Friday, June 20, 2008

John Kennedy - The Singles


Of the select few musicians to come out of Brisbane, John Kennedy
remains in the top 5. When the Pig City Festival lineup was
announced last year, John or his first band JFK and the Cuban
Crisis was the one name I really missed.
Don't get me wrong it was a unbelievable line up, but
that would of been perfect. First if you don't know anything about
the man heres a comprehensive bio from the brispop site.



John Kennedy the musician, was a five year old in Liverpool the
day the
President died. In Australia at the age of ten,
he took the confirmation
name of Francis to complete the
famous "J.F.K." moniker.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
The joke has long since worn
off for him,
but it still takes some explaining.

A young enthusiastic journalist once described John Kennedy
as a
humble genius. Kennedy is neither a genius nor
particularly humble.
He is the writer of many fine songs
using a collection of pop, country,
folk and rock influences
to create the hydrid style he calls
Urban and Western.
Kennedy formed his first band in Brisbane, Australia in ´80.
His family had migrated from England in the mid-´6o’s and he
was
raised in the suburban wastelands on a diet of radio pop
music.
At the beginning of the 80´s, Kennedy brought his
pop melodies
and ideas to the flourishing post-punk
Australian indie music scene.

His name alone should have brought him commercial success.
It didn´t, but he continued to release a series of successful
independent records.
The penchant for funny names continued with his first band
"J.F.K. and the Cuban Crisis". "The Crisis" and his mid-80's
Sydney
band "John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong" became
self-fulfilling
prophecies. An invitation to perform at the
inaugural Berlin
Independence Days independent music
conference in ´88
provided the incentive to leave Australia.
In Berlin in the early
'90's, Kennedy tried a more positive
approach and formed
"John Kennedy and the Honeymooners".
Despite the optimism, the honeymoon ended and Kennedy
went on to perform as a solo act.
Since Berlin he has lived and made music in Hong Kong,
Holland and London; living by the motto “
Have Songs, Will Travel”. Kennedy returned to Sydney at the
start
of the new millenium, has a new band, album and label
and lives
once again in Sydney's inner-western suburbs.



These are the singles released between 1984 and 1989 on waterfront
and red eye records in Sydney. They are wonderfully packaged,
both king st and miracle have photos attached to the cardboard
sleeve and big country has one of those plastic things you could
trace aroundthat used to come out of cereal boxes when I was a kid.
There's the Love gone Wrong Singles and a couple of rare tracks
released on a mini album, the Us version of Big Country and a Flex
disc give away A time for giving.
Fantastic music from the man who sung about himself
"I could have been a contender"
and should have.

Track list

JOHN KENNEDY singles 84 - 89

WATERFRONT RECORDS
(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA)

Sept. ´8401 - Forget
02 - The End Of The Affair
7"Single - DAMP 11

Mar. ´85 "03 - Miracle in Marrickville
04 - Two People
7"Single - DAMP 15

RED EYE RECORDS (SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA)
John Kennedy´s Love Gone Wrong
Dec. ´8505 - King Street
06 - To Forget
7"Single - RED 7

Jul. ´8607 - Big Country"
08 - You Brought It All Back To Me
7"Single - RED 10

Sept. ´8709 - The Singing City
10 - Love Gone Wrong
11 - Theme From Love Gone Wrong (instrumental)
7"Single - MB 20037Love Gone Wrong
May ´8812 - World Upside Down
13 - Better Days 7"Single - MB 20097
Love Gone Wrong

Oct. ´88 John Kennedy and Billy Baxter
14 - To Love Somebody
15 - Tourists In Heaven
7"Single - MB 20137

John Kennedy´s Love Gone Wrong
Jan. ´89 "16 - Out Of Town"
17 - Miracle in Marrickville (Acoustic)
18 - You Brought It All Back To Me (Acoustic)
7"Single - MB 20217

From the LP "Woe to go"
RED EYE RECORDS, RED 11, Sept 86

John Kennedy´s Love Gone Wrong
19 - A time for giving
20 - Big country(us version)Download here

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there - great to see the John Kennedy youve posted. You wouldnt happen by chance to have a copy of his acoustic album - Have Songs will Travel. I would kill to hear that album again.. Whilst Im at it - any Pineapples from Dawn of Time? I do have a copy of that in a garage in Bris. but would love to have it again whilst Im living OS. Keep up the good work...

bob nebe said...

Hi Jeremy, I do indeed have that cd i will have to find it and rip it, I only have the pineapples too euch acid single and not the Lp, maybe someone can help
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

woah that was quick... thanks alot....been trying to get this for ages, last attempt was through John Kennedy himself but he only accepted personal cheques!.. will download it now and will soon be heard in a small apartment in Riga, Latvia. Thanks again.

bob nebe said...

no problem jeremy, I do like the concept of music like this being able to be accessed anywhere in the world.
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

bob, i would love to download the John Kennedy stuff, especially the sigles part 1 and 2 but zshare won't let me do it. Looks like it works, but then the download don't start. Hope we can find a solution, yes? thank you!

bob nebe said...

I'll reup them, zshare lost all my links a couple of weeks ago.
Your on a list theres constant requests for fixing broken links
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

Bob, Got the Kennedy singles. Thanks a million! Now, the obvious qustion: would you mind restoring those other Kennedy links? And... how can I thank you for that?
Thanks and ciao, rebo

bob nebe said...

So where are you from rebo, Ive have the occasional john fan from europe, I didn't know how much work he did over there until I looked into it.
I always imagined he was unknown outside of Australia.
I will upload the others soon, until then the links have been fixed for these 2 posts

Johns first band
JFK and the Cuban Crisis - The End of the Affair
And if you like them, Johns fellow singer songwriter from JFK,
Champagne Love Garden The Darlinghurst Demos (1988) - James Paterson.
All Recommended
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

Bob, I'm from Italy. Bought "From Woe to Goe" some 20 years ago (together with the Paul Kellys) and then buried in the shelves. Rediscovered Kennedy on CD Baby just recently and then found your goldmine... thanks for James Patterson, the JFK and the Cuban Crises unfortunately doesn't work yet. I will try again, right?
Ciao

bob nebe said...

Rebo,
Damn i thought id fixed that, I will do that tomorrow, esp seeing your likely to be the only john fan in Italy
ciao bob

bob nebe said...

Also I should tell you I have reuped

John Kennedy - From Woe To Go
Love Gone Wrong - Always The Bridegroom
And
John Kennedy - Have songs Will Travel
That should keep you busy
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

Bob, thank you, I have done my homework on kennedy. Now I may very well be the only john fan in italy...with the complete discography!
Ciao, Rebo

bob nebe said...

Almost Complete rebo, Im waiting on a couple of cassettes to complete the JFK stuff. Glad to spread the music around the world
ciao bob

exilestreet said...

Cool!
Regards/

bob nebe said...

back up

Anonymous said...

oh my god. this could be heaven. I love his music ... impossible to get here in Germany.
Could you please re-up?

bob nebe said...

back up

rrrkitchen said...

Hello,

The John Kennedy links do not appear to be up. Can you please replied this excellent collection? Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Maurice.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sunlight,
Any chance of a re- link to these singles,
Cheers - from an old Newtown local.