I've decided that I'm going to start using this thread to
state my latest musical fit, sort of like Cornflakeboyee's thread, which seems to be the most popular thread in the Underground ever. However, instead of just saying "I'm listening to this at the moment," I'll only state things that I'm currently madly looping and can't get over. Feel free to join in.
And this week, it's
HUNTERS & COLLECTORS, a very under-rated Australian band in my opinion. Most Australians I talk to haven't even heard of them, much less most Americans. They broke in the states with their one hit from their first (82) eponymous US CD:
"Talking To A Stranger", which features the typically exasperated vocals of lead singer Mark Seymour and got played on MTV twice, or maybe three times. It was a very dark B&W video featuring Mark in the shower with goggles and nose-plugs, being a freak.
"Souvent pour j'amuser les hommes d'equipage
And it's like talking to a stranger
You tasted mustard when she painted your face
And it was like talking to a stranger
Remember the panic in its delectable face, when you touched it
It was like talking to a stranger
And Oh Miss Jesus tell me where are your black eyes?
Your baby was talking to a stranger"
Their one other brush with fame seems to have been Pearl Jam choosing to cover
"Throw Your Arms Around Me" from 1986's
Human Frailty. Back in the Napster boom days, one could find literally a hundred live versions of this song by both bands.
I fairly recently discovered Mark is a school teacher and the brother of another (perhaps more famous) lead singer, Nick from Crowded House. At any rate, his passionate, if not half-crazed, lyrics and vocals are one of the most important elements of this band for me. H&C, after producing quite a number of fine albums, has since dissolved and Mark, I understand, has made several solo albums, but I've not heard any.
John Archer, one of the
hands-down ballsiest bass players ever, is another vital element, spurring the groups overall organic rock-and-fucking-roll-sound. Try
"(Betty's Worry or) The Slab" or my own personal fave
"Little Chalkie" (both from
The Jaws Of Life, 1984) for some good examples of his raw pop-and-thump sound. He can make Flea sound a bit sophisticated.
(
"Little Chalkie", by the way, is apparently a ballad about the legendary urban figure in Australia who leaves chalk messages wherever he goes; there was some vague reference to this during the olympics, involving the word "freedom" being writ large on a bridge overlooking the Sydney harbor, I think, but I've never been able to find anything much about this--any of you natives know anything?)
The "Horns Of Contempt," Hunters' ever-present squelchy brass section, are another important element, especially when they're doing Ray Charles covers, like "
I Believe." And Jack Howard, keyboardist, apparently has the world's only coal-fed and steam-driven synthesizer.
Another thing that really sold me on this band is that they worked with Producer Connie (or Conrad) Plank, a very inventive German engineer from Kraftwerk, Can and Cluster & Eno fame. Connie appears on the albums
Jaws of Life and, my overall favorite,
The Fireman's Curse. Before I'd even heard the band, I read an interview with Eno about some of the strange rituals he (Connie) was putting this innocent but ballsy Aussie rock band through: things like facing guitar amps into the corners of enormous warehouses and micing them from the opposite corner, or recording vocals from 150 yards away, or micing them, sending them to another amp, micing that amp and sending it to another amp etc ad infinitum. The result is ethereal and satisfyingly strange, if subtle.
The Fireman's Curse is a spectacular album. (my current musical fit) It always sounds to me a bit like what the ghosts of Auschwitz (can you say "post-apocalyptic?") might play with a typical rock band's instrumentation. For instance,
"Blind Snake Sundae," is, apparently, an anthem for the cannibalistic survivors of a scorched planet.
"Sway," "Judas Sheep," "Eggheart," and
"Drinking Bomb" would be my other recommendations. See if you can find them.
Anyway enough raving. Now iz zee time on Schprockets venn vee donce.
I says mother I have lost my arms, lost my arms
She says, use your charms son, use your charms
And I says smell that fear mother, smell that fear
She says off your knees son, off your knees
Well, our friend the Judas sheep
He's dressed up like a compost heap
Our friend the Judas sheep
To the top, top, top of the heap
We are tentacle wrapped in memories, memories
Down in the dark we stumble happy, happy
We are wet to the skin, wet to the skin
Free from sin, free from sin
Oh father forgive this state we're in, state we're in
Because our friend the Judas sheep
He's dressed up like a compost heap
Our friend the Judas sheep
To the top, top, top of the heap
And I said our friend the Judas sheep
Today's companion tomorrow's fresh meat