Twenty years after the book, the ultimate collection of alternative Australian music from the late 70s and early 80s is released.
When people say 'Australian music in the 1970s', do you think Sherbert? Or the Saints? When they say 'Essendon Airport' do you think the poor relative of Tullamarine ? or the pioneering minimalist electronica outfit featuring David Chesworth, later joined by a teenaged vocalist named Kate Ceberano?
If you, or someone you know secretly harbours in their sartorial history some suede pointed boots and a paisley shirt, or maybe some photos featuring big hair, lots of eyeliner and/or skinny ties ? this double disc is a must-have. Especially now you've finally given up on digitising your old record collection, or indeed claiming those records back from that old housemate you lost touch with years ago.
Inner City Sounds originally began existence as a book released in the early 1980s by rock journo/journeyman Clinton Walker, who took it upon himself to redress the cultural cringe that ignored the intensely creative burst of underground and alternative music here in Australia while kow-towing to the often overstated role of American and English acts (case in point: was it the Sex Pistols or the Saints who created the 'punk' sound?)
This sprawling musical document includes big names such as the Saints, the Boys Next Door, Laughing Clowns, the Scientists, the Birthday Party, the Go Betweens, the Triffids and the Hunters and Collectors alongside smaller, more obscure acts such as Sekret Sekret, Plug Uglies, Surfside6 and the band whose name was 3 arrow symbols, known as 'Tch Tch Tch'.
It's not just screaming guitars and roaring punk vocals; this collection gives one the perfect insight into what may well now be labelled 'proto-electronica' ? sparse, sometimes weirdly spooky results from early pioneering of push-button beats and keyboard sequences that today are the rule, not the exception.
What sets this release continents apart from other nostalgic all-you-can-eat collections is the jaw-droppingly detailed, hand-drawn family tree of bands ? you can trace the roots of bands and the trails of luminary musicians such as Nick Cave, Ed Kuepper, Brad Shepherd and legendary guitar slinger Spencer P Jones through their multitude of acts and lineups.
This kind of truly passionate archiving and presentation of Australian culture doesn't come around too often in one's lifetime ? even if you weren't there at the time this is a fantastic concept, executed to perfection and worthy of being deemed an educational tool, such is its breadth and detail.
- Jarrod Watt
Related Web site: www.laughingoutlaw.com.au
Publisher/Distributor: Laughing Outlaw Records
Music Genre: Alternative
Era: The 70s
Inner City Sound - Various Artists
"Twenty years in the making, Inner City Sound is a two disc import album from Australia that brings to the surface the underground punk and post-punk. The result is an amazing compilation of sounds brimming to the top with originality and mix of hard core punk music. Two discs of sounds that stem from the 70's and 80's with over 40 restored tracks make this a collection for all." - 9.5 / 10! - The Celebrity Cafe Website
It’s raining Australian 1970s and ‘80s underground compilations if you hadn’t already noticed and while they’re coming from different directions, each has a charm all its own. “Inner City Sound” is very much from the left-of-the-dial. It’s intended to be the musical companion to the re-printed and expanded book of the same name, a collection of zine articles assembled by long-time Australian writer/TV producer Clinton Walker and first published back in the mid-80s. It sits neatly as just that. Forty-eight tracks over two discs and a fold-out family tree make for a value package.
First, to what “Inner City Sound” isn’t and that’s a complete and comprehensive picture of what the various Oz underground scenes were over the span of 1975-85. I lapped up the original book of the same name – went through two copies, so dodgy was the binding job on the first run - and pored over it for mentions of personal faves, but it was very much a patchwork of opinions and reviews. Whether you agreed with some of the contents, it nevertheless filled a very important gap.
Like the book, Clinton Walker brings to this compilation his own likes and biases. One of the things he never took to when he moved from Brisbane to Sydney was the so-called Detroit scene and its myriad offspring. There’s a bit of revisionist stuff to that effect in his confessional and very readable autobiography/musical history, “Stranded”. If you didn’t know that, the elemental nod to the genre in this set’s liners is a dead giveaway. The New Christs’ “No Next Time” looks like a token inclusion (even though you’re on flimsy ground if you regard that band as Detroit) and there are minor glitches in the Birdman-related branches of the family tree. Anyway, deal with it and move on. That's my bitch and it's now off my chest.
Walker’s musical stirrings began as a boy in Brizzy with his mates the Saints and they (the “real” Saints, that is) are represented by “Wild About You”. The Bailey Saints pop up on disc two with “Ghost Ships”. Both songs are easily procurable elsewhere so you have to ask why they were included. They do sit well in the tracking anyway. “Ghost Beat” is there from Ed Kuepper’s Laughing Clowns. Walker was an avid Birthday Party fan and “Release the Bats” is here. Was this really one of Kylie Minogue’s fave tunes before she started crooning with Ol’ Nick? It’s the archetypical Birthday party song I suppose, if again an obvious choice.
Harder to find is stuff from the likes of *** ***, tch-tch-tch, Voigt/465, Severed heads (the original “Dead Eyes Opened”), Equal Local, Machinations (the Phantom single of “Average Inadequacy”) and Seems Twice, all restored from vinyl. Seems Twice would have given Minuteman a run for their money with “songs” like “Look At It” (28 seconds of agitnoise, five seconds of fade out). The electronica/synth-based material doesn’t rock my boat much, but still sounds well ahead of the curve and far preferable to the mindlessness of today’s breaks and beats or whatever the fuck they call it.
What might be regarded as spikey punk’s flag is flown by Razar, the Leftovers and Last Words. I’m still none the wiser what’s punk and what’s not and Walker makes some valid points about all those labels in his notes. (He’s also said in the past that he couldn’t see the point of some of the stupider aspects of punk). The great X’s representation is “TV Blues”, a post-Cafeiro song that I personally adore, but the absence of something from “X-Aspirations” might surprise many. If you think the two-chord thrash content is a little light on, those Aberrant compilations are said to be coming down the pipeline in CD re-issue form anyway. While electronica merits a good look-in, understated/classic pop positively dominates with Sardine, the Triffids, the Apartments, Sekret Sekret, the Plug Uglies, the (great) Lonely Hearts and the GoBetweens all here, with lesser-known songs. It’s the diversions away from the obvious that work best for me.
The both great and hideous thing about digitisation is that you can set and forget, so if you have a CD rotel you can slot these discs in alongside “Do the Pop!”, “Born Out of Time” and “Tales of the Australian Underground”, crank it up and have a helluva good time. By my rough reckoning, that’s just shy of seven hours of music, with less than 25 percent duplication.Of course, that would spoil some very clever sequencing on Disc Two, but you get the point.
You could argue what should or shouldn’t have been included but frankly it’s a waste of time. If you don’t like it, go burn your own compilation disc. Fact is that there’s plenty here that’s damn near unprocurable anywhere else and you don’t have to be Record Collector Scum to enjoy it. – 4 Beers - The Barman, i94-Bar Website
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