I'm Stranded was an adrenaline rush of a single but I never rated the first album very highly at the time. I was more into the sounds of the Clash & the Jam. In hindsight, I can appreciate it a lot more now. However, Eternally Yours was a blinder from its first song. This Perfect Day. But even that didn't prepare me for the sonic brilliance of Know Your Product. And the horns!
I first heard The Saints just outside the Balwyn Swimming pool in 77. The DJ was talking about an Australian band that had been picked up by EMI UK as a punk band. I pulled the car over to listen. The record was Stranded and it was brilliant.
We heard they were going to play a short tour of Melbourne before leaving for England. So we went to see them at Martini's in Carlton which was kind of a hotel/ pizza parlour that had bands on. There were only about 15 people there. The only person I recognized was David Pepperoll who owned Archie and Jughead’s Record Shop which later became Missing Link.
When the Saints came on Chris Bailey refused to go anywhere near the front of the stage preferring to keep himself behind the huge PA speakers. The sound was great but of course, there was not much action onstage. Pepperoll kept calling out for Chris Bailey to come out. He never did.
After the show, the band talked to us. They made it plain that they couldn’t wait to get out of this country.
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