OK, I'm going to write something about this book that is not too long. It came out late last year so it's taken me a while to read. I read bits and pieces then went and started at the introduction and it made a bit more sense. To start with I just thought it was a bit silly because of the selection of albums but there are some rules they have gone by which are briefly: No greatest hits after 1970's because singles were the main format at this time. No live albums but they broke that by including Billy Thorpe's album, they have to be Australians of-course but artists and bands who fuck-off overseas like Kylie Minogue, AC/DC and Bee Gees are included and also New Zealanders who have based themselves in Australia are here too. The albums are NOT their favourite but have to have "had a enormous effect on the the culture and the nation." Anyway record sales they say are a consideration but NOT the main reason for ranking, it's amazing though how many are here. So I have about 30 of these 100 albums on vinyl or CD but a few on the computer as mp3's but if I can't hold it in my hand I don't really count them or if I can't be stuffed going out and buying it in a shop, it's not that important then, yeh?
The top ten have a few pages written about them each and the next ninety have one page of writing and a page is the album cover art. It's good writing about each album and all have valued points about each band/artist/album. I could say it's great because this book has even got me to revise my view of Cold Chisel which for years and years I couldn't stand listening to because my dad would play them all the time as a kid, it was like not this bloody music again but it didn't change my mind about solo Jimmy Barnes. So the four pages did it for Circus Animals but not the one page for For The Working Class Man but I do now have my dad's vinyl copy so maybe one day I'll put it on turntable.
Triple J is now doing a Hottest 100 voting poll thingy and their industry list is even more totally silly compared to this book. It includes 8 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds plus 2 Birthday Party is overstating his importance just a bit too much and I'm a fan but really only three of these albums were recorded in Australia anyway. I think there are to many repeated artists/bands on their industry list but they did included three The Drones albums. A voting poll I think will be even worse but I never agree with Triple J any-more because they're too mainstream and play too many major label records these days.
There are some records I don't think should be included in the book too but I think I'll make my own list as my next blog posts. I think I would rate this book: The 100 Best Australian Albums by John O’Donnell, Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson, 4 stars or 4 out of 5. I did also get the 5 CD set too so it can't be all bad. Hearing just one song for those albums I don't like was OK because there's so much good or even great stuff here and like the authors point out nothing like it has been done before. So go a read it yourself too or just listen to your favourite Aussie albums again.
Stay tuned for more soon...
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