Saturday, September 6, 2008

The Black eyed Susans - Welcome Stranger


Perth, March 1989. It had been a long summer. Heat permeated
everything. Dogs and cats lay panting in the shade,
people fled to the beaches and bars, and Kings Park went up in
flames a glorious bushfire in the middle of the city.
Against this backdrop, The Black eyed Susans were formed,
as a part-time concern for various members
"on holiday" from their regular bands.

David McComb ( The Triffids - vocals and guitar),
Phil Kakulas (Martha's Vineyard - bass),
Rob Snarski (Chad's Tree - vocals and guitar),
Alsy McDonald
(The Triffids - drums) and
Ross Bolleter
(organ and accordion)
formed the first line up of the band.


They released 3 Ep's between 89 and 92 and a compilation CD entitled
Welcome Stranger was released in 1992. It incorporated material
from the three previous EPs plus two extra tracks from The London
Sessions and a live version of the Triffids song In The Pines.
They have released some 6 albums, the last in 2003, are still
considered a part time but operating band and survived the loss of
their singer songwriter David McComb.
In 2008 The Blackeyed Susans will release a box-set retrospective
that will include the best of their six albums,
b-sides and rarities and all the videos.



Track List
01. Don’t Call Yourself An Angel
02. Enemy Mine
03. Viva Las Vegas
04. Cripple Creek
05. Glory Glory
06. Anchor Me
07. Who’s That By The Window?
08. Trouble
09. Ocean Of You
10. Close Watch
11. Will’s Blues
12. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue
13. Who’s Loving You
14. It Hurts Me /Prisoner Of Love
15. In The Pines

This is a solid album, mostly lot different from the Triffids,
with great songs and beautiful instrumentation.
Try the wonderful "Anchor me", with its wonderful accordion,
(I'm asucker for accordion, I've spend quite a bit of time
in Buenos Aires.)
the country brilliance of "Who's that by the window",
the most unusual but wonderful cover of "Viva las vegas",
the triffid like "Don't call yourself an angel",
"Ocean of you" with its spanish/mexican rhythm,
the true highlight the cover of John Cale's "Close Watch"
and the fantastic live version of "In the Pines"
Its an album that never bores yet despite the hopping
between many styles and instruments it keeps
that continuation of purpose.

Download Here


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

luv the blackeyed susans

cheers bob

observer said...

i remember one of the blokes at ZZZ telling stories on his last day at the station after 10 years of being on the air or something like that

i think his name was Phil

he wouldn't name the band he found the most annoyign to interivew; except to started the name started with B, and ended in Lack Eyed Susuans

bob nebe said...

Doesnt surprise me, usealy its individuals like Chris Bailey or Nick Cave that get special mention for interview difficulty
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

This one sounds good as well, but the link is down.

The only cd I have ever found by the BES in the USA is Mouth To Mouth.

bob nebe said...

I'll fix her up voodooboy this is a hard to get recording and I couldn't deny you
ciao bob

Anonymous said...

On a slightly related note:

This is a link to Volume One of the Sweet & Sour Soundtrack (quite popular mid 1980s ABC Australian TV series). It features the Triffids' Too Hot To Move, Too Hot To Think.

I'm sure most interested parties either already have this or don't care to :)

Dave sold the rights to the song to the show so they could use it and later bought them back for a sizable sum (20/30 thousand from memory?) so that the Triffids could release it on Black Swan.

The show featured a fictitious band called The Takeaways and this album is a collection of their supposed songs. Performers and songwriters included Deborah Conway and The Riptides' Mark Callahan (spelling) among many others. Worth a listen for curiosity's sake :)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ILT9N76U
Bobby, Melbourne.

bob nebe said...

Thanks for that bobby, believe it or not I have seen this round before and not grapped it, but you sold me on it this time. Great story bout the song rights.
ciao bob

Great Zimbardo said...

Hi Bob,

You wouldn't be able to get your hands on a copy of Spin the Bottle to put up, would you? I can't find it anywhere.

Cheers,
Michaela

bob nebe said...

Sorry no Michaela but if you find Id be happy for a rip

Great Zimbardo said...

OK, I'll continue to keep an eye out :)

Great Zimbardo said...

Hi Bob,

An update for anyone who's interested - Spin the Bottle is now available on iTunes. It's only just gone up this month. I also asked whoever answers the BES messages on MySpace if there were plans to re-release the Rob Snarski & Dan Luscombe album There is Nothing Here That Belongs to You, and they said it should be available sometime in the next few months.

Any Snarskiphiles who don't already know about it can also brace themselves for a 2CD Chad's Tree compilation coming out next month.
Cheers,

Michaela

bob nebe said...

Thanks Michaela for the heads up
ciao bob