Affecting Albums - At Home With You - X

(Click on the links in the song titles to be taken to Spotify for a listen)

Ian Rilen, Steve Lucas and Cathy Green made up what was, for this reviewer, the definitive line-up of the iconic Aussie punk band X. Formed in 1977 by former Rose Tattoo bass player Rilen, X was known around the country as a hard rockin' live act - I remember one performance at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St. Kilda where Lucas got a nasty electric shock from his guitar - the reason being the crowd was "going off" to such an extent that their combined heat caused it to "rain" inside! For the record, Lucas finished the set, although obviously in a bit of pain - that's showbiz!

At Home With You, released in 1985, was the second album from X, after the 1979 release X-Aspirations. The album shows two sides to the band - the hard and fast and dirty punk sound that they were known for in their live act was certainly there, but there were also some softer songs, some with horns, which show that X was definitely not a one-trick-pony.

The highlight of the album for this reviewer is Degenerate Boy, a celebration of sorts of the (low) life of rock and roll, sex and drugs included. Ian Rilen's backup vocals add a touch of evil delight to such lines as "last week's dole cheque, up my arm it went". He was indeed a deeply dirty degenerate boy.

Other hard rockin' songs are the opening tune The Feel, with it's harsh guitar line and horn line, the thrashy Oxford St. Nick and Going Crazy showing why X has become an influence to many newer bands.

What is perhaps more surprising on this album are the more "straight-ahead" tunes - despite the throaty vocals and fast ending, Moving On is a classic pop song structure, All Over Now is a great rock tune, and Don't Cry No Tears is a moving love song, with a wonderfully haunting French Horn figure adding what could even be called beauty to this track.

There are some really great moments on this album - great songs, great licks, and great horns. Check it out.

At Home With You is available from iTunes in the original version, or a version with bonus tracks, or from Aztec Records, which is re-releasing lots of Australian Music from the 70s and 80s

Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell

Affecting Albums - Warehouse: Songs and Stories - Husker Du

(Click on the links in the song titles to be taken to Spotify for a listen)

Husker Du were one of those "nearly but not quite" bands, whose reputation has continued to blossom long after their demise. Formed in Minnesota in the late 70s, by the late 80s they'd ceased to exist, but thankfully left a rich vinyl legacy for us to revel in.

They were one of the first underground acts to be signed by a major label, and although they didn't get the success they were after (or that they deserved), they paved the way for the transition of the alternative sound to the mainstream arena, along with other bands such as REM.

They are thought of by many as a punk / post-punk outfit, and while that was true for their early work, they quickly developed a keen melodic sense and pop feel, which sat just underneath their "wall of guitar" sound. Along with such other magnificently titled albums as Zen Arcade, Candy Apple Grey, and Flip Your Wig; Warehouse: Songs and Stories is a collection of fine pop and rock and roll tunes.

Warehouse was the last release from the band, as the tension between the two major songwriting talents in the unit, Grant Hart and Bob Mould had, by that stage, become unsustainable (the other member of the band, bassist Greg Norton did not write songs for Husker Du).

Perhaps because this was the band's final act, Warehouse comes in at a weighty 20 tunes, which makes it good value from the off - that a sizeable number are very good, and that a few are the best songs the band released, are the icing on the cake.

Fans familiar with Mould's later band Sugar will recognise the guitar sound on this album immediately - it's HUGE - which means this three piece never feels thin on the ground.

The many stand out songs on this album are headlined by Could you be the One?, a very catchy tune, with typical Bob Mould lyrics of personal confusion. Other great Mould penned tunes are Standing in the Rain, Ice Cold Ice, which has a great chorus, and Friend, You've Got to Fall, with it's great falling chorus melody that echoes the song's title.

Grant Hart kicks in with some pearlers to - Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Hope, and You're a Soldier, with it's searing commentary ("...Can you tell me just how many did you kill today?"), Too much Spice, and She Floated Away, which is almost a folk song.

These few are just the highlights for me of the 20 tunes on this disc - so if you're interested in finding out more about a band that links punk to alternative rock, Warehouse: Songs and Stories is a fine entree into the world of Husker Du.

Warehouse: Songs and Stories is available from iTunes or from Amazon

Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell

Affecting Albums - Eternally Yours - The Saints

(This is the first post in a series that I hope will develop into a list of all the albums that have gone into making my musical world. They will cover a pretty wide range of styles, and I hope that each post will describe a bit about the album, and why it has affected me enough to write about it.)

(Click on the song titles to have a listen to them on Spotify)

Eternally Yours (1978) was the second album released by the classic and, dare I write it, seminal Australian punk band The Saints. The Saints' rejection to being pigeonholed, by developing a much fuller sound on Eternally Yours than the straight-ahead guitar-punk sensibility of their first album, I'm Stranded, ensured that they will be remembered as one of the great bands in Australian music. Ironically, it also ensured that they would never again live up to the popularity in punk circles that I'm Stranded had given them.

Lyrically the album is very strong, coursing with lead singer Chris Bailey's cynicism and anger at the world, fueled by his tough Brisbane upbringing.

The opening song, Know Your Product is perhaps THE best punk song ever recorded. From the classic and instantly recognizable opening brass riff, to the caustic anti-advertising lyrics, viz. the chorus below -

"Cheap advertising, you're lying
Never gonna give me what I want
I said smooth talking, brain washing
Ain't never gonna give me what I need"

It packs a punch that knocks you senseless.

What makes this the one of the best punk albums of all is the variety in the songs. Acoustic guitar, harmonica, and the brass section all help to lift it out of the punk ruck, but the fact that all the songs SWING is what makes it a truly great album. With all that, it never loses the hard sensibility that Bailey's lyrics bring to it, at their harshest in denigrating their own followers and the music scene in general in International Robots. It was this attitude, rejecting any sort of slavish following, which led to the punk movement turning on them, and after one more classic album Prehistoric Sounds, the original band split up, with Ed Kuepper going his own way to form The Laughing Clowns, while Bailey held on to the name, and The Saints began a metamorphosis into a very good indie band.

Songs such as A Minor Aversion and Untitled, acoustic, but with a hard driving edge, were before their time, predicting much that would happen in the independent music scene in the 80's and 90's

Rolling Stone Australia has Eternally Yours at number seven in their top 50 Australian albums - it's certainly in my top ten. You can check out Eternally Yours on iTunes, or Amazon.

Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell