The time has come to say fair's fair. To pay the rent, now. To pay our share.

Pick of the Week

“Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil (1987)

Australia is a tough land and always has been. It is a land of extremes: Extreme heat. Extreme tragedy. Extreme beauty. To name a few.

The hardship of Australians over the last few years with bush fires across Victoria¹  and floods in the beautiful north and then in Victoria ²  have been horrendously difficult to deal with. Ongoing problems of water shortages and reduced tourism due to the world economy only tend to compound their problems. With all this going on, in a harsh land, the resilient spirit of the Australians as always, prevails and even thrives as they have done for some two hundred years.  They are a very tough, yet soulful and proud people. And hey, they have the coolest accents of the English speaking world. This spirit is often reflected in their music.

For a country that has a fairly small population it has blessed the world with many a gifted musician

Heaven, must be there-ere Well, it's just got to be there-ere I've never - never seen Eden I don't wanna live in this place

Quick Hit

“Heaven (Must be There), Eurogliders (1984)

If you ever bought LP records you will remember the smell and feel of fresh vinyl. If you never have, you really missed out on a very pleasant tactile experience.  Let me explain-

The LP format was a thing of art. First of all you had cover art, which could have excellent art, pictures, or designs and would often have a very readable wealth of information on the back of the cover. It was not too tiny like on CDs and not non-existent like on downloadable music. The records themselves would have sleeves (inside the cover) that often contained the lyrics of songs and/or a blurb about the band and detailed credits of who and how the record was produced. In short you could learn a lot about it before you even played it (or even bought it for that matter).

And Now Presenting: The Amazing Finn Brothers!

Pick of the Week

“I Got You”, Split Enz (1980)

“Don’t Dream It’s Over”, Crowded House (1986)

Neil and Tim Finn were New Zealanders that later had to go to the big island next to them (otherwise known as Australia) to hit the big time. They formed in 1971 and called themselves ‘Split Ends’ until they went to Australia, and to signify their NZ roots changed it to ‘Split Enz’. Starting off with more of a progressive rock sound, when Neil Finn joined, this quickly became more of a ‘new wave’ sound in the late 70’s  - set off with the help of Tim’s “Mellotron” keyboard. Their brilliant live act, gained them overseas tours opening for bands like Roxy Music, Lou Reed and Leo Sayer.

My favourite Split Enz song to this day is “Poor Boy” off the ‘Colours’ album. Awesome recording!

After many tough years but with a manic-like cult following in New Zealand and Australia, the Enz finally hit pay dirt with “True Colors” released in 1980. The album itself released by A&M has multicoloured shapes cut into the vinyl with a laser – a true collector’s item now¹. “I Got You” went to the top of the charts in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Number 12 in the U.K.  The song only reached number 53 in the U.S for some reason but the album, went to the top 40.

With stalled American success, the band eventually broke up in 1984. Sort of...