| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 417 Registered: 05-2005 |
This may or may not have been discussed before, but if not heres one to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Are The Go-Betweens your favourite Australian act of all time, or is it somebody else? Some for consideration are The Triffids, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Chills - or new acts (at least for me)like Augie March. And not forgetting The Vines for younger readers  My nomination goes to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, just in front of The Go-Bs, if only because I feel they have a slightly larger back catelogue that still sounds good today. I dont think the Go-Bs ever matched that golden period from B4 H'wood to Tallulah. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 419 Registered: 05-2005 |
yes I know I'm a klutz - The Chills are from NZ. DSo with that in mind, we can widen this to favourite act from Oz and NZ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 347 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ten from each, not in order apart from No 1! Australia: The Go-Betweens, Nick Cave, Ed Kuepper, The Saints (albums with Ed only though), The Triffids, Single Gun Theory, Augie March, Radio Birdman, Smudge, Sleepy Jackson. NZ: The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Bike, JPS Experience, Straitjacket Fits, The Mutton Birds, Crowded House, The Verlaines, Bailter Space. (All bar two on Flying Nun label). | ||
| david sigston Member Username: Futuretarded Post Number: 8 Registered: 04-2006 |
Thank you Kevin. The Vines certainly are one of my favourite, but The Go-Betweens are my absolute favourite. I suppose of recent acts theres Sleepy Jackson, Powderfinger and Bernard's solo stuff. I've always liked The Go-bees more than Nick Cave, is there any album in particular you would recommend Kevin? | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 421 Registered: 05-2005 |
David - my fave Cave album is The Boatmans Call, which as far as I can gather is universally agreed to be his best. Honourable mentions go to Let Love In and the current release Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. Padraig, thanks for reminding me of The Saints- that is one serious omission from my suggestions. No room for AC/DC on your list ? | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 428 Registered: 05-2005 |
Dave Graney in all his guises, the man's a one off... I need to buy so,me Saints stuff, any recomms? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 391 Registered: 03-2005 |
Australia only for me: Easybeats, Masters Apprentices (first two years), Go Betweens, all things Ed Kuepper (i.e., his era of the Saints, the Laughing Clowns), Apartments, Moodists, Nick Cave, The Moles (and all things Richard Davies), Paul Kelly, Triffids. I need to check out the new people on Padraig's list as well as the NZ people. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 424 Registered: 05-2005 |
Spence , I have a 2 disc Saints album called "wild about you" which comprises their first 3 albums and some singles and eps - I completely recommend it. below is a link to the AMG review, the last line of the review sums it up really http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4721AD346AA7120CF97294DC7A 36AFC07DB12A2D64600425AC8B83041814375EE51E9DCCECCBF2BEE11D4B32ABB590FCCC8EE56FA9 064373D8BE4A263285E36&sql=10:6hvsa9cgq23d | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 393 Registered: 03-2005 |
I second Kevin's recommendation of "Wild About You." It has great notes too. And, if I remember right, I think it was reasonably priced. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 350 Registered: 05-2005 |
How could I forget Richard Davies? Obviously I have not listened to him lately. I will rectify that later. I thought about putting in AC/DC after I had posted Kevin! I love Back In Black and quite a few of the Bon Scott songs. | ||
| David Matheson Member Username: David_matheson Post Number: 98 Registered: 12-2004 |
The Go-Betweens The Triffids Paul Kelly Split Enz Archie Roach The Stems Midnight Oil Club Hoy Crowded House Mark Gillespie | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 133 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Church The Go Betweens Ups and Downs Not Drowning, Waving The Triffids The Stems The Moffs The Apartments Crowdies!!!(Although Kiwis will say they're Kiwi!) | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 53 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Go Betweens The Triffids Paul Kelly, The Cruel Sea/ Beasts of Bourbon/Tex,Don & Charlie Ed Keupper (The Saints/Laughing Clowns/Ed solo) The Dirty Three Nick Cave (Birthday Party/Bad Seeds) Dave Graney The Reels The Blackeyed Susans | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 134 Registered: 05-2005 |
Forgot to mention The Panics too!! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 430 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kev cheers I am gonna purchase The Saints this week, can't wait. Just been goven a copyu of Teh Church's new CD, uninvited like the clouds. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 398 Registered: 03-2005 |
Duh. Forgot the Church. Still waiting to hear the Panics. | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 54 Registered: 01-2005 |
I forgot to mention the Church as well. Sorry. Marty Wilson Piper lives across the street from me, one of the great Australian bands of the last twenty years. Steve Kilbey cruises these days, but hey what a band. Still creating & pushing the envelope in a good way in 2006. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 24 Registered: 08-2005 |
More lists alert, though I'll do a combined Aus/NZ... The Go-Betweens (of course...) The Chills Ed Kuepper (solo first, then the Saints) Crowded House (and various Finn incarnations) Jimmy Little The Triffids Weddings, Parties, Anything | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 404 Registered: 03-2005 |
Spence, how is the new Church album? I passed it up on my recent visit to the crack den, fearing that they were putting out too many releases at this late phase of their existence. Todd, you must live in a cool place. Simon, tell us something about Jimmy Little. Great name. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 94 Registered: 01-2005 |
Australian bands 1. The G-B's 2. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds 3. The Church 4. The Triffids 5. The Lucksmiths 6. Single Gun Theory (I love "From a Million Miles") N.Z 1. Crowded House 2. The Chills | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 25 Registered: 08-2005 |
Jimmy Little - I've only got one album (1999's Messenger - complete with versions of Cattle and Cane and Under the Milky Way) and it's great, though my description probably won't do it justice. Jimmy Little is an Australian Aborigine with a career stretching back decades (he was "Aboriginal of the Year" in 1989). A few years back, as I understand it, he was (re)discovered by a producer who persuaded him to do easy listening versions of classic Australian pop songs. It is, I hasten to add, much better than this description makes it sound. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine, Andy Rankin, who's drummed with various bands in Sydney in his time, though he's also a deputy headmaster in Manly, NSW. Jimmy's got his own website (as I've just discovered) and there's a review of Messenger at http://www.abc.net.au/message/blackarts/review/s100412.htm | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 55 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jimmy Little is beautiful. A voice that is pure honey, velvet, rich and gorgeous. His is music for the soul. Years ago when the Messengewr was released I saw him at the Zoo in Brisbane with Ed Keupper as a support & Grant McLennan joined him on stage for a mesmerising rendition of Cattle & Cane. It was sublime. My daughter who is nearly 1 loves Jimmy Little. Simon thanks for including this most wonderful of Australian artists. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 352 Registered: 05-2005 |
Messenger really is a great album. What a voice. He had a kidney transplant over a year ago so I imagine he is still recovering from that. I hope he'll play live again one day; I'd love to see him. There was a great Australian Story episode about him on ABC last year. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 408 Registered: 03-2005 |
Jimmy Little goes onto the list then. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 436 Registered: 03-2006 |
Paul Kelly really does it for me...next to the GoBees, he's my favorite Australian artist. He is Oz's Bob Dylan, I think. I only hope he's completely revered there, that people prostrate themselves before him on the street, throw money, offer up babies to be blessed, etc. (He also has a song about Darlinghurst - I wonder if Forster and his gang ran into Kelly's tarty girlfriend when she was out on the corner, "strutting her stuff".) I also have a CD by Archie Roach, produced by Kelly, called, I believe, "Jamu Dreaming", that's just beautiful. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 132 Registered: 07-2005 |
Lets not forget the irreproachable The Wiggles | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 28 Registered: 04-2006 |
in the eighties australian and new zealand bands were very popular in the so called independent scene here in germany. i liked a lot of them, too. triffids, apartments, chills. just to name a few. i was a big birthday party fan. and so i liked all that related stuff like the beasts of bourbon and the scientists, for sure. radio birdman made killer music, too. and i also own one of that the moffs singles. what me really hit was that band GOD with their debut single MY PAL. that was powerful. the tall dwarfs, the lighthouse keepers, the verlaines and the clean were also standards at that time. but nevertheless beside the go-betweens the saints and ed kuepper solo and with the laughing clowns had made the most memorable music. | ||
| Andrewnz Member Username: Andrewnz Post Number: 17 Registered: 08-2005 |
i recall going o a new years eve party in Tubingen in Southern Germany in 1990 with a few tapes under my arm - the Germans really enjoyed my tapes of Toy Love (NZ's initial great punk hope from late 70s), Bitumen Waltz (an Auckland band who put out a short tape and nothing further), and Cold Chisel! Toy Love was played over and over again (and i'm still playing it) and was persuaded to leave the Bitumen Waltz tape behind...as Andreas said above seems NZ and Australian bands were pretty big in Germany at that time... | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 136 Registered: 05-2005 |
You may or may not know Hardin, but Darlinghurst is in the unofficial/official(?) red light district of Sydney, along with Kings Cross("The Cross"). Prostitution ("sex work") is legal in Auz as long as it's in a registered brothel like Sydney's imfamous "Touch of Class". Kelly's "girlfriend" was a prostitute, I believe, and the play was on the suburb, Darlinghurst, and "the act" (Darling, it hurts). The area is also well known to harbour drug dealers and bohemian types such as songwriters feeding off the mayhem. You know the sort of place! Kelly, by the way, is revered here both by the mainstream and others. He has recently been making excellent forays into country which he does far more convincingly in his Australian drawl than what lame ones like Keith Urban do with their FAKE american accents. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 448 Registered: 03-2006 |
Huh, interesting, Geoff...I suspected PK's girlfriend was a "working girl", but had no idea Darlinghurst was part of a red light district. That adds a new dimension to the GBs song, too. Sounds a little like N.O. or Hollywood! I think both of Kelly's bluegrass entries are fantastic. Glad to hear he gets props in his native country...I also like the stuff he's done with Kasey Chambers (also excellent, though not the consummmate artist and, particularly, songwriter, PK is)...Have you seen him live? and if so, does he put on a good show? Ahh, when we have that GoBees convention in Oz, we must have a tour through Darlinghurst! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 364 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw Paul Kelly live in a pub (Whelans) in Dublin in, I think, 1999. He was superb. It was a much smaller venue than he plays in Australia and it was jam packed. The audience were loving it and he was astounded by the response (I was right up the front and could see the look on his face). He was introducing From St Kilda To King's Cross by saying that the former is in Melbourne and the latter in Sydney when he suddenly realised something: "Oh, you're all Aussies, aren't you?" It was almost true. Bar me and about five others in the audience, the entire pub was ex-pat Australians taking a night out from working in Dublin pubs, restaurants, hospitals etc. Kasey Chambers tells a great story about annonymously entering a karaoke competition on the Central Coast (about an hour north of Sydney) and finishing second to a woman doing a verion of her song The Captain. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 27 Registered: 08-2005 |
My only experience of Paul Kelly was seeing him on a triple bill at, I think, the Sydney Showgrounds in 1988. He was performing as Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, along with Ed Kuepper (the first time I saw him, with the Yard Goes on Forever) and Hunters and Collectors. I can remember being very impressed with Ed, and have seen him on numerous occasions since both in the UK and Australia. Can't remember much about Paul Kelly's stuff, though. What would be the best Paul Kelly material to start listening to? | ||
| Eke Member Username: Ekewebb Post Number: 71 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Triffids (+ David McComb/Red Ponies) The Blackeyed Susans Martha's Vineyard The Avalanches Nick Cave/Birthday Party The Sleepy Jackson The Go-Betweens Architecture In Helsinki The Necks | ||
| David Matheson Member Username: David_matheson Post Number: 100 Registered: 12-2004 |
Simon, Paul Kelly has a greatest hits album called Songs From The South, which might be a good introduction. Most of his other albums don't have a huge amount of variation from each other, so you could really start with any of them. I'm a big fan of his acoustic album Post from 1985, and I really like his double album Ways and Means from a couple of years ago. Other favourites are Gossip, Comedy and Wanted Man. I have not listened to his country/bluegrass stuff. For me Paul Kelly resonates strongly with Australia and its characters. | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 57 Registered: 01-2005 |
Start with Post, which is a great record and a turning point for Paul Kelly at the time of it's release (1985). Gossip (1986)is a wonderful double album (this was unusual thing at the time for an Australian band) Comedy is ok, I actually prefer 'So Much Water, so Close to Home ' (1989). I really didn't get excited by much of his stuff through the nineties (Hidden Things/1992 was ok) It wasn't until The Uncle Bill bluegrass record (1999) and seeing him perform this live that I got excited again (I also realised what a wonderful performer he was/is) "Professor Ratbaggy " the dub album of 2000 was good as well. 'Ways & Means' another double record (early 2004) I think is a classic, disc 2 contains some beautiful songs and disc 1 opens with a unique Australian sound 'Gunnamatta' (a Victorian surf beach)the surf instrumental. 'Smoke' last years bluegrass offering is excellent as well and a great driving record. I hope you enjoy dicovering this great musician. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 460 Registered: 03-2006 |
Simon - it's all great, but I second the recommendation by David of the greatest hits comp...also, of his latest work, "Ways and Means" is just excellent. I didn't care as much for the album that came before, "Nothing but a Dream". Prior to that, the album "Words & Music" really rocked my world. It, in fact, may be my favorite Kelly album. Particular songs to focus on that I think are phenomenal, and have meant a lot to me, are: the above-mentioned "Darling It Hurts", "Dumb Things", "Little Decisions", "I'll Be Your Lover Now", "Careless" (surely one of the most beautiful and tender love songs in the English language),"It Started With a Kiss" (a cover) and "Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls"(!). | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 418 Registered: 03-2005 |
Either the antho or "Post." I second the good marks for "Gunnamatta" on "Ways and Means." It's beautiful. The album is good but still would be better as a single disc. "Nothing But a Dream" is not one of the greats but "Midnight Rain" justifies that album IMO. That romantic ballad could be cornball shit, but it's not; it's a textbook example of superb songwriting. "Smoke" and the Uncle Bill albums are super but not where to begin because they are so specific stylistically. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 570 Registered: 03-2005 |
Anybody know anything about the Tactics? An excellent video of something of theirs from 1981 is on youtube. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 78 Registered: 07-2005 |
Randy, I'm not familiar with them personally but the following popped up when I carried out a search. http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/tactics | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 574 Registered: 03-2005 |
There's somebody on youtube called "RStrathfield" who posts Oz and Kiwi clips. Some is crap of course, but some is awesome. Here's the link to an extended live Radio Birdman performance and interview, vintage 1978: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM-XIqlldi8&mode=related&search= There's also a second one for the other half of this same performance. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 576 Registered: 03-2005 |
RStrathfield also posted, in two parts, an interesting clip of the Saints live in 1977 in Paddington. I never saw them live before. It's interesting to watch how hard the band is working while Chris Bailey is just standing and sometimes even sitting on his fat ass phoning in the vocals. Was he always that way? | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 155 Registered: 11-2004 |
Every time I've seen Chris Bailey, he's been "sitting on his fat ass" as it were. My favourite Australian act is any band Peter Milton Walsh has been in, so that's the Apartments, Go-Betweens and Laughing Clowns sorted! Favourite NZ band would either be The Clean, The Bats, The Chulls or Verlaines. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 586 Registered: 03-2005 |
Peter Milton Walsh was in the Laughing Clowns? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 80 Registered: 07-2005 |
See the following link. Scroll down to 'The Apartments - Nobody Like You.' http://www.4zzzfm.org.au/nowplaying/index.cfm?action=dsp_playlist&showID=48&day= 5&playlistID=1407 | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 81 Registered: 07-2005 |
Randy, I cannot check at the moment but I am almost certain he was listed as playing bass on the 'Law Of Nature' album. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 587 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow, thanks Hugh and Donat. It's hard to imagine Kuepper and Walsh in one band together. Talk about a clash of the titans! But I guess Walsh had yet to establish his titanic status. This 4ZZZ playlist looks fantastic. Donat, are you the "Donat" who put together this show? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 836 Registered: 03-2006 |
There was an Aussie band called the Black Sorrows that I used to listen to. Anybody else know of em? They made a couple of stellar records and then dropped off of my radar... I believe they were a spin-off from Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons.... | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 156 Registered: 11-2004 |
Yes Randy, I am that Donat, and yes Walsh played bass on the 'Law Of Nature' album. There's photos of Walsh in the Laughing Clowns on their myspace page www.myspace.com/laughingclowns and youtube.com have a clip of the band performing 'Eternally Yours' from 'Law Of Nature'. The Laughing Clowns wasn't the only time Walsh and Kuepper have crossed paths. Kuepper played lead guitar in the Apartments for one show in Sydney at the Harold Park Hotel in January 1990, with his backing band of Michael Couvret on bass and Mark Dawson on drums. If the live tape is anything to go buy, Kuepper's presence in the band gave The Apartments a more 'rock' sound, which isn't too far off from the 'Drift' album the Apartments did in 1992/3. John Willsteed played bass on that album. Not only has John Willsteed played with Walsh, Amanda Brown has as well! Walsh and Brown played shows as an acoustic duo in the early 90s, performing future Apartments and Cleopatra Wong songs. I hope this info has been of some interest! | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 83 Registered: 07-2005 |
Donat, it has indeed. I like your favourite New Zealand band list. I had the pleasure of seeing The Bats perform at The Halt Bar, Glasgow, in the early 1980's. The venue was a small room on the premises and the audience was only about 50/60 people but the band put on a superb show. One of the most memorable gigs I ever attended. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 593 Registered: 03-2005 |
The combination of Peter Milton Walsh and Amanda Brown sounds ideal! It sure sounds like the Brisbane musical set is a pretty incestuous lot, almost like the old school tie. I've seen the Laughing Clowns clip on youtube. It never would have occurred to me to be looking for Walsh there but I wouldn't have recognized him anyway since the only pix I've seen of him are from the Apartments cover art. I realize "Drift" was the Apartments' most commercially successful album but it is my least favorite by a huge distance because of the dull arrangements. I greatly prefer the "Fete Foraine" versions of the songs from it. It's the only Apartments album I haven't put into my iPod. It interested me so little that I didn't even notice the "Willsteed" and "Dawson" musician credits on the back. I love Mark Dawson's work with Kuepper but he sounds too heavy-handed for the Apartments. This thread has prompted me to play it now. Ok, into the iPod library it goes . . . . Donat, do you have any anthologies that you've made and released of Brisbane, Oz or NZ music that we unlucky stranded souls can get our hands on? You are obviously the right person to ask, Donat: what do you think of the Tactics? Youtube has a video for "Second Language" which I think is great and apparently an antho is coming out soon. Do they live up to "Second Language?" | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 161 Registered: 11-2004 |
Randy, I'm currently working on a compilation of Brisbane music from the late 70s to early 80s which'll hopefully see the light of day by easter next year if all goes to plan. A 2 CD compilation that'll feature just about everyone who was important at the time, from The Saints onward. As for Tactics, I've never really gotten into them with a lot of enthusiasm though Dave Studdert's an interesting singer and lyricist. Sometimes Tactics can come off as sounding like a bad Pere Ubu or The Birthday Party trying to sound like good Pere Ubu, if you know what I mean. Their 'My Houdini' album is certainly listenable, but the more they recorded, the more drab it sounded. Tactics are on Myspace also!http://www.myspace.com/soundofthesound The compilation you speak of has their first two records 'My Houdini' being their debut, so yes - it's definitely worth getting. Not sure if its out yet, but the Reverberation label are putting out in Australia. Funnily enough, Studdert released an album in the UK called Dave Studdert's Mumbo Jumbo and Louise Elliot from the Laughing Clowns is in the band! It's not just Brisbane that's incestuous, it's the whole country! I have Fete Foraine on my iPod, though it's really a bed-time or Sunday morning kind of album. |