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A collection of some of the great 45's released during Australia's most prolific independent era of 1976 to 1989.
Tales from the Australian Underground highlights selections from the previous careers of acts like Hoodoo Gurus (The Victims & Fun Things), Gangajang (The Riptides), The Cruel Sea (Sekret Sekret), Dave Graney (The Moodists), Big Heavy Stuff (Ups & Downs), You Am I (The Bamboos), Tex Perkins, (Thug), Dirty Three (Venom P. Stinger) as well as classic early releases from Radio Birdman, The Saints, The Scientists, Triffids, Died Pretty, The Mark Of Cain and the Hard-Ons.
In addition, Tales from the Australian Underground includes a selection of seminal tracks, previously unreleased on CD. Featured among others are Pel Mel, Sunnyboys, Sardine, Psycho Surgeons, The Leftovers, Do Re Mi, The Numbers, Tactics, X and Wet Taxis.
Besides offering up an indie "best of", Tales from the Australian Underground gives the listener an insight into the sounds and musical styles that were developed over the highlighted period. From raw rock 'n' roll and punk roots, to the eclecticism of the eighties. All documented in an extensive 36 page booklet and 2CD collection. Essential for anyone serious about their music.
TRACKLISTING:Disc One:
- Radio Birdman: Burned My Eye (orig version)
- The Saints: This Perfect Day (orig version)
- The Victims: I'm Flipped Out Over You
- The Riptides: Sunset Strip
- Psycho Surgeons: Horizontal Action
- The Leftovers: Cigarettes & Alcohol
- La Femme: Chelsea Kids
- The Scientists: Frantic Romantic
- Numbers: Government Boy
- Tactics: Standing By the Window
- Lipstick Killers: Hindu Gods Of Love
- Fun Things: When the Birdman Fly
- The Passengers: Face With No Name
- The Visitors: Brother John (orig version)
- The Birthday Party: Happy Birthday
- Laughing Clowns: Sometimes (I Just Can't Live With Anyone)
- The Mark Of Cain: Lords Of Summer
- Someloves: Know You Now
- The Celibate Rifles: Johnny
- Cosmic Psychos: Lost Cause
- Plunderers: I Didn't See Them At All
- Hard-Ons: Just Being With You
- Do Re Mi: Standing On Wires
- Scientists: We Had Love
- The Moodists: The Disciples Know
- Triffids: Beautiful Waste
- X: Half Way Round the World (orig version)
- Lighthouse Keepers: Ocean Liner
- The Moffs: Another Day in the Sun
- Died Pretty: Ambergris
- The Eastern Dark: Julie is a Junkie
- The New Christs: No Next Time
- Ups & Downs: The Living Kind
- Ed Kuepper: Also Sprach the King of Euro-Disco
- Bamboos: With Which to Love You
- Wet Taxis: Sailors Dream
- Thug: Dad
- Venom P. Stinger: Walking About
- God: My Pal
- Flaming Hands: I Belong to Nobody
- Sunnyboys: Love To Rule (orig version)
- Sekret Sekret: New King Jack
- Pel Mel: No Word From China
- Makers of the Dead Travel Fast: Taels of the Saeghors
- Sardine: Sudan
TALES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN UNDERGROUND - PRESS RELEASE
At over five long years in the making, Tales from the Australian Underground has been a labour of love for compiler Tim Pittman. As a 13 year old in 1977, Pittman bought Radio Birdman's Radios Appear in a special package deal presented by Sydney radio station Double Jay. Buy an Australian album that month and receive a free Live at Double Jay album that contained a further Radio Birdman track but frankly very little else. The acquisition of the even then near mythical, Radios Appear, directed Pittman on a mission to support and investigate Australian underground-alternative music at great lengths for years to come.
Tales from the Australian Underground is a testament to that dedication of not only twenty something years of record buying but also Pittman's role as an integral part of the growth of Australian underground music right through the eighties and nineties. His credentials are many and varied. Pittman managed the tragically short career of The Eastern Dark (1985), the internationally successful, Hard-Ons from 1986 to 1998, the profoundly influential Kim Salmon from 1992 to 1997 and from 1996 has managed the uncompromising yet commercially successful, The Mark Of Cain. Pittman also spent time as the talent booker for Sydney's infamous Trade Union Club (1987) and did major time as a band agent (1987 - 1998) for an eclectic bunch of Australian acts that at various times included Ratcat, Venom P. Stinger, Massappeal, Louis Tillett and Ed Kuepper.
Nowadays Pittman is Director and Chief Tour Co-ordinator of Feel Presents P/L, Australian Concert Promoters for some of the world's more inspiring and diverse acts including Lou Reed, Henry Rollins, Tortoise, Sleater Kinney, Spoon, Mercury Rev and two of Australia's finest, Dirty Three and Radio Birdman. This compile was created in time stolen between those responsibilities.
So what was the impetus for this crazy idea? Well like much of the music on the compile itself it came not from the excitement of what was around but rather what wasn't. Why couldn't you hear these great songs on CD? Why have they been ignored? What makes them less worthy of re-issue? Vinyl was wearing out and cassette compiles were being chewed. It seems that every other era of Australian music is documented into CD form. Why not this? Arguably the most fertile of all Australian music generations and certainly the most revered overseas. If no one else want to tackle it then best tackle it yourself.
So, the concept was easy. Just lump your fave ignored Australian classics onto a couple of CD's and there you have it. Simple? Not so simple. Some treasured memories from old just didn't hold the same appeal anymore. Memory had played tricks. Further investigation was required. Days, months, hell, years was spent scouring record bins, rummaging through old magazines and talking to those closest to particular 'scenes' to get the lowdown and of course check that nothing of note had been missed.
In total, approximately 1000 titles were considered. Many gems, previously dismissed, were unearthed and played with glee to 'matured' ears. Some showed themselves to be completely contemporary or at the least progressive enough to still be considered ahead of their time. Others were ultra-rare artifacts that summed up a moment in time and had only briefly existed. Song selection sorted. Contacting everyone involved proved easier than one would think with the majority of artists included still maintaining positions within the larger industry as performers, studio engineers, publishers, indie-record label owners and music shop owners. Finding master version from which to master from was another issue. The majority of master tapes were now long gone and only 13 of the chosen 45 tracks were available in digital format with the rest transferred from the best available vinyl versions.
Placed in chronological order the tracks then painted a fairly accurate description of the ebb and flow of sound and style over the chosen period. From raw rock 'n' roll and punk roots, through all things post punk. The maturing and eclecticism that dominated the eighties ending up finally at the 'alternative' sound that would dictate the first half of the nineties.
The other and indeed crucial selection requirement for Tales from the Australian Underground was that all had to be a 45 rpm record. Whether it be in 7" or 12quot; format the 45 rpm was the modus operandi for struggling underground acts of the time. Be it the cost effective nature of their release or the practicality in housing and shipping, the 45 rpm, particularly the 7", served a great cultural purpose in a time when successful live bands were not dependent on radioplay for broader appeal. The 45 rpm was a statement, a manifesto with no filler possible. It was the defining freeze frame of a band's powers.
The advent of CD, the increasing pressure from other sources including dance clubs, music festivals, and major record companies buying into the underground, put an end not only to the culture of the 45 rpm but what it represented as a lone, tell all advocate for the bands themselves. Choice became broader. Or was it more narrow? CD singles provided no aesthetic appeal for the more discerning listener and certainly no great romance. Of the acts themselves from our chosen bunch, some managed to stay afloat in these evolving times but many just faded away into obscurity, the back of dusty record collections or to drunken nights of remembrance. Now's your chance to revisit those times and celebrate some true originals. Tales from the Australian Underground has brought together some of the finest Australian music of this or any era. Some songs are primitive, some are derivative, but all retain a timeless-ness to which great songs should aspire.