A to Z: 100 Best Australian Albums so "L" is for...

The Lorikeet, or should I say the Rainbow Lorikeet which is the full name, so it should be "R" really but anyway you'll maybe note that I've completely missed the last letter "K" out so you could say I don't know my alphabet but there are reasons. Well, one big fat reason really because when I made my list there are no albums under that letter. Maybe the closest would have to be the Chad's Tree album called Kerosene but it was included on a reissue with all their recordings called Crossing Off The Miles which is under "C" already. So for the letter "K" I was going pick the Kookaburra as the bird and pick out some YouTube clips or something but because this is taking forever, as I keep repeating in every post it will not matter missing one letter out, will it? I love Lorikeets because they're everywhere. Well, in Perth you can't go anywhere with out seeing and hearing them too, another very loud Aussie bird.

Only two albums for this post but these albums could be two of the most obscurer albums so far in my list, what do you think?

Live by Venom P. Stinger
This one was only ever put out on vinyl in a very small pressing but if you do get it, like myself you'll play it over and over and oh my god it looks so amazing spinning around on you record player, it's see-though green vinyl! The title Live is misleading too because it's not live in front of a crowd or live on stage at a gig but live recorded in a radio station which was live on the air at the time because there wasn't many recordings of them. It was such a great set they just released it. This band also contains two Dirty Three members and this was only a year or two away from them forming, Jim White on drums and Mick Turner on guitar and how much different they sounded in the early 90's.

Lowercase by Bluetile Lounge
This one is also long not available too or deleted CD but was distributed by Sub-Pop in the mid 90's and possibly more known in the U.S.A. than in the whole of Australia but in Perth at the time if you liked live indie music you will or should remember them. They built a small local following and now are a some what legendary cult band. I would not known where in hell you could get this album now but they did release a second after this debut album which I think is still around, somewhere maybe but in the late 90's they broke-up. This album is so great and would be in my top ten greatest albums of all-time, maybe even top five and that's in the world not just Aussie albums but I think there would be more Aussie stuff in my list anyway.     
Stay tuned for the letter "M" soon...

A to Z: 100 Best Australian Albums so "J" is for...

Jacana or it's full name Comb-crested Jacana, Wikipedia says that this bird is only in the northern and eastern states but I'm so sure I've seen it around here but I must be wrong and mistaking for something else. I have to figure it out and get back to you about it. Above is again another of John Gould's Birds of Australia.

Well these are five albums under the letter "J"so might has well get on with it.

James Reyne by James Reyne
His solo self titled debut album is the closest thing to John Farnham's Whispering Jack in my list here, released around the same time and in my opinion has better songs. James was always a better songwriter too, he was also with Australian Crawl who split up just before this record. It was another one of my earliest albums I got and if I remember right it was on vinyl. I still love it but I've got it on CD now. I don't know why they changed the the front cover photo, it's dated very well for a mid-80's album.

Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog by Ed Kuepper
The second solo Ed Kuepper album on my list and fourth time after The Saints and Laughing Clowns boxsets. This is his last album of new songs which came out five years ago now, mostly he's been releasing live recording in that time. He was very prolific after he went solo with almost an album every year from the mid-80's through the 90's and only slowing down in the 2000's. The songs were somewhat based around the story of the last female murderer Jean Lee to be executed in Australia in the 1950's.

Jingles by Regurgitator
This is Regurgitator's best of compilation album from the early 2000's so it's got all the 90's stuff you could possibly want all in the same place, including songs from the early singles, EPs and the first three albums. Which saying it like that sounds like not much but it's a packed, totally full at twenty-one tracks and all the best songs well, it's all the ones I remember. They are still going today but with a different drummer so it's really not the same band. If you've seen them live back in 90's this would be the making of their greatest setlist and man they were crazy live too.

Jungle Blues by C.W. Stoneking
He was born in Darwin, Northern Territory but this his second album was recorded in Melbourne. He's singing about Africa and America which is a really Aussie thing to do. Most people in this county think it's better somewhere in the world other than where they are right now, or are planning to travel oversea or just both and bitch about Australia in the meantime. True to form C.W. Stoneking jumped ship soon after this album and has been playing these songs everywhere else but here and we will have to wait to see what he does next. By the way, Jim White from the Dirty Three plays the drums on this album too.

Junk by The Gin Club
The double album is a rare thing but with eight members in The Gin Club and all are songwriters so it makes perfect senses here. Like most great double albums this one is totally epic, the way it should be but I guess I understand it's too much for most people to take in all in one go. I will say if this band was from America they would be huge. It's like most Aussie bands shouldn't think too big and in this case big in songwriting, do you know what I mean? Like say The Drones should be too. Hey, The Drones should do a double album next... I wish.


Stay tuned for the letter "K" soon...