, the shyest
Oh it's the shyest time you'll ever know

So shy
The shyest time you'll ever know
So shy
Oh you can't see where your little world got lost
Can't see where all your friends got scattered
The shyest, the shyest time you'll ever know
Ever, ever know
The shyest time

The shyest time

The shyest time

You'll ever, ever, ever, ever know.

Brisbane sound concert 3

Ed Kuepper Presents The Ascension Academy.
What a great gig this turned out to be. The band
included what is the Kowalski Collective
(Peter Oxley and Jeffrey Wegener) and a sax,
keyboard ,cello player and female vocalist.
Playing often wild instrumental music
with more than a nod to the laughing clowns.
There was a incendiary version of the saints
"Save me" which the girl, who has one fine
set of lungs sang. Ed and Jeff were on fire
and Judi Dansfield-Kuepper provided some
fine visual backdrops. I managed to remember
to take the camera so I've got some shots to share.

The Apartments

The Apartments are one of my favorite bands,
both my all time fav song (The shyest time)
and my fav LP (When the Evening Visits)
come from the amazing back catalog that is
Peter Milton Walsh's legacy.
When I saw them play last year here in Brisbane,
something I never through I would see, it was
about a month before they played again at the
pig city festival , and it was the first time they
had played in Brisbane for round about 30 years.
I did see Peter and Amanda Brown play a spring livid
here around 1990, that was the closest I ever expected
to get to see this band.

The Apartments and Peters career time line.

The Apartments were created around Peter Milton Walsh
as lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter in Brisbane in
October 1978. Within a year, they had broken up.
Walsh also played in The Go-Betweens for a couple of weeks
in November/December 1978.
Once The Apartments had broken up they released their first EP
" Return of the Hypnotist."

Walsh then created Out of Nowhere, playing with them from
1981-1982, then left Australia to live in New York.
A year later, Ed Kuepper, in London and starting a
new Laughing Clowns asked Walsh to join the Clowns
for English, European and Australian tours
which followed, as well as an album "Law of Nature".
A year later, in 1984, Peter Milton Walsh began a
new Apartments, then left for England on a contract
with Rough Trade Records in 1985.
In London he started a European Apartments that included
English drummer, Nick Allum,
Welsh piano player Judy Anderson,
and German bass player Jürgen Hobbs.

Peter released his first Lp in 1985,
"When the evening ...visits And stays for years",
"Drift "was released in 1992,
"A life full of farewells "in 1995,
Fête Foraine in 1996,
and "Apart" in 1997.
They split some time after that,
not to return until last year.




So you can appreciate what the band sound and look like live
heres a video of them doing "Thank you for making me beg"
From the Sydney show,
The Vanguard, 20th December 2007

Brisbane sound concert 2

Well I've just got home from the 2nd night of the
Brisbane sound exhibition, having given the first,
more art driven 1st night a miss.

This is the nights entertainment.

Curated by Robert Forster
Trevor Ludlow and The Hellraisers
Robert Forster and Adele Pickvance
Adults Today
The Apartments

The Hellraisers up first are a 3 piece band with whom I was unfamiliar.
They did a short, interesting set which got me in the mood.
Not wasting any time Robert and Adele came on stage, Rob playing
His sons small classical guitar for the 1st song before switching to his
acoustic and Adele on her big free standing bass played a wonderful
acoustic set of 6 songs.
Starting with a new song which isn't on the new album,
Bow down, When she sang about angels, Born to a family,
Here comes the city and finishing with German farmhouse.
Very enjoyable, but far to short.
Robert came back to introduce the next band, Adults today.
Another band I was unfamiliar with, Turns out this
band that Rob described as a true cult band who played
a few gigs in the early 90's which had become the stuff
of legends, was Glenn Thompson's band.
Glen lead singer and guitarist for this band
(the go-betweens final drummer for those who don't know)
put on a blinding performance.These guys were fantastic,
I'd love to have anything recorded by them.
They finished of with Custards "Music is crap", which by a strange
coincidence I had referred to the day before in a private joke with
the wife. After this amazing show I settled into a fantastic almost
on the stage seat for the apartments.
The Apartments are an amazing band to see, theres this buzz,
people can't wipe the smiles of their faces. The band was the
same one I saw last year, only they are playing even better
and 10 out of 10 to the soundman, the sound was superb.
Tighter, more familiar with each other, they play well over
an hour and came back for an encore which included the
Monkey's "Daydream believer " and a song I'm positive
isn't recorded. Highlights included, "The goodbye train",
"On every corner", "Something to live for",
"Knowing you were loved","Things You'll Keep",
"Not Every Clown Can Be In The Circus",
"The Failure Of Love Is A Brick Wall" and the Brilliant
-"Everything Is Given To Be Taken Away."
Which included the long story of the girl who inspired it.
Quite talkative Peter told us about some advice Dave Graney
gave to him last year. After telling him nobody knows anything
about you, (encouragement He has its in spades, Peter says)
You didn't play a gig in Australia for ten years,
then you didn't play at all for ten years, Well thats only 20
years Peter says. Dave suggests it might be a good
idea to tell people a bit about your songs.
So Peter told us that he would be doing a bit of that tonight.
Which He did telling us some quite funny and long stories.
All in all a brilliant night and a brilliant performance from
the Apartments and I must of been sitting next to the
biggest Apartment fan, She sang along to every thing and
had a grin ear to ear the whole time. Robert came out to
watch and also in the crowd watching was Jeffrey Wegener.
All we needed was Ed and a laughing clowns reunion
could have been on, oh well theres always tomorrow night.

Heres a link to rave magazines review

Heres some fantastic photos from the night

Heres some more

Tangled Shoelaces - 4 Track EP

While I'm in a Brisbane bands type mood, here is a gem from 1984,
the Tangled Shoelaces Ep.
Tangled Shoelaces were a band of quite young and very hip guys
and girls who played quite a bit back in the early 80's.
They later became "Wonderous Fair" and appear on the 4zzz
"State of Emergence" album. This EP was released on the
M squared label and their only release. Wonderful ,whimsical
and eccentric, a great example on the Brisbane Sound.
I'm afraid I can't find any more info about these guys,
so if anybody has anything to add please do so in the comments.

Download Here

Coloured Stone - Inma Juju

After 20 years and seven albums, Coloured Stone stand proud as the
longest surviving Aboriginal band in Australia. Bunna Lawrie and the
boys have probably seen more of this country than any other band,
too, performing in major cities and remote communities alike, often
camping out in the scrub after shows .They formed in 1978 in
Kooniba, a tiny community in South Australia and have been based
all over the Northern Territory over the years.
Bunna is the founding member, singer, guitarist, songwriter,
in a band which has under gone many lineup changes.
Bart Willoughby from No Fixed Address played
with them from 1984 to 1985 and Bunna is his uncle.
Coloured Stone have a unique sound, a bit reggae, a bit funky,
but unique in it aboriginality. Bunna is a fantastic song writer,
able to write catchy dance songs such the wonderful
"Love is a Medicine" or "Dancing In The Moonlight"
or write the most heart felt song of pain and sadness
as in the monumental "This Land".
This album has plenty great tracks on it so if you don't know
these guys have a listen and be sure to tell everyone what
you think in the comments.

Track List

1 Love Is The Medicine (Radio Edit)
2 Kapi Pulka (Big Rain)
3 Singing In The Rain
4 Human Love
5 Dancing In The Moonlight
6 Don't Drink Don't Drive
7 Island Of Greed
8 Fire In My Heart
9 Afraid of The Dark
10 Love Is The Medicine (Dance Mix)


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Ed Kuepper - With a Knapsack on my back

This is a great album, recorded live in Germany
for radio NDR in Hamburg.
Ed tells it like this on the CD inside.

This album was recorded live to a
2 track during my 1997 solo tour.
It captures the spirit of the shows pretty well
(though I did edit out my numerous a sides
and witticisms for reasons of space and to avoid
being confused with Woody Allen or someone)
and thats easier said than done.

I saw this tour at what was called :"Van Gogh's ear lobe" at South
Brisbane. Just Ed his strat ,VG8 and blues style beat box,
its a wooden box you put your foot up on while sitting down, its
miked and you beat your foot on it. Theres plenty of the old Ed
magic on this disc, its stripped down as far as it should go,
Ed and his guitar. Listen to this and tell me of a more inventive,
technically proficient, guitar player in Australia or anywhere
else for that matter. Sometimes his guitar sounds like an organ
like on "Eternally yours" distorted electric like sleepy head,
like nothing you've heard before like"Weeping willow",
12 string electric like on "I'm with you",
a big bass rubber band like on "La di dah",
or a blues acoustic slide dobro like on "I'd rather be the devil"
You never get bored and bare in mind this is all on the same
guitar.The man's a genius and this is a great album to get a
feel for that genius and I can tell you he programed all these
guitar sounds himself cause the stock
Roland ones are pretty lame.

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