Live by Bob Marley and the Wailers 1975

 I was living at my brother Tony's place in Blackburn South in 1977. My mum had gone back to the UK to live and Tony and his wife Carol let me live at their place. My brother had a great record player. A Marantz with these huge speakers. Really it made everything sound good. Late evenings we would have supper which was our custom and always included toast. Tony would toast two pieces of bread together to make his own thick sliced. With lots of butter. He would put a record on. More often than not something I didn''t really want to listen to. It didn't matter. It was cool hanging out.

One night my mate Chris Hunter came around with the Bob Marley Live! album and some funny smelling cigarettes. Everyone was bringing these cigarettes back from Bali and his girlfriend had done the same. Didn't taste them . The smell put me off. Chris asked to put the record on the Marantz. This was my introduction to Bob Marley. One good thing about music. When it hits you you feel no pain. 

I had never heard anything like it. I was completely immersed in the sounds. They just jumped off the record. This record became my early evening Saturday night soundtrack. I would listen to it before I went to gigs. I quickly copied it onto cassette and we would pile into the Volkswagen Beetle and head into the city with Marley blasting out of the speakers. It would be playing as we returned home in the first light of morning. It was all we had until the punk albums starting turning up. The Clash. The Jam. But for a time Bob Marley and reggae was the sound of my 77.

Drop Out With The Barracudas 1981

 "I Wish It Could Be 1965 Again!" Because for a while there we did! Wish it was 65 or 66 or 67. Well, anything but 1980 it seems. The Mod movement in Melbourne was starting to move along with scooters appearing fast and furious. Especially when the South Melbourne council decided to sell off all their Rabbit scooters that were scooped up by several Mods who couldn't afford or get their hands on a Lambretta or a Vespa. We looked for sixties suits and shoes in Charity Shops at a time when they were full of cool stuff. I was dressed totally in second-hand clothes. Where else could you get button-down shirts?

We were listening to soul and ska and the new Mod bands from the UK. My band had morphed from a  pop punk band into a Mod band without bothering to change our name.

And with the action starting to gather speed, this record came out. For some, it was just a joke. Which was not helped by the horrible front cover. Luckily on the back, they looked cool. But for a few of us, it was a party record summing up our new strange experience of digging up the past. In retrospect, it fits more into the scene about to happen with the paisley brigade of the early eighties and bands like the Hoodoo Gurus. But I loved this album It was a three-minute of everything cool about the sixties. California style.

I loved this record. It is jam-packed with great songs. 

One weekend a few years back I bought a surfboard at a garage sale. Maybe my band should do a similar pose to the cover.

Propaganda by Sparks 1974

 I first heard Sparks "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us' driving along Surrey Road in Blackburn in 1974. I was in the back seat and I implored the driver to turn it up. It sounded amazing. I had already read about them. Roxy Music's little brothers I think they were coined as in NME. Or Roxy on helium. Whatever it was I had to to have it and duly bought Kimono My House. Which I liked but didn't love at the time. It was jostling with other records for my attention.

At the end of 74 I went back to the UK and the first thing I saw on television was Sparks performing "Something For The Girl With Everything' off their new album Propaganda. Russell was wearing gloves and a Christmas jumper. Ron looked like Hitler behind the keyboards. The sound popped right out of the TV. 

A little while later I was at WH Smith. The newsagents but also a record store. There was a massive record sale. The whole upstairs was full of records. Even recent hit albums at great prices. I couldn't believe that Propaganda was amongst them so even though I had only heard the one track I bought the album. 

In the UK winter of 74 and 75 I lived at my Aunt Sheila's house. Most days I was alone in the house until my cousin Neil came home at lunch and played Band on The Run or Simon and Garfunkel's greatest hits before going back to work. So a lot of the time I sat, read books and wrote letters and listened to Propaganda. Start to finish and without skipping tracks. Trying to sing along. Often hurting my throat with the high notes.

45 years later I'm in a venue in Tokyo with Sparks on stage and Russell sings ""Hello soldier boy," oh boy, she's spewing out her Propaganda" And a chill runs up my spine. Absolutely brilliant!

Moon Safari by Air 1998

 In 1998 I was open to all kinds of music. The first release on my record label was a trip hop album by my friends in Bloom. They had played me the demo tapes of the music and I was knocked out by the songs and the sounds they were making and it gave me the impetus to kick-start the label. So while I was still firmly entrenched in loud sixties alternative indie type music I had a leaning towards and a soft spot for dance music. I was running the Lizard lounge which played all kinds of pop music. If it had a good tune and a beat I was into it.

And at the start of 1998 we started hearing about this French band called Air that were striking out in a somewhat different direction. And the names of Burt Bacharach and Serge Gainsbourg came up. And of all people. Little Murders ex and future drummer Mick Barclay told me about this groovy band from France. It was the name on everyones lips that summer so much so that I went down to Mighty Music Machine in Prahran to score myself a copy only to be told they had got a shipment in and had sold out but were expecting another shipment the following week. I couldn't find it anywhere else so I just had to wait.

A few weeks later it was in and I picked up the CD. For waiting the owner also gave me a massive Pulp "This is Hardcore" poster that was too big for him to display. It's now on my kitchen wall. And in retrospect the music of that Pulp album and Moon Safari fitted well. As the summer of early 98 came to a close. the Air album was a constant on my CD player filling up the spaces of my house in Elwood. Early evenings and Stolleys vodka and a French band in the background. Brilliant.

New Wave by Various Artists 1977

 In 1977 it seemed like I was rebuilding my record collection from scratch. While I was quick to buy the first Damned album and just about anything punk my shelves were still crowded with a lot of records I didn't want to listen to anymore. Bowie, New York Dolls and Lou Reed/ Velvet Underground fitted in well but not a lot more. The sixties kind of fitted in but a lot of my records were more the commercial pop bands like the Searchers  although The Troggs had their place.

So a compilation record like this was really welcome. A few of the songs I had heard about but never seen down the record shop. I discovered Mystery Girls from the second Dolls album. Sonic Reducer by the Dead Boys. Talking Heads, Even The Runaways Cherry Bomb made a lot more sense in the context of this bunch of tracks. And best of all it had the song Shake Some Action which I begun hearing down the Tiger Room when the Keith Glass Band would play it on Wednesday nights. Me and my mates would be down the Tiger Room (or was it Tiger Lounge) every Wednesday night to hear Keith's band and to see which punk/ new wave band he would have support him. JAB, The Boys Next Door and more. Just fantastic nights.

As for the album, of course there were one or two clunkers but they didn't detract at all from my listening pleasure. And although this might have been one of the first compilations I ever bought it might be responsible for the dozens of other comps I have bought over the years. I just love compilation albums. I might often start a search now in the various artists second of the record bins.

The B-52s by The B-52s 1979

 In January 1980 I was in Paris, France with Leonie, my girlfriend at the time and we were wandering the streets after dinner taking in the cold night air as you do. It was early evening and as we passed a record shop down tucked into one of narrow streets this strange music came bouncing off the walls. It was other worldly but definitely pop music. But of a different kind. It reminded of Roxy Music and Yoko Ono all at once.  

More importantly I thought I had found a French band. Which would be exciting. To take back to Australia something no one had heard yet from a slightly exotic country. It was exciting buying the Specials debut in a French department store the day previously but this topped that. In the record store the man behind the counter explained that they were an American band and the album was fabulous but he was playing his very own copy. They had no more. Sold out. So I left Paris without the B-52s.

I didn't matter because when I got back to Australia they had just started playing Rock Lobster on the radio and the B-52s were about to become a hit making machine.

On my first visit to Missing Link Records when I was back in Melbourne I saw they had  the B-52s record in their racks, The cover just jumped out. Great I could buy it here, I was in Missing Link to see Bruce from Au Go Go. A UK distributor called Stage One were starting a record label and wanted to put the first Little Murders single out as their debut release. I was at the counter when Nick Cave came over to me and started asking me questions about the UK. Which surprised me since even though my bands had played a number of times with the Boys Next Door I had hardly spoken to him at all. But he really wanted to know what was going on in London. I said there weren't too many exciting bands around playing live. And a lot of the venues are quite small.
At the time I didn't know they were planning to move over there. 

Got so caught up talking to Nick and then Bruce that I walked out of the shop without the B-52s record. I didn't get it for another few months because Rock Lobster was everywhere. I couldn't listen to that track any more. Then I picked it up second hand. And it was brilliant even if I had to lift the needle over Rock Lobster.

Reckless by The Sports 1978

 In 1977  my friends and I would go to a lot of Sports gigs. This was the closest we could get to the scene that was happening in the UK even though it wasn't punk music. But they had got a brilliant review in the NME. Single of the week no less. And we all bought the 7 inch EP. This was our Melbourne band. 

Seemingly led by Steve Cummins by the fact he was the singer their star continued to shine as 1978 appeared. And they seemed to give support to the leading lights of the new wave in the Boys Next Door. The Sports/ Boys Next Door nights were the highlights of our gig going in 78. One gig at the Collingwood Town Hall with both bands playing stands out in particular. Probably the first time I went to Collingwood. And when Sports brought out their debut album we all went and bought it. because we were listening to Graham Parker and Elvis Costello as well a full-on punk like the Clash there seemed to be room for everything now. 

It kicked off with the "Boys (What Did The Detective Say?)" single. (Oddly enough Elvis Costello released "Watching The Detectives " at the same time) The song was a very Melbourne song that we could easily identify with the lyrics. From then on it was a trip from Russell Street to Richmond and Carlton and around the city. Steve may not have mentioned the places directly in the songs but it all just felt inner city Melbourne. Listening to this album now brings up great memories of great venues of the past. Martinis in Carlton which was also a pizza place. the Kingston Hotel and walking down the stairs to the main room (seeing Graham Parker leaning on the wall watching the band) and the Station Hotel. Straight off the train and into the bar.

Candles in the Wind by Melanie 1970

 In 1970 this was stuck to my turntable. It was the single Lay Down that hit the radio that year which introduced us to Melanie. One word name in a time when singers didn't have one-word names. I was particularly attracted to her voice. Powerful at times but then fragile in the quieter moments. It was just different to other female voices I had heard.

So I bought the album and played it to death. It was 1970. The era of the singer-songwriter. I was living in Blackburn South but just started hanging out over across Middlesborough Road in Box Hill North. There was a friend from school called Paul True who played the guitar. I was in awe as he seemed to be able to play anything. The girls he hung out with were particularly enamoured by his version of Alexander Beetle from this record. He refused to play it for me though. He'd moved on. 

His dream was to play Festival Hall. I hope he got there. Little Murders almost got there. On a bill with Uncanny X-Men. But then the sponsors (Coca-Cola I think) didn't like the idea of having an independent band on the bill. They wanted bands on labels. That's when I realised playing Festival Hall might be my dream too. Too late now I guess unless I join the Church of Hillsong.

I lost interest in Melanie after this album. Glam rock swept a lot of this away. But she did hit the radio again with Brand New Key which I loved. And then when on my first live appearance I performed on Radio Auditions and with my girl-led trio Feathers singing a song called "Helpless Sparrow" won that night our prize was a bunch of singles. All rubbish except one was a Melanie single. Not very good but the flip side was a cover of a Jim Croce song which intrigued me because for a while there I liked Jim Croce too. The song was called Lovers Cross. And it was brilliant.

End Of The Century by The Ramones 1980

 Danny Says by the Ramones happened to be the first thing I heard off this album. I was around at Stuart Beatty's house and we were discussing what the sound of the next single might be like. He played "Danny Says" by The Ramones. Wait for the guitars to come in! Then we talked about how we were going to record "She Lets Me Know" We were looking for that power.

Until then I couldn't say I was listening to the Ramones much after 4 albums of punk rock guitar music. But this sounded different to their usual fare. And then I heard Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio. And I loved it. It just worked. I had missed the album on first release and it was hard to find a copy hut by chance I found a second-hand copy in an Op Shop. Glenhumtly Road. Elsternwick. This shop seemed to get a lot of almost new copies of new wave albums. Reviewers who just got rid of them. Or just one reviewer. You had to be quick though.

I spent a lot of time listening to the album. I was in transit from a share house in Oakleigh to a share house in Wellington Street Collingwood. Just up from the Tote. Which was still called the Ivanhoe Hotel then. 

I lived upstairs in a small room with a great stereo system. One wall had a bed and the other a stack of records. Downstairs we still competed for the stereo system to play our favourite songs. Often we would give up and just leave RRR on. 

Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen 1984

 In 1984 we were all getting a little sophisticated. I had finally got myself off the ground-level flats and up to the top floor in Murphy Street, South Yarra. Top floor apartments and views of the city (well I could almost see it from one part of the balcony) meant playing punk rock and Mod really didn't cut it. So it was time for the Bladerunner soundtrack and Echo and the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain with a little Jacque Brel thrown in. And a bit of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. 

Like a few other records, this one had one side that got the most airplay. In this case side 2 kicks off with the magnificent "The Killing Moon" and then just creates its own world from there. One I was happy to go to.  Spend early evenings indoors with the window to the balcony open. Later I might meet friends down on Toorak Road usually for Italian food at places like Portofino (which is probably the only restaurant name I remember)  Macys was at the bottom of my street and Little Murders played there now and again. Other times I would go down and see some great bands there. Looking at some of those handbills I can't believe how good some of the bands were. For heavens sake, The Cure playing at the bottom of my street. 

Eventually, the money ran out and they upped the rent so  I tried out a shared apartment with a teacher friend. Didn't work. I guess my control of the stereo was too much. 

Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub 1995

 There used to be a record shop down Moorabinn way called Vinyl Solution. Run by Glenn Evans and packed the ceiling with great records which is why after getting the record bug once more I would be down almost once a week. That's when this side of town had some great record shops. Vinyl Solution, Licorice Pie, Quality Records, Vicious Sloth and Greville Records. Sadly 3 of those have gone. Though I do love the new Licorice Pie space over in Collingwood.

Vinyl Solution would email a list of just in second-hand records once a week which I would hang out for. One week Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub was on the list. This was one of those holy grail records that I had to have. Far too expensive on Discogs especially when the postage kicked in I immediately bought it off the website. I was so excited I rang Glenn to make sure my order went through. He said I could pick it up Saturday. I said I would be over after work. Then the rains came down. Peak traffic on Nepean Highway. Could hardly see past the windshield. I just couldn't wait to actually hold it never mind play it. I guess I was being a bit irrational. 

Grand Prix was an album I didn't pay much attention to until after I heard Songs From Northern Britain. So I didn't know at the time how good it really was. And it's a ripper. About You, Sparky's Dream. When you play the first side it's hard to turn the record over because you just want to hear it again. Brilliant.

And it's still exciting looking through records and finding something you always wanted or may not know you wanted. A few days ago a friend and I went over to the North record shopping. I came home with Jonathan Sings by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Love it.

Deja Vu by Crosby Stills Nash & Young 1970

 In 1970 I was doing a chemist round where I dropped off medicines and other things at people's houses. Sometimes I even had to carry big packs of nappies on the back of my bike. My other job was burning stuff in the incinerator out the back of the shop. This was good because I could listen to my transistor radio as I burned stuff. This is where I first started hearing songs from Crosby Stills and Nash who were all over the radio the previous year with Marakesh Express. But the track everyone talked about was Suite Baby Blue Eyes. A small epic. This is what pointed to the future of rock. They said. And then they added Neil Young to the mix.

So it was with great excitement we waited for the new album CSN & Y album. And when it was released it went straight to the top of the charts. And straight onto the turntables of just about everyone I knew. Even our English teacher at school brought the record in to play us Teach Your Children so we could discuss the lyrics. I had to have it but had that laborious wait after ordering it from the Australian Record Club. I think I bought it with the equally popular Sweet Baby James album by James Taylor. When it finally arrived I would sit listening to it in the spare bedroom while incense filled the air (Another new thing for me) Great album although I always lifted the needle when Almost Cut My Hair came on skipping to the next track,  In the end, I was drawn to the Neil Young tracks more and more especially Helpless. Gradually talk at school was about Neil Young and an album he put out called After The Goldrush. But then someone brought Everybody Knows This is Nowhere to school and blew our teenage minds. All these albums mixed in together to create that American vibe which kind of summed up 1970 for me.

I must admit though that I hadn't listened to the album since then. Though some of the tracks overstayed their welcome on the radio listening to the album once more it sounds quite amazing. They said it took 800 hours to make and with the attention to detail one could almost believe it. 

Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival 1970

 So I was in Form 3 (Year 9) at Box Hill High School hanging out by the taps in the Quadrangle when the windows of the Art Room on the second storey were opened by a bunch of older kids and then large speakers were placed on the ledge. The distinctive thud of the stylus hitting the vinyl and suddenly the schoolyard was filled with the screaming guitar of John Fogerty, Up Around The Bend. And so I was really introduced to the mighty sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

With the end of the Beatles Creedence kind of became the biggest band in the world for a short while. Well according to GO-SET. But indeed Cosmos Factory was everywhere in 1970. I knew they'd been around for a while. My big brother Tony would play Susie Q on his Marantz stereo real loud. He was living across the road from our house and those early Creedence albums were never far from the turntable. 

But Cosmos was another thing altogether. What you might call a crossover hit. Their fifth album in 2 years. The radio would play the whole 11-minute version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" My brother Steven would tell me how that was the time it took him to drive to his girlfriend's house. Door to door Grapevine on the radio.

A brilliant album that rounded off the sixties. A massive party album. And with songs like "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Run Through The Jungle" not to mention that track that blasted the kids eating lunch at my old school, truly a classic album.

Parklife by Blur 1994

 In 1994 the Lizard Lounge was packing them in on both Thursday nights and on Saturday nights. Friday nights was certainly growing. The biggest groups were still the Smiths, The Stone Roses and the Pixies. But the music hadn't really changed too much since Nirvana released Smells Like Team Spirit. 

Then we heard this song called Boys and Girls from Blur. We had been playing their previous hit There's No Other Way but this was a whole new kettle of fish. Bright and poppy and with something of a disco groove. This was the beginning of the Britpop invasion. Just that opening few notes and the dance floor would be packed. Where the dance music before was touched by a hint of miserabilism now it was a thing of joy. Or maybe we couldn't appreciate the irony in the lyrics. 

The Parklife album became the new soundtrack to the mid-nineties which was full of colour, men's magazines and the Union Jack becoming fashionable once more. And using Phil Daniels from the Quadropheia film in the Parklife video was a great link to the Mod sixties and seventies. Of course, all this appealed to me because f the very Sixties London Swinging vibe that coloured the whole thing. This was an exciting scene and soon we had more bands like Supergrass, Sleeper and probably the best of them all Pulp. 

Britpop. A great time was had by all.

Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield 1973

 I was setting up a turntable the other day and looking for something to play in a bunch of old records and pulled this out. Talk about being transmitted back in time.

Back in 1973 I had taken over the biggest room in the house and turned it into my bedroom and a hangout. The walls were plastered with posters. The bulbs in all the light fittings had been replaced by coloured ones. I would come home from school and play records, read comics and just hang out. On Sunday nights I would catch the album show on the radio. One night they played the first side of Tubular Bells. I was transfixed. Just laid on the bed and closed my eyes and listened. Then Viv Stanshall said those two words. "Grand Piano" and it kind of blew my teenage mind.

The radio started playing the last side of side one a lot and you would hear Tubular Bells a lot. Especially when the movie "The Exorcist" was released as they used parts of Tubular Bells as the soundtrack. The Exorcist was also massive at the time. A friend of mine went to see it and couldn't sleep properly for two nights because it was so scary. So I put off seeing it until around 1975. They were playing it at lunchtime at the teacher's college I was at. Settled in the darkness to watch this big scary movie. Tubular Bells, footsteps on the ceiling, haunted looks. I was out of the theatre in 30 minutes. Too scary.

(I did watch it all the way through many years later.. great film)

Lovers by Sleepy Jackson 2003

Lovers by Sleepy Jackson came out in 2003 and it soundtracked a month of sunshine back in Elwood. And I still get a kick out of it when I play it now. A bit of George Harrison-type slide in the guitars doesn't hurt. Truly great songs. Must be something in the water in West Australia which gives the music light and bounce and total grooviness.

Again it was someone talking about the band that got me onto them. I think it was my mate Poz. When I heard the name I thought it might be just some country type album. It had those connotations. But then I got to hear This Day on the radio. I didn't know it was them but I knew I liked the song. So I had to wait through another one or two songs hoping that they would announce the artist. And there it was. Sleepy Jackson. I immediately jumped in the car and drove down to JB HiFi in Brighton which was kind of my first stop for music in those days. Bought the CD and put it in the car stereo and bang there was Good Dancers as the opening track and I knew this was going to be great. I took the long way home just so I could listen to the album. Ending up driving down Beach Road listening to Sleepy Jackson. Sunshine in a bottle.

Chelsea Girl by Nico 1967

 On first listen to the Velvet Underground and hearing Nico's voice I was quite on the side of those who would say what is she doing on the record. Then again the song on the end whose name I forgot and which probably came from John Cale's head wasn't a bag of fun either. But as I listened more and more to the album the off-key singing of this beautiful Germanic model made sense. But there was no way I would buy her solo album. That much I couldn't take. So for years, all I heard were the Velvet Underground songs. 

In the 80s I did go to see her play live at the Jump Club in Collingwood. It was really a horrible night and because I didn't pay to get in I didn't have that investment in trying to enjoy the show and spent most of the night upstairs drinking.

But a few years back I saw "The Royal Tennenbaums" a film by Wes Anderson, whose vision I find simply brilliant. I was addicted to watching his earlier film "Rushmore " on DVD for ages. Same with each film he brought out. One of the best things about his films is his use of music. To me, he is the master of putting songs to scenes. And digging up slightly off centre songs by big artists. So it was that I heard "These Days" and was knocked out. Together with "Fairest of The Seasons" (both songs written by Jackson Browne) I got quite hooked on listening to these terribly depressing Nico songs. But at the same time not depressing. Just a different world. Then I bought the Chelsea Girl album at first because of those songs and secondly because of the great cover. I found much to love about this album but I had to play it at the right time. But I guess that's like a lot of albums. They sound better at certain times of the day.

Guitar Romantic by The Exploding Hearts 2003

 So what am I listening to now? One of the great things is finding rock bands and music that you missed when they were around. Even better when you find records that you can't take off the turntable and soundtrack weeks or months of your life. Guitar Romantic got stuck on my turntable a few weeks ago and is fighting off all comers. It is also reconnecting me to some of the pop-punk bands I haven't listened to for a while like Generation X.

I had been hearing the name Exploding Hearts ever since I went on my first trip to Japan a few years back. I also saw their name on radio song lists and quite possibly heard their records played inside a mix of great other songs. But as I was online shopping about a month ago their album popped up on eBay when I was looking for something else. Something about the algorithms innate in the system does that. Sometimes they are annoying. This time they struck gold. 

I thought I would give them a listen and jumped on Spotify to check them out. The songs blew a hole in my computer speakers. They reminded me of all those singles I was into in 1979 like The Boys, The Jam and the tracks on the Powerpearls series of records. Next thing I was blasting them out of the car stereo and ordering the vinyl.

I looked them up I found that sadly almost all the band died in a car crash not long after this record was released. This is their only studio album. And it's brilliant!

Shake Some Action by The Flamin' Groovies 1976

 It began with the song "Shake some Action'. In 1978 Wednesday nights at the Tiger Lounge in Richmond was the place to be. It started off with the Keith Glass band or KGB having a residency and inviting some of the new punk bands like the Boys Next Doors to support. This was one of the few places we got to see all the new bands and it was pretty exciting waiting to see who would turn up as the scene grew. Not just bands but punters too, Eventually Keith's band finished their residency and Laurie Richards began running something similar called the Beat Club with a poster that copied the early Who Marquee posters from the sixties. All the punk bands played there. For some reason The Fiction never did.

With KGB we went for the punk bands but we stayed for Keith Glass cos he had a great rocking band and we were not that far along the path that we had outgrown our Pub rock roots. The Sports were still popular as one the early Jo Jo Zep. The one song that stood out in Keith's set was "Shake Some Action" I had to find a copy. 

I couldn't find the song anywhere until they released a punk compilation with some guy spitting beer at the camera. (Actually, there were a lot of great tracks on the album) It kind of satisfied me until I started hearing about the album. With the same title as it's prime cut.

Luckily I stumbled upon a second-hand copy in the basement of a record store in the city. Still can't recall the name of the shop. The record was in that delicious thick cardboard the Americans use. The song's parent album was fantastic with the Groovies really digging into their sixties roots and playing a cross between the Beatles and the Stones. A strange way to go in the era of punk but just great to listen to and it became a source of inspiration as my band moved into Mod and power pop. Shake Some Action was on constant rotation at my place. And it is still a regular on my turntable after 40 years.

Debut by Bjork 1993

 

I saw Bjork at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre on March 12 1996. It was right up there with the best concerts I'd ever seen. And although her albums were full of beats and lots of club atmosphere she replaced strings with an accordion (the band was also very simple) and just let the songs and her fantastic voice do their work. My attention was glued to the stage. My mind didn't wander once. Those songs on Debut sounded better plus she had the new songs from Post which had just come out. It was also the only night I've ever taken a pair of binoculars to a gig. And they were good ones so they brought me up real close. Unfortunately, I've never taken to another gig. Maybe they made me too conspicuous. Oh, and I was on the side so I came away with a bit of a sore neck. But while the music played and Bjork just glowed I didn't notice.

Bjork was previosly the lead singer of the Sugarcubes who I found a bit hit and miss. When they were good thery were very good but they could also be qnnoying. Mainly the squawks of the other singer in the band. Debut was all Bjork and much the better for it. We had a huge poster of the album cover on the Lizard Lounge wall however we played only a few of the songs off the album and they didn't become crowd favourites. There was always they risk that it would clear the dance floor.

So Debut became an album I played a lot at home. I was totally enamoured with her voice. And it's a brilliant album as were her next two.