Parallel lines by Blondie 1978

Poptastic! After a bunch of disappointing second albums by the punk elite, the third albums were turning out to be real treats. On this album, Blondie really hit their peak with what would come to be called New Wave. The sixties look and feel was already in place but here it came full bloom with a bunch of pop songs and a look to match. We already knew that Blondie leaned this way with their sixties sound on In The Flesh and the accompanying videos. But this was the one. This was great. The ripped clothes and leather trousers (well vinyl for me) were out. Suits and skinny ties were in.
Actually, I only wore vinyl trousers once on stage. The week before I had spotted a leather looking pair at the Salvos Op Shop in Abbotsford. I had to have them. I thought I would look good in brown plastic leather-look trousers.

Playing a full-on pop-punk gig in them was a different matter. They were so hot I had to peel them off after the gig and they were almost glued to my legs. It was after a gig at the Champion Hotel in Fitzroy. The last Fiction gig. We went to Vic's place for an after-party and I was in the bathroom with my girlfriend Leonie trying to get the bloody things off. They were actually stuck to my legs. I must have foreseen though because I had a change of clothes in the car. The vinyl pants just fell apart.
Blondie never did an album as good as this again but they came up with some cracking singles.

What a wondorous trip when you are young to start collecting records like this. Falling in love with his greatest hits and then going back and scooping up Dylan's back catalogue. This was the first one that really got to me. I mean Like A Rolling Stone leads off but it's Desolation Row that I would listen to again and again. I even tried writing my own epic in a song called Whatever happened to the revolution? 15 verses. Hey but I'm no Dylan. So I also learned to play Desolation Row, All 8 minutes. The verses went over 3 pages which meant I had to keep turning over the pages in the songbook. I also tried a rewrite of Tombstone Blues called State of Execution, a song The Fiction did a couple of times in rehearsal. And it ended up on our Negative Fun album.

Ballad of a thin Man, Queen Jane Approximately. Such great songs.

Such a cool album. I was under the spell of the mid sixties Dylan. The Chelsea boots and polka dot shirts. I used to collect the Story of Pop magazines. They were a monthly magazine that told the story of rock and roll from start to whatever year they finished making the magazine. I loved learning about new bands. As I still do now.

The Dylan they portrayed was simply cool. Pure London Chelsea style with a great bar band behind him playing loose with the instruments. Yes Blonde on Blonde was brilliant and so too was Bringing it all Back Home. But this is the one I kept coming back to.

Brotherhood by New Order 1986

I had all the singles. Now it was time to explore the albums. This was bought at Central Station Records in South Yarra. It's still got the branded plastic on it. It also has a little P in the corner. This means I sprayed the record with a special preservative. 

In the mid-eighties, I was living at the back of a bunch of flats in Meredith Street, Elwood. It had a small balcony that overlooked palm trees and the beach at Elwood. Not that you could see the beach. You just knew you were facing it. The place always had a summery feel to it. And because it was old and retro it was the first cool place I had lived in.

I wasn't much of a muso anymore, I was a DJ. I took more time with my records. Looked after them. Cleaned them. Put on stickers that meant they were protected by some spray-on stuff. Bought more speakers. Listened to Brotherhood by New Order.
I doubt it's immaculate now because there is also a sticker that says songs to play at the club. Paradise, Weirdo, Promise and Way of Life. These were my handpicked dance floor fillers. Though I doubt they did that job. Bizarre Love triangle which happens to be my favourite track of theirs is not highlighted. That's because the 12 inch of that track is just so good I could never play the short version. I must mention the accompanying B-side 1963 which is also a great song.
I also liked the last track "Every Little Counts" but it sounds like Bernard couldn't care less and throws it away with some quite silly lyrics.  I'd read he wrote lyrics as he went along which works sometimes but being a writer myself  I never bought into that theory about New Order or Iggy Pop where every line is ad-libbed. Then again. 
A fabulous mid-eighties record.

Best of The Who 1966

Yeah, I've already got one best of the Who on my list. Meaty was my first Who album and so it holds a special place. But I also came across this album in a second-hand store and it contained songs that I didn't know or never knew they covered. Barbara Anne, Bucket T. And Circles and Disguises. Also, I was suspicious that Meaty Beaty tracks weren't the originals which on listening to one of the singles on this I think I was proved right. 5 tracks on here are from the Ready Steady Who EP. Singles like I'm a Boy and Pictures of Lily plus Johne Entwistles Doctor Doctor a personal fave of mine. It was an Australian-only release. Maybe cashing in on their new success. But it's a fantastic early comp quite devoid of what would have been their real best of. Maybe it was too early in the piece.
When I got this I was still searching for the My Generation album. But this was still exciting anyway. I felt I was a lot closer to the early Who here. You can imagine the who playing this stuff live.
A few weeks later I was holding the original My Generation album in my hands. Magic!

My flat in Fitzroy North has a second-hand couch, 2 directors chairs and 2 potted plants along with a sound system and a TV. I'm aiming for Chelsea, England 1966. Groovy bohemia. Or something like that. Records like this were very important to me.

A Nod Is As Good As a Wink...to a Blind Horse by The Faces 1971

So while I'm talking about the Small Faces why not mention the great band they turned into. The Faces featuring Rod Stewart. Of course, it was all wrapped up in the success of Rod Stewart and his Every PictureTells a Story / Maggie May double but there was also something more with The. Faces. You couldn't help but get involved in their good-time rock stance. The stories of bars on the side of the stage, the soccer balls kicked into the crowd. The videos of the band on Top of The Pops when they just looked like they were having a great time all the time.

I saw Rod at the Myer Music Bowl ( if only for the last 10 minutes-though I heard the whole thing) and when we got inside the gates it really was like entering a party. No, it wasn't the Faces but it was a joy to watch. But it felt like I was seeing the Faces.

For a while there it was the thing to when bands appeared at the Myer Music Bowl. Sit outside the fence for most of the set digging the sound and then as security abandoned their posts stream in to see the last few songs. ELO was another one like that.
The idea of the Faces is sometimes more than the actual output. I loved their records while not liking some of the things they did. It just feels good to have their records. Saying that is far and wide the best of their albums. Crammed with great songs.
On my second show ever when all we did is mime to songs, the opening song was Stay With Me from this album. Despite the successful debut a few months earlier of Flashco this one was terrible and what was fun once didn't need to be repeated. So we had to break up the band. And it wasn't even a band.

Greatest Hits. by The Small Faces 1977

I have three Small Faces best-ofs albums in my collection. Every time they put one out back in the day there would be a different song list on it. I bought them because they were cheap and I was trying to get all the Small Faces stuff I could. I've also got a bunch of records all with different names but some of them are basically the same record.

I love the Small Faces. We covered All or Nothing in Little Murders and it was always one of my favourite songs to play. When I was first getting into the whole Mod thing firstly we looked at The Who but as you delved more into their stories you realised that the Small faces were the real Mod band. They really did look like a band of Small Faces, a face in Mod lingo being the cool one.

This one is from 1985. It still carries the distinctive smell of an album that spent many a night in clubs. Particularly the Rubber Soul.

I loved Ogden's Nut Gone Flake but really I played the hell out of these best-ofs.

Last year during the lockdown I still managed to track down a Small FDaces EP that just had their instrumentals on it. They were just a great band. Actually, I haven't got a copy of Autumn Stone despite having nearly all the tracks on it on various albums so that might have to be my next purchase.

Donovan's Greatest Hits 1969

Loved this record. My brother had a copy and he used to play it in the bedroom I shared with him. My side of the room was covered in posters from Go-Set and pages ripped from old soccer magazines. "Goal' i think it was called. Mainly George Best who was my hero then. Played the record on his portable record player. Big and heavy and rocking. Take off the speakers and spread them apart. Created a magical world inside this teenagers head. A little hippy, a bit folky but also with Jeff Beck ramping up the electric guitar on some tracks. When my brother got married and moved out I bought myself a copy from the Australian Music Club. 

Then I went through the catalogue and started buying his other albums. However, they were a little too trippy and jazzy for me (except for Barablajacal which was the other Donovan album I loved ) 

But mostly I went back to my "Best of". And what a "Best of". Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Season of The Witch...all great singles. 

I can still listen to this album and I've even got into a lot of the stuff that was over my head. Cool

Black Magic by Various Artists 1979

Bought this in Tower Records in London when I went over there in 79. At the time my soul section of the record collection was devoid of the classics so when I saw this record even though it was on the cheapo Pickwick label I had to get it because it seemed to have every soul song I had heard of. It even provided two songs that Little Murders would cover in "Stand by Me" and "Midnight Hour".  Despite a couple of naff songs that I wouldn't go anywhere near, it was brimming with soul classics. And it would lead me into all sorts of places looking for the best-ofs of these artists. Aretha Franklin, Sam and Dave, Booker T are all on this double album. I have to admit, with the great soul artists there's not much but compilations in my collection.
The best thing about that 79 holiday in England was the amount of stuff I managed to bring home. All of it to find use in the Mod clubs I'd be involved in. I brought back ska records from The Specials, Madness and Beat. all the mod singles (which I picked up cheap in a Blackpool newsagency..25p each). This album plus other soul biggies. I had to go down to Tower Records and buy myself record boxes to bring them home.
When I saw the purple hearts in Edinburgh I was impressed by the DJ who played with them. So I was determined to have DJs play with Little Murders. Gigs at the Market Hotel in South Yarra would be advertised as Little Murders and Mod DJ. No support band. From that it lead to Kommotion where the Murders didn't play but where I DJed regularly.

Shapes of Things by The Yardbirds 1978

I was fascinated by the Yardbirds in 1979. I knew too much about the Beatles and the Stones but little about the Yardbirds but I kept hearing their tracks and everyone sounded different but really out there. They were in the film Blow-Up doing Train Kept a Rollin and smashing guitars and amps. They looked cool and mod and we never got to see them turn into hippies because they were finished before the whole hippy look came along. So they got out just in time to remain forever cool.
In 1979 I was travelling everywhere trying to find new record shops. We were now vinyl hunters. I found this double album in Preston in some little record shop. Both discs are coloured, one green and one clear. I get the green because the album is all green but the clear plastic?
No matter it was my first Yardbirds record. and it starts with an intro which must have been lifted off 5 live Yardbirds. Then straight into a Chuck Berry cover. But the next few tracks I Wish You Would and For Your Love would become part of the future Little Murders setlist. I also tried to get the band to play A Certain Girl.
There have been better compliations and I have those. My first bootleg album I ever bought was a Yardbirds album and that's great.  I bought it just to get Psycho Daisies. But this was my first Yardbirds album after searching for so long.

Very by The Pet Shop Boys 1993

I always liked the Pet Shop Boys since West End Girls onwards though I don't listen to them much nowadays. Battered down by wave after wave of people who actually can't stand them in my circles. I've given up talking about them. But they had great pop songs. And have made some great albums. This being one of them.
I guess I started listening to them when I first started listening to stuff on my Walkman. Their music just sounded so good through headphones. Mainly it was the singles plus maybe a few album tracks. It wasn't until this album that I actually liked a whole album of theirs.
Firstly it's got this great Lego CD cover. Very tactile. Then it's got a bunch of great tracks.
Luckily I had the Walkman because none of my friends wanted to hear this. neither did any of my girlfriends. So it kind of forced itself into being my personal soundtrack.
Notably, it reminds me of the time I went to the Greek islands. The sun, the beaches, the heat..it was like the perfect Pet Shop Boys setting. I remember there was this beach where the sun was so hot and the sand was burning feet so they had to put wooden boards leading to the damper sand closer to the water. I was so into listening to the music I went for a walk by myself so I could listen to the music and take in the sights.
It took me ages to find somebody else who enjoys them. Thank god for Facebook.  I guess they're my guilty pleasure.

The first time I heard Belle and Sebastian was "The Boy With The Arab Strap" a great song that I totally loved and still do, The album it came from was great too. So after enjoying that I was eagerly looking for more Belle and Sebastian. I'd read the legendary Tigermilk album was a long gone debut release limited to 1000 copies and incredibly rare. But then they released it on CD. I guess cos the proper albums were doing so well.
And it was great. There is something very do it yourself about the album. Reminiscent of the Smiths at their best but without the power I guess but with a niche all of their own, Some of the tracks sound like they have pulled off a cassette tape.
It begins with State I'm In. A great opener. Great lyrics. And it just feels good. And then song after song. Brilliant tunes.
I finally got to see them live. My wife Liz is a big fan. They didn't disappoint. You could tell the crowd just loved them. It was one of the best crowds I'd seen really. You just get a feeling about a good crowd. People smile at each other. They don't push you out the way. I mean we were still blighted by the incredibly tall people that like to stand in front of us at gigs. But I swear he turned around and gave us an apologetic look. The band and the audience were right in tune.

Now when they come to Australia we always buy tickets to the show. 

And I've managed to get most their records now. If You're Feeling Sinister is a particular favourite.

Standing On The Beach:The Singles by The Cure 1986

Never been able to get into a full Cure album so when this CD came along it was a chance to have all my favourite tracks in one place. To me, they were a brilliant singles band. The amount of classic songs on this album is amazing. We used to love it at the Lizard when albums like this came out because it meant we could reduce the number of discs to bring in with us. A few years later and it wouldn't matter because everything could be burned onto one disc.
This set opens with Killing an Arab the first single, but it also contains 10:15 Saturday Night which a sign of things to come. Boys Don't Cry. When I first got a video camera I made a film clip of me miming to the song. It was my first effort and is locked well away.
I got to see them on their second tour (missed the Macy's gig on their first when they played the night after us) at the Ballroom and songs like The Forest and Primary bring that night back. A wash of keyboards.
Let's Go to Bed and The Walk bring back memories of Therapy, a disco we all went to during the latter days of electronica and new romantic. Then In Between days and Close to Me which calls to mind The Beehive and Lizard Lounge. I guess these songs have left their fingerprints all over the Eighties with enough energy to also infiltrate the 90s. I saw them live again at the Rod Laver Arena but it wasn't much fun.
My mate Dan went to the Sydney Opera House to see them a few years back. They played the first album. He said they were great. With tickets going for 2000 dollars they'd have to be. I think it was 6 dollars at Macy's.

Graceland by Paul Simon 1986

I was in the UK visiting family when my brother David put this album on through his new sound system. My trips to the UK were always at Christmas as being a teacher I would have those extra long holidays that people get so envious of. All my recollections are mostly bright and sunny but pretty cold. Inside was warm as only English houses are warm. Central heating indeed. And this record just filled up the room.

I didn't have much interest in Paul Simon since the Simon and Garfunkel times (and I was that big on them either) except for a few of his hits in the early seventies. So wasn't prepared for how good this album was going to be. The sound these South African musicians make from the word go with "Boy in The Bubble" is just amazing. Incredible rhythms with Paul Simon melodies over the top were a magic formula. It was such a complete album. really like nothing I'd heard before.  I could even get into "You Can Call Me Al" so it fits in so well with everything else that's going on here.
Hugh Cornwell from The Stranglers even named it album of the year. It crossed all borders except maybe the faction who had slapped an embargo on making music in South Africa. I would have thought introducing these great musicians to the world would have been a good thing. However there was a lot of fuss. But the album also introduced us to Los Lobos who rocked out on the record and the sound of zydeco from the USA also gets a look in. Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Youssou N'Dour. A world record indeed. I
Sadly after this album he got a bit boring again. His next album always literally put me to sleep. Twice I tried to listen and fell asleep.
Not so with Graceland. This album is a joy.

When punk was starting back in 77 and 78 there were many references to this album as one of the cornerstones to the whole punk thing. Of course what chance in those days would you have of getting an album that had been released five years previous. But one day I'm looking through the boxes of records at the Monash University Record Shop and there it is. Thick cardboard. Cut out. Nuggets. It was like discovering gold. Couldn't wait to get it home and play it. And song after song was just brilliant. After weeks of listening to this album, I think I'd changed the way I wrote songs.
And what songs. "Don't Look Back by the Remains. "Lies" by the Knickerbockers. How long had I been looking for that single? This album was chock full of legendary songs. We'd put these songs on cassette and play them before the band went on stage.
One day I went looking through my albums. This would be in the 90s. I couldn't find the album. By then I had quite a few albums so it took me a few looks to realise it wasn't there. And the Undertones and god know what else had disappeared. Had I sold them? Unlikely. Did I lend them to someone? Unfortunately, the mists of time have closed around this mystery.

So began the process of looking to find all those missing albums. Record fairs and record shops came back into my life. And what a pleasure it has been to rediscover records after using CDs for so long. Rhino released a 4 CD box of Nuggets (volume 1 & 2) but it doesn't beat putting the needle on the record.

The "In" Crowd:Ultimate Collection 2001

Suddenly all this stuff started becoming available through overseas outlets thanks to the power of the Internet to connect us to record shops around the world. Once upon a time getting something like this would have been impossible or incredibly expensive. That I got it cheaply delivered from the UK was a godsend. And what a brilliant box set it was. Coming about the same time as the Northern Soul album as was suddenly immersed in all this modness. With Lizard Lounge starting to wind down and the music we were playing on Saturday nights more and more dance-orientated at home I was listening to all those Mod records I used to love plus I was getting to discover all these new sounds. And all the amazing imagery.
I was also back in touch with the Sydney Mods following the tragic death of Don Hosie a leading light of the Mod scene during our heyday. His brother Gary asked me to come and play at a benefit gig for Don's charity. It was a wonderful night at the Sydney Metro and great to see so many old friends. And I played songs like Tube Station and Midnight Hour with just me and a fender Telecaster.
Through these albums, my passion for the sixties and Mod culture was awakened. I also started to write shorter and sharper songs more aimed at the feet. I guess I was going back to my roots. Although at times it feels I'm more like a spectator these days.
This 4 CD set is really quite brilliant. Just listening to it again I feel I should be having a party.

The Best Northern Soul All-Nighter...Ever 2001

Okay, not one for the purists I know.  Basically the best or most popular Northern Soul songs. And there have been quite a few excellent comps before and since. But this is the one that really opened my ears to the whole Northern Soul thing. It was like a doorway to all those other comps I had lying about my collection. And it also got me buying more.
Mainly cos I heard a lot of these songs at the Highland Room at the Mecca Ballroom in Blackpool in the seventies. And these were the songs they played those nights I went. Not the really rare stuff but the hits that worked with the crowd like any other club. Keep everyone dancing. And for me who didn't have a clue about Northern Soul when my cousin took me there I needed songs like these to get me going. Mind you I was a crap dancer. The girl I was going out with, second date, mocked my dancing style. I still bear the scars today. Girls can do that.
This is one of the first CDs I ever bought online. When websites like CDWow were selling albums you couldn't get here, and at cheaper prices with free delivery well from then on it was almost goodbye JB Hifi. The same thing happened to book stores.
Anyway cracking double CD. Starts off with 7 Days is Too Long and then just grooves like an all-nighter even finishing with the big 3. The songs that used to close the night at Wigan Casino including the sublime "Long After Tonight Is All Over"

Aftermath by The Rolling Stones 1966

As I was scooping up sixties albums in the mid seventies some of them were just to add to my collection and some would just stop me in my tracks and force me to keep listening. Aftermath was the first (well maybe second if you count the greatest hits package) Stones album I fell in love with. There"s something about the songs and the sound that make it such a classic mid-sixties record. It kicks off with Mother's Little Helper and then basically soundtracks Swinging London for the next 35 minutes.
Under My Thumb was one of Ronny's big spins at Rubber Soul. I liked to spin Out Of Time. But the album is packed with great tunes and give a nod to their bluesy past but also point forward to what they will become. When I put this album on in my flat with all those sixties posters and a palm tree in the corner, directors chairs for furniture, Get Smart on TV with the sound turned down...I felt I was almost there. Chelsea, London 1966

My Aim Is True by Elvis Costello 1977

One night I was at Valhalla cinema when it was in Richmond. I can't remember the film I went to see but I do remember some guy walking in with this record under his arm. No bag, just the record. Like a big badge of coolness. Of course we'd all heard of the record but no one I knew had it. I didn't know it had been released in Australia yet. With an inkling that the record was out there some where I was soon off to track down the album. I think I found it in the place where RRR used to be. They had a record shop there open late. There is nothing in the world like record shops at night. Love them.
Loved this record. The short sharp Welcome to the Working Week. The anger. The revenge. Elvis was spitting out these fantastic songs. Wasn't a punk record but was completely in tune with what was going on at the time. Yes it's sounds a bit like pub rocker Graham Parker but this album had a whole lot of charisma despite the pub rock backing. actually it's great bridge between the sounds of Dr. Feelgood and The Clash.
In the end it's the words that get to you. Delivering all that young man blues like no one else before. Even the gentle Alison is full of self loathing and betrayal.
Six months later he released This Years Model and that was even better.
I used to have a giant Elvis poster advertising this album.. Bruce Milne swapped it with me for a copy of the book Generation X. In the end I couldn't find anywhere to put it so I gave it to my friend Mandy. It was so big I don't think she ever put it up either.

Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds 1965

Another classic from the Sixties which sounds just as good almost sixty years later. I picked up the album Mr. Tambourine Man by the Byrds at Burwood K-Mart because like a few of my other purchases it was on a cheap label and then further discounted to about 99 cents. I knew little about the Byrds except for Mr. Tambourine Man. This was the early seventies and I was more interested in Glam but I was starting to look to the sixties more and more. And I need that song!

 When this piece of vinyl hit the turntable he was almost too hard to get off. It just blew away so much of the pop stuff I was listening to. Those harmonies. That jangly guitar. And just brilliant songs. I don't think I even owned a Dylan album before this. (unluckily I first heard Dylan around New Morning time and couldn't understand the fuss) But it also kick-started my interest in Dylan.

By the late seventies, it was a major influence on my writing as I moved from punk to being in a Mod band and eventually embracing power pop. In 1982 Little Murders attempted to cover "Here Without You" I think we may have only played it once. At Macy's in South Yarra. Taped for posterity but I don't think we ever did it again. Little Murders also covered "Feel A Whole Better" which is also on this album. Now that song we covered through many line-ups. She Let's Me Know our third single was originally an attempt to write a Byrds type song. (actually, the chord sequence is cribbed from one of their songs) 

When my flat in Fitzroy was robbed and I lost my Ibanez Les Paul guitar (plus beer and cigarettes) at first I bought an electric 12 string electric guitar. I really wanted that Byrds sound. I took it to a gig at the Oxford Hotel. It was such a bugger to tune up and keep in tune that I took it back the next day and swapped it for my Fender Custom Telecaster.

Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys 1966

I picked up this record at K-Mart in Burwood around the early seventies. Cheap cover. Cheesy photo. Strangely the sleeve notes are by Ian Meldrum. Australian pop guru. It wasn't called Pet Sounds but later on, as top 100 lists started popping up I realised I actually did have a copy of Pet Sounds on my hands. God knows why they rebranded the album just because it was on a cheap album. Music For Pleasure who put out a lot of cruddy stuff. And a lot of great music too.

Apart from their cheesy image and rubbish like Sloop John B Brian Wilson's songwriting and the production on these albums is just absolutely brilliant. Plus the harmonies and the backing band. Just great.

These are songs you can listen to again and again.

The reason I bought it was I had recently picked up a copy of some other disguised Beach Boys record at a second-hand shop. I was amazed how good the album tracks were on that one and finding Beach Boys cheap everywhere ( and there were lots) I began to amass a collection. Pet Sounds is by far the best. And I guess the world agrees because it always ends up near the top of best of all time Records.

But how could it not with tracks like God Only Knows and Wouldn't It Be Nice? My particular favourite is Caroline No. I first heard that as a solo Brian Wilson single I found in our neighbours stash of old records he was chucking out. This was Graeme Boyd who worked at 3AK. I managed to score some great stuff. He had cupboards full.

One Step Beyond by Madness 1979

If anything it would be the countless times we did the nutty walk. The fun we Mods had.
I was in the UK when this record and the Specials debut were everywhere. Top of The Pops seemed to be full of these ska bands. The Mod bands weren't getting anywhere near the same exposure. It was all ska. One Step Beyond was like a giant party album. You put the record on the first track and then you were off. Skanking around the living room. And considering how small my flat in Fitzroy was you'd be knocking over lamps and tables.
We'd play Night Train and One Step Beyond at Kommotion and the crowd would go absolutely nutty. These songs couldn't help but bring a smile to your face just the way people reacted. My particular favourite was My Girl which I first heard on TOTP and was my introduction to Madness. Great tune and they had a few.
Back in Melbourne ska was starting to take off in 1980. At the Batcave they opened a new night called the Bluebeat Club. Bands like Strange Tennants and No Nonsense played. They got quite big really quick. And you could see why. The gigs were just fun. As Ripley Holden in the series Blackpool says to a friend suffering in hospital as he plays a ska song to cheer him up. "There's nothing ska can't fix!"
I sang with the Sets at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney a few years back at a celebration of the Eighties. (and in particular Mod)  The Allnighters were on too. Ska has still got it. Couldn't stop smiling all through their set.

Brewing Up With Billy Bragg 1984

Of all the international acts I've seen Billy Bragg would have to be the one I've seen most. The first time I saw him was at the National Theatre in St. Kilda. Just him and an electric guitar. It was marvellous. A year later I saw him at some beach pub in Sydney when again he was solo and this gig still remains the top one for me. Maybe because I wasn't on home turf. Maybe because our names  were supposed to be on the door and they weren't so we had to frantically call the acquaintance in Melbourne who promised us (big in radio) and get him to ring the management. But we did it. And he was just great. Never thought he captured the same magic when he brought out a band though.

It was also about the stories told on stage too. Probably the best raconteur since Bruce Springsteen. The stories were almost as good the songs. Almost. With the band the stories were slightly curtailed. actually one year I saw him two nights in a row and I couldn't believe it was quite scripted because he came out with all the same stories.

After the Spy versus Spy EP I was eager for this album to come out and it didn't disappoint.  " It Says Here" comes over like a micro Clash. A band he alluded to on stage when discussing his style. But it's some of the slower numbers that got me. St. Swithin's Day and The Saturday Boy have that English melancholy feel. But so raw with just that electric guitar.

Talk, Talk, Talk by The Psychedelic Furs 1981

1981 and we were going out almost every night of the week. Maybe not Monday but definitely Tuesday's onward starting with some underground club in the city where they played a lot of early Stevie Wonder. I was gigging with the band most weekends and hitting the clubs other nights. Mod clubs and more commercial ones like Inflation and The Underground.
This album was like the soundtrack to going out. A great big wall of sound leading off with the perennial favourite "Pretty In Pink" and then all these wild discordant sounds with Richard Butler coming across like a cross between Bowie, Rotten and Steve Harley. And though Pretty in Pink was the big single the track we begged them to play at the Underground was "Into You Like A Train" which was a storming rewrite of Dylan's "All I wanna do". When they played it only me and James danced to it.
It was a hot summer. We'd walk home in the early hours of the morning through a city that wasn't even awake yet. Just the street cleaners patrolling the streets. Some days I would have about one hours sleep before going off to work. Sometimes it was too hard to get the eyeliner off your face so I'd walk in looking pretty ghoulish and all Day of The Dead. They were the bad days when all you wanted to do was get back home and lay on the couch. I was driving a Mazda with the most comfortable seat covers ever at the time. I can't believe I made it home cos as soon as I sat in those bucket seats I was almost off to neverland before I even started.
The clubbing didn't last long. Winter came and Little Murders started playing 4 or 5 times a week and rehearsing more and really club life...  it was messing me up. And the Furs got really commercial but I did get to see them live at the Prospect Hill Hotel. The guitarist was a little out of shape and the sound was a mess. But that was The Furs. Brilliant!

Leonard Cohen Greatest Hits 1975

I first heard Suzanne by Leonard Cohen in an Austin Morris 1100 with a great sound system. It was in the car park out the back of Blackburn Church of Christ. Me and DJ Parker were listening to Leonard Cohen and Moody Blues and sneaking ciggies in his big brother's car. Talking about girls and music.

 The song"Suzanne" really got to me. Probably because I was going through a church thing in 1975 and exploring religion and Suzanne was a big hit with teen Christians.

I went out and bought the album at K-Mart in Burwood. $5:99. Not bad price. Had to be careful though because a couple of years earlier I'd been banned from the shop for shoplifting. Not that I was particularly guilty of it. The girl I was with thought it would be fun to put one of their Cadbury chocolate bars in my bag. I guess I was framed.

 No worries though and got the record home alright. So I sat in my room and listening to the low tones of Leonard. Song after song was just great. I think The Partisan was the first one I really dug but they were all great. I thought they would have made great pop songs too. 

I was starting to have a strange balance of music. I was writing songs in 75. My two big influences would have been Leonard Cohen after this record and Electric Light Orchestra. So I was writing lovely poppy tunes with titles like "Death of a Hong Kong Prostitute" and "Now I'm On My Own". Cheery stuff like that. It probably didn't help listening to Doctors of Madness on the side.

Never get sick of this batch of songs though. really never!

Doolittle by the Pixies 1989

I was DJing at KAOS in North Melbourne. A disco that used to be Therapy but was now part of Ronny and Michael's expanding empire. Ronny came in one night with a bunch of singles he'd had recommended to him at the Mighty Music machine. To help bring the night up to speed with modern stuff. One single was Here Comes Your Man by The Pixies. The smallish crowd loved it. I loved it. Little did I know I would be playing that song for the next 14 years and more. 

After a few weeks and one Smiths special, I came home from a holiday in Thailand and found KAOS was closed,  At the same time SHOUT! my Thursday night gig was closed, and because the numbers had gone way down at Rubber Soul they were letting me go. I had left on holiday with plenty of DJ gigs and came back to nothing. 

When Ronny and Michael had opened KAOS they had let one of the regular punters Jason W take over Beehive. Luckily Jason, the guy who had taken over Beehive was about to expand himself. He was doing a Friday at the Union Hotel and wondered if I wanted to do the Saturday. Have some Abba specials. I said sure and started the Lizard. The rest as they say is history. The Lizard was a brilliant 11 years.
The Pixies Doolittle is a prime Lizard Lounge album. We played so many tracks off it so regularly because the crowd loved them. Everyone loved the Pixies. Everyone still loves them. And this is their moment on vinyl and CD. With this album and Surfer Rosa, they created something new and amazing. And pop songs too as anyone who had joined in the singalong to This Monkey's gone to Heaven.
A few years back I got to see them live at the Myer Music Bowl. And then at the Margaret Court Arean. And they were great singalongs. But this time with thousands of people. And it was just fantastic.

The Best of The Easybeats 1975

I bought two best of the Easybeats at the same time. Volume 1 and Volume 2 on Drum records which was a cheap label. I really just wanted Friday on My Mind which was an absolute killer song. What I didn't realise was how many great songs this band had. She's So Fine, Sorry, I'll Make You Happy ..tons of really great and classic songs. I couldn't believe they only had one hit single in the UK. Wasn't anybody listening? It made me painfully aware that it wasn't just about the songs. But hey..the image was great as well. so what was the problem? That they came from Australia. I still can't get over how many amazing Australian songs should have been worldwide smashes but ended up very local or cult.
Anyway, I found the accompanying sheet music and started playing the guitar along with them. It wasn't long before we added I'll Make You Happy to the Little Murders song list. I would have also put in Sorry or Wedding Ring, there was just so many. And at the end of the 70s, every Australian band seemed to be covering their songs.
The Easybeats always seem to remind me of both Nunawading Hostel, the first place in Australia we stayed when I migrated here. Easybeats were the band on everyone's lips. And they always make me think of my brother John. My image of him in the sixties seems to tie in with Stevie Wright. Did he have the albums? I'd like to think so but I don't remember any record players at the hostel.

Gossip by Paul Kelly 1986

The first time I became aware of Paul Kelly was when I kept seeing his band the Dots playing a few of the same places we played in Melbourne. Then he had this funny old hit called "Billy Baxter" and kept turning up on Hey Hey It's Saturday when it was a morning show. Then I would bump into him at a friend of ours, Mandy's house in Caulfield when she had regular get togethers. I really liked his early stuff. One night he even came round my place and borrowed my acoustic guitar cos it had an electric pick up. We even had the same manager for a month.
When Rod decided to leave the Murders in 1984 our first choice of a new guitarist was Steve Connelly but we were told that the Dots had split and Steve (who used to be in the Cuban Heels with our bass player Chris) was going off to Sydney with him. And although Mick Barclay (our drummer) got us a under Uncanny X-Men's management he was soon off to join Paul Kelly for the Post album. Weirdly, I then ended up with two of Paul Kelly's band in Little Murders. Tim Brosnan. (which allowed me to cover Alive and Well) and Greg Martin (from the Bushwackers) That final line up only played 3 gigs.
None of this takes away from this fine album Paul Kelly released in 1986. A double no less. I bought it from a record shop just next to South Yarra Station. A record shop I spent a lot of time in but whose name escapes me. I was hesistant to buy a double album but I knew he was a great songwriter teamed with a great band. In those days we took the chance. No Spotify to pre listen to. I wasn't disappointed. The album was exploding with great songs. 

When a few of the songs came on the radio as pop songs with their accompanying video it was weird seeing Mick (promotion to first division rock star indeed) in the film clips but I went to the shows and it was all good. Kelly wrote some absolutely ripper pop songs on this and subsequent albums with the Coloured Girls. And the shows were great too.

Purple Rain by Prince 1984

One night a bunch us of went to see Purple Rain. Wasn’t expecting much though I did like a few of his songs like 1999. But even though it was some ways preposterous, I mean turning up for a gig on a motorbike with your guitar (no case!) on your back! Yeah right! But I remember sitting there mesmerized by some of the concert sequences. Prince was utterly brilliant. At some points lubricated by a cask of wine passed between us we jumped up and danced. Well some of the others did anyway.

Afterwards I couldn’t wait to go and get the album. I was living at the top of a block of flats in Murphy Street South Yarra. Three flights up with a balcony which overlooked the city when the trees weren’t green. Lots of windows. Pretty cool. The kitchen was basically a cupboard but I never cooked anyway. I’d play this album at home a lot. It was the album to put on when friends dropped round. Tracks like When Doves Cry were just mind blowing. 

Then I made a copy for my Fiat 128, My mate Chris had helped me put in a brilliant sound system so I had Prince pumping out as I drove than Toorak Road. Could never stop the car in hot weather though because it would never start up again for at least an hour later. Something to do with the carburetor.

Band on the Run by Wings 1973

After the Beatles split up Paul got a good going over in the press by John Lennon. Next to the seriousness of John’s songs Paul’s were very lightweight ditties. The worst-case being Bip Bop of Wildlife. That song drove me nuts. However, I always thought McCartney and Ram were great albums. The first two Wings albums didn’t do anything for me.

When I went to England in 74 my cousin Neil only seemed to play only two albums. Bridge over Troubled Water and this. He’d come home from work at lunch and put on one of these two. While we ate Cheese and Onion pie Aunt Sheila had left in the oven.

So I soon found myself liking particular songs. The Lennonesque “Let Me Roll It” was the first one I went mad over. Band on The Run, Jet, Mrs. Vanderbilt..the album started to grow on me. (Strangely the UK version of the album was shorter missing Helen Wheels..never understood that because the lyrics seem to be about the characters on the album)

Back in Australia, the album was all over the radio. It was inescapable. So I avoided listening to it. But as years go by I’ve kept coming back to this album. Yeah, a lot of the words are rubbish but McCartney always had a habit of choosing words that just sounded good, but overall Band On The Run just seems to have that magic that withstands repeated listening. And Let Me Roll It is the best John Lennon song he never recorded. And it’s even better played on the car stereo!

Substance by New Order 1987

I was shopping for records in Prahran one Saturday morning in the mid-eighties when I heard this amazing sound coming out of the shop speakers. I couldn't believe how good it sounded. I couldn't believe it was New Order. I hadn't been paying much attention since Temptation other than thinking Blue Monday was a blinder and Confusion was rubbish but the track they were playing had me spellbound. The track was Perfect Kiss. When I asked the name of the track the girl at the counter also put on Subculture. I was sold. But I decided to buy the normal album instead. Loved the albums, got all of them but it was those 12 inches that grabbed me so when Substance came out I went for it.
The sound of New Order was made for the nightclub and though I played a few at Beehive and Kaos it was the Lizard lounge where I really pounded them out. Bizzare Love Triangle was the top one but I had to be careful since Dan might play the shortened version before I got a chance.
But it was also an album I could play at home. The only trouble was girlfriends of mine didn't really get into it. (and don't even mention my liking for the Pet Shop Boys) So most the time it was in the car especially later when I picked it up on CD. For a while there I had a convertible. And what a blast it was to travel around with New Order blasting out. Driving down Acland Street. Of course, when I see people do that now I gather they must be wankers. But then they don't play New Order do they?

The used tickets to New Order at the Myer Music Bowl from earlier this year turned up the other day. What an amazing gig that was. The version of Temptation at the end was spellbinding. The crowd knew the world was about to change and came for one last hurrah before everything went into lockdown. 

Stardust OST 1974

 
While I was in Blackpool, England Xmas 1974 the film Stardust came out. A week after I got there I had been to see That'll Be The Day the first David Essex movie because I'd heard so much about it but never got to see it in Australia. I doubt it was even released widely. Great film. But Stardust looked even better. David Essex was now a huge star. The film's opening night in Blackpool was at the biggest cinema and everyone was going. All the people I'd met at the dance clubs and ice skating. I even had a girlfriend Suzanne. She was into Bowie and thought the latest Queen single was crap. She had a theory that every second song they put out was rubbish. This one was Killer Queen. And she only liked songs that faded. She liked me and Phil Green but I was first to ask her out. This was a new world for me. Sitting on a double decker bus holding hands. Going to the pictures. We'd meet at the bus station. Just like in all those English films I watched.
Film was great. So the next day I went down to WH Smith and bought the soundtrack. This was like the history of sixties music on one album. I didn't really own much sixties stuff except of course the big ones so this introduced me to singles. "She's Not There" by The Zombies..Summer In The City and so much more.  From then on I'd be searching out sixties records wherever I went. My copy is pretty worn out. It's one of my albums that served time at the Rubber Soul.

In The City by The Jam 1977

Only 32 minutes long but enough to kick start all those ideas floating in my head and get them out there. NME was always banging on about the new groups but it was the review of The Jam live that really got my attention. Superlatives not needed, a faster Dr. Feelgood, a cooler Eddie and The Hot Rods..children of the Who.I couldn't wait to hear this record. I kept checking down the record shop for it to come out. Then it was in my hands. And what a blast it was. Those guitars. That drumming. The Who DNA. Art School, I Got By In Time and Away From The Numbers. This is the kind of music I wanted to make. Well, this and The Clash combined.
I was living at my brother Tony's house in Blackburn. My mum had gone back to the UK so I was a bit alone. I had borrowed my mate's huge portable tape deck/sound system he'd bought in Thailand. I put the speakers on the mics and recorded the Jam onto a cassette for my car. automatic levels on the mics made the sound even more dynamic and hot for the car stereo. And with the music that was coming out in 77 how could anyone feel alone. I had a guitar anyway.
Not long after we were wearing skinny black ties and op shop suits. The seeds of the new Mod had been planted.

Station To Station by David Bowie 1976

Basically, by 76 I was sick of Bowie. I didn't like most of the Young Americans album and neither did I like the David Live album. Going back to stuff like Pin-Ups and Diamond Dogs the albums now came across as unfinished or quickly put together. Especially Diamond Dogs. So after many years of Bowie fandom, I decided not to buy the new Bowie album. Golden Years the single they played was more plastic soul. No thanks!
Then it turns up at the Brashes regular sale for 2.99. So I bought it. Actually, I bought Dr Feelgood first album the same day for 1.99. Anyway, I listened to the Feelgood's first. That was great and hearing the clean sound of Wilko made me want to practice the guitar. 
But Station to Station was something else altogether. I couldn't believe no one had told me how good this was. Word on A Wing and TVC15, Wild is The Wind and Station to Station. Great song after great song. Even Golden years made a lot more sense in the context of the album.
Then he came and played the MCG. The Thin White Duke. We got seats right near the front. The Boys Next Door were closer and they milled around the front of the stage before the show began. Nick Cave waiting for his hero. The Angels opened and they were pretty good. Very minimalist with their guitars. Never a big fan at the time I enjoyed their set and their music has grown on me over the last few years.

Bowie came out and the heavens opened. The rain just poured down. Fans were shouting at each other to put down the umbrellas so they could see Bowie. I stood there wishing he had come sooner and played Ziggy Stardust. but still loving the fact that I was seeing David Bowie at last. The concert was brilliant and my clothes were ruined. This great cord jacket I loved shrank. My boots were destroyed by the MCG pitch. Getting home was cold and miserable.
By the time I got home to Oakleigh, I never felt so happy to get into pyjamas and into a warm bed. Went to sleep with a smile on my face. I saw David Bowie live at last.

Every Picture tells A Story by Rod Stewart 1971

In 1971 there was no one bigger than Rod Stewart when this album came out. I'd already read in Go-Set how he had the number one album and single (Maggie May) in both the US and the UK. How he was one of the new bunch of songwriters coming through at the time. So I was dying to hear his record and it didn't disappoint. Firstly I heard Maggie May. I was at the back of Inala Village delivering medicines to old people on my Chemist Round. My transistor radio glued to my ear. Then I guess it would be played every hour.
I ordered the album through the record club and had to wait agonising weeks before it arrived. But when it arrived ...straight on the record player and what a brilliant opener..no chorus just a straight-ahead rocking journey with Rod around the world. This song still remains exciting 40 years later. Then you've got the quieter moments. The acoustic stuff. Bob Dylan songs. By side two I'm looking in Mum's wardrobe for a tartan scarf.
I think it was also my first gatefold sleeve. It was brilliant to open up the cover and just find more and more stuff to look at while you listened to the album. The cover was kept near at hand while solidly listening.
Later on a youth camp, I would mime to "Know I'm Losing You". I would hold the stand just like Rod on the cover. And I would walk into the crowd and touch the hands of my fans. Well, the other kids there. While the band mimed away behind me. We called ourselves Flashco.
This album led me into the glorious world of the Faces. Went to see them at the Myer Music Bowl. With no tickets, we just sat outside the fence. Near the end, they let everyone in. So we entered the gig to all these soccer balls flying through the air as Rod kicked them off stage. Magic!