Description
Fans of old school punk, post-punk, Australian garage-rock and Velvet Underground inspired indie-rock will all find something to like here.
Feel Presents is proud to release Happy Town Sounds (Singles, Live & Rare), the debut CD release and first ever long player for seminal Sydney group Sekret Sekret.
Serving as the missing link between electronic pioneers SPK and mainstream chart toppers The Cruel Sea (guitarist/songwriter Danny Rumour served time in both while SS frontman David Virgin was the co-writer on the first three impossibly rare SPK singles), Sekret Sekret confused, bemused and delighted Sydney audiences from their birth late in 1979 until their untimely demise some five years later. Along the way SS, produced enough material to fill three quality albums yet, typical of the times, only managed to release four independent singles including the noted underground classic; New King Jack.
But all that has changed now, via the research and diligence of Feel Presents archivist Tim Pittman and founding Sekret Sekret member Des Devlin. Between them, the pair have unearthed some 32 tracks – 23 of which have never before been released in any format. These include:
*All four singles (and their b-sides); Charity, New King Jack, Girl With a White Stick, Just to Love You.
*Two Triple J radio sessions recorded at Sydney’s infamous Rock Garden (1980) and the Trade Union Club (1983).
*Two further desk recordings – again from 1980 and 1983.
*The lone remaining track from a 1981 demo session.
Additionally, and as with all Feel Presents archival releases, this 2CD collection comes with a 28 page booklet chronicling the rise of the band from the ashes of Sydney’s infamous punk pit, The Grand Hotel, and such legendary outfits as Johnny Dole and the Scabs, The Broken Toys, Blackrunner and SPK, right through until their eventual collapse and subsequent rebirth (via three of the original five members) under the altogether more successful banner of The Cruel Sea. It’s a fascinating story, one that has yet to feature in any of the recent flurry of Australian revisionist CD’s or books doing the rounds and, an important one at that.