Steely Dan were on the pop radio and pumping out the impenetrably great album like "pretzel logic" and " Katy lied". Freaks like Tim Buckley, Leon Russel , the Blue Oyster Cult, Rory Gallagher and Joe Walsh. Led Zeppelin as distant yet as omnipresent as the Stones. For some reason, the most closest to our experience, in the country, was southern rock. Thats Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allmans. There were a bunch of others too but these were the main acts. So, anyway, I heard all that then. I have the vinyl and play it every now and again. A lot you still hear all the time on classic rock radio. I was lucky to grow up in such a wild and forward moving time.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD IN THEIR POMP
A lot of it was blown out of the water by punk rock. Well most of it. For a bunch of us. For a while. Just made it redundant.
I still love that classic rock.
I also love the sounds from the post punk period that re aligned and re tuned my sensibilities so much.I love it just as much.
ORANGE JUICE
By that I mean the sounds of those early Postcard records by Orange Juice, especially "simply thrilled honey" and Josef K with "sorry for laughing". The Fire engines had their incredible moments with "get up and use me" and " candyskin".
The Pop Group with "she is beyond good and evil". The Birthday Party/ Boys next door with the hee haw ep and their first album. All the stuff they did before they left Australia. I also loved Panther Burns, the Cramps and Vic Godards Subway Sect.
There was also Pere Ubu with their first two albums, especially "dub housing" and Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers and the Contortions or James White and the Blacks.
Recording was hard then. Expensive and usually a fight against the entrenched attitudes of the kind of guys who worked in studios. It was tough! Even though, all the above somehow made sounds that will live forever and people still try to copy today. The Contortions or James White and the Blacks sound as fresh and as vital as if they were recorded yesterday. I bet all the people in that act wish they knew how they made those sounds!
When young people go on about AC/DC or Chisel I know they're talking about a sensibility which is all about the classic rock period. They must have either heard it from their parents or just hear it all the time on raadio. Still . They're being very obedient either way. I was there as a kid. I don't need to hear it all reproduced again and again. It wasn't perfect or anything. Just goofy and innocent really. Stupid, at its best The post punk period was what was supposed to happen next, and it did. Even if the mass didn't notice.
They're my favourite kinds of rock music.The classic and the revolutionary. Nothing much in between. A lot of modern indie rock is in between. Its small in ambition and intent. Fuck it then.
Look out for shows NATIONALLY to coincide with the release of the book "1001 australian nights" through Affirm Press and the new album "rock'n'roll is where I hide" which is out on Liberation.
Friday 14th and Saturday 15th October- Wheatsheaf Hotel -Thebarton - Adelaide.
Monday 31st October- CUP EVE SHOW
Northcote Social Club in Melbourne w/ the Sand Pebbles and the Ocean Party
Friday Nov 11th Camelot Lounge - 19 Marrickville Rd,(Cnr Railway Pde) Marrickville, Sydney,
Saturday Nov 12th the Great Northern Hotel 83-89 Scott Street, Newcastle,
NSW
http://www.thegreatnorthern.com.au/
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