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...

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

The Ibis or the Straw-necked Ibis is another bird I can see flying around where I live all the time. They're an odd looking bird or not a pretty one but who cares about that really. All adults have distinctive straw-like feathers on their neck which how they get their name and no feathers on the top of their heads. Their wings look black in the above image but they're (or can be) all-sorts of shinny colors in the right light. Once again the above image is from John Gould's Birds of Australia.

So on with my next albums under the letter "I" which is another vowel and only three this time which is a good thing I was reading that you're suppose to keep your blog post short because people can't or wouldn't read long ones, is that true?

Ill At Ease by The Mark Of Cain
Adelaide's finest band with their break through album, their third album and with only another one album after this one you could say it's going to be their peak. Over the last couple of years they have been talking about a new album but it's been a long time coming, ten years plus now. Back to the mid-90's and Henry Rollins moved to Adelaide for a couple of months to be their producer because basically he wanted a new album by them, he is their biggest fan. I still remember seeing them at a small club and he was there hiding behind the amp tower doing the famous Henry Rollins dance, if you can call it that because imagine him on Dancing With The Stars doing that. Anyway it was hard picking which The Mark Of Cain album but it has to be this one. 


In The Pines by The Triffids
This would have been recorded around the time of my ten birthday and only an hour or two away from where I grew up but I didn't know anything about The Triffids back then. I love them now and this one has to be my favorite album by them. It's the only album to be recorded in Western Australia too and the reissue from a few years ago included everything recorded at the time. It's David McComb's songwriting at his best. Some of these songs were already going to be used for the next planned album so it was somewhat dismissed at the time because it is 8-track cheap recording, just something to do before going into the next real studio. Ravensthorpe is in the middle of nowhere and unless you've come to W.A. you don't know what that means, it's days and hours and hours of driving to get anywhere here and when you get somewhere out in the country it's usually got nothing anyway not even trees sometimes.


Inner City Sound by Various Artists
Based on Clinton Walker's book of the same name which is somewhat of a bible of early Aussie punk rock with this double CD featuring an endless amount of bands from the late 70's and early 80's. With 28 songs on disc one and 20 on disc two. So it features some of my favorite tracks by my all-time favorite bands like Primitive Calculators, Laughing Clowns, The Scientists, Sacred Cowboys, Essendon Airport, X, The Lighthouse Keepers, The Saints which have two tracks, the above band The Triffids plus a few big names you will know like The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Severed Heads, The Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party but the biggest treat is Rowland S. Howard singing Shivers with his early band Young Charlatans, it's worth it just for that one song. Stay tuned for the letter "J" soon...

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

The Harrier, or it's the Swamp Harrier above and I'm back using John Gould's Birds of Australia again. Swamp Harrier is a bird that's in least concern in conservation status which is a great thing really but people do like to talk about about all the Endangered or even the Extinct species and I did last time with Gouldian Finch. I remember visiting the museum of W.A. and I loved going to the Bird gallery all the time. They have all the birds in Western Australian taxidermied but it seem only the tourists from somewhere else would look at these birds and local people looked at the extinct display in the corner and I would hear things like, "I want to see something I don't see everyday when I come to the museum" or "This is a boring room, let's see what's next" and after a while of hearing this I've stopped going because it was depressing listening to people talk like that, or just start wishing the human race was extincted.

Anyway back to the music and the letter "H" which seems like it's got the most amount of albums so far in my little count down, reaching double figures with ten so that's why its taken so long in between posts.

Havilah by The Drones
Well, here are The Drones again with their last album from 2008, a long time ago now and this time at their own home studio. Joining them as a full new member was Dan Luscombe with Mike Noga on his second album and of-course Fiona Kitschin and Gareth Liddiard have been here from the start.

Henry's Dream by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
With two more Aussie members joining the band Martyn P. Casey and Conway Savage make it the most ever but really can we call Cave an Aussie anymore? He's lived almost all of his adult life in England, and do you know how many albums he has done in Australia? I mean the full album? Well, only two albums Kicking Against the Pricks and Nocturama, which are not great records and that's pretty fucking lame for someone who calls himself an Aussie. Anyway this one was recorded in the U.S.A. but only mixed here. I've picked this because if I was to choose only one Bad Seeds album to listen to this would be it.   

Here Come The Lies by The Drones
Here's where it all started with the debut album from 2002, the band members at this point were Gareth, Fiona Kitschin, Rui Pereira and early drummer Christian Strybosch plus listed in the liner notes are Matt Heydon plays "Mr Whippy piano on New Kind of Kick" and Craig Williamson "his swollen eggs on The Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands" whatever that means.


Hey Believer by Kim Salmon with STM
The first of two albums in this post and he's already been here in my list four times, if you didn't know, with From One To Another by The Darling Downs, Dirty Three by Dirty Three, Blood Red River by The Scientists and The Axeman's Jazz by Beasts of Bourbon. This record from the mid-90' was at the time the closest he came to doing a solo album but six of these tracks included and band called STM who was the late Andrew Entsch on Doulbe Bass and Dirty Three's Jim White and Warren Ellis.

High Voltage by AC/DC
This debut album was like the blueprint without really even thinking about it, they were just another rock n roll band starting out, nothing more. I remember having the Aussie version on cassette tape with a different tracklisting, as one of my first albums I bought myself but you can't get that anymore, I wish you could. Most of Bon Scott's lyrics made more sense the older I got but they were never as good as this album. Of course they became one of the biggest heavy rock bands in the world with one of the highest selling albums of all-time but thier early stuff is always better, everytime.  

Hit Me With The Surreal Feel by Kim Salmon & the Surrealists
The debut album of The Surrealists and Kim Salmon. After The Scientists broke-up he formed a trio line-up with Brian Hooper on bass and Tony Pola on drums. Recorded with microphones randomly placed around the studio and recorded on just a four-track in his home town of Perth before packing up and heading east. Other than tours he's never come back finally setting up home in Melbourne a few years later. I like the fact I've sandwiched Kim Salmon's albums in between AC/DC and also The Drones in between Nick Cave but both I would argue are more Aussie than the bigger names and that's what my list is all about.

Honey Steel's Gold by Ed Kuepper
Ed Kuepper left The Saints after just three albums to form his new band, Laughing Clowns who broke-up. This is one of his solo albums after almost ten years playing under just his name. Original release in 1991 with a killer band line-up of Mark Dawson on Drums, Sir Alfonso on Bass and The Necks' Chris Abrahams on Piano and Organ, also the first he worked with his long time co-producer, Phil Punch. Can I call it one of the best break-up albums of all-time, it's like the Aussie's Blood on the Tracks.

Hoodoo You Do by The Devil & Abbe May
Right this is Abbe May's second album but the only one to be released under this name. It's her totally Blues album so off-course it's got the main star the Devil, himself which is more a heavy metal thing now. Most people compare her to an Female English songwriter but I would say she is more like the bloke who she broke's heart in the late 90's. Yes, I'm talking about Nick Cave again not PJ Harvey and I would argue she's the new Nick Cave. It's seems to me both are pretty much doing the same thing in the last couple of years but it's wicked coming from a young lady but just silly coming from an old man plus she would murder him in a guitar duel. Then again it's really very silly comparing artists and I'm just on a I hate Nick Cave rant tonight.

Horse Stories by Dirty Three
The second  Dirty Three album or is it the third if you count the demo tape that was turned into the album Sad & Dangerous but anyway it's the second on my list. On the DVD doco from 2007 Warren Ellis was saying it he didn't want to or/and could have not released it at the time, I can not think of that time in the mid 90's music landscape without this album. I wish they would stop being just a side project to all of Nick Cave's stuff too and it's so great to have them back with a new album. Ellis should file his divorce papers next and come back to his first love, Dirty Three and make it a full time band again. I'll never forgive Cave for fucking up one of the greatest bands of all-time but I also remember Ellis talking about working with Charlie Marshall in the mid-90's, how amazing it was and what an honor to work with such a great songwriter like him but who knows who he is now? my point is, it was inevitable if someone like Nick Cave came along.


Hourly, Daily by You Am I
This would have to be my favorite You Am I album and it's for the simple reason that it's their first album recorded in Australia. Tim Rogers, Andy Kent and Russell Hopkinson stopped going oversea to do their albums and this is the third album, the two album before were both done in the U.S.A. with Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo. Roger's songs also look closer to home e.g. daily life from waking up in the morning to saying goodnight. You really couldn't find a more Aussie looking album cover because when you look out a window or walk down the street that is what you would see. This albums got nothing to do with Nick Cave, thank fuck but from now on I promise to NOT say his name anymore on this blog, he just pisses me off now. I'll have to write about all these albums again without him so sorry about that.

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

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

Falcon, or above John Gould's Peregrine Falcon which is pretty common but not everywhere in Australia. It can be found all around the world too but I love this bird of prey so I just have to include it here. Anyway on with five more albums from my 100 best aussie albums to be filed under the letter "F".

Far Be It From Me by Tex Perkins
After years and years fronting and singing in so many different bands with various success in the mid-90's Tex just went solo. Well, he did have to hand-pick all the musicians: Charlie Owen, Warren Ellis, Jim White, Ken Gormly, Jim Elliott, Penny Ikinger, Tony Cohen, Mick Harvey, Dave Graney and Joel Silbersher. So it was an all-star line-up and he had some of his best written lyrics to go with them which makes this my favorite of his.


The First Dance by Bridezilla
Their debut album came after a self titled EP, a split 7” single with Tren Brothers in late 2009 but so far nothing since. So once again here in my list most people have forgotten this band unfortunately. This Sydney band is four girls playing guitars, violin and saxophone and a male drummer with lead singer called Holiday Sidewinder which has to be the coolest name in the world so The First Dance has to be one of my favorite Aussie albums of all-time.


For The Birds by The Mess Hall
The last album released by The Mess Hall is the one I've picked because they just get better and better with each album. Maybe, a bit more mellow than their past work but to me it's their perfect album. Maybe, it's the kind-off theme in the title that is why I like it more than the old stuff but I really can't wait for the next thing Cec Condon and Jed Kurzel do and it's been a few years now so fingers-crossed for something soon.


Free Dirt by Died Pretty
Another debut album on my list but I really just had to pick something else other than Doughboy Hollow which is the one everyone says is their classic album but I really do like this one better and this band was more than just one album. I read an interview with Ron Peno a few months back were he says Triple J's Richard Kingsmill had to apologise to him because he was so embrassed Died Pretty didn't get into the Hottest 100 Aussie albums last year. I imagine it happing like this Kingsmill on his knees and crying and praying for forgiveness while Peno's standing about him with a samurai sword at his neck.

From One To Another by The Darling Downs
The second and most likely the final album from Ron Peno and Kim Salmon, this duo of Aussie legends has to be proof that you can teach old dogs new tricks. Both of them are from two of the greatest Aussie rock n' roll bands, Ron from the above band and Kim from... well to start with The Scientists but so much more. Both together here they're playing acoustic country folk, Salmon even plays a banjo and it's unbelievable. Again more people should listen to this and the debut album How Can I Forget This Heart Of Mine?

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

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

The Emu which has to be one of the weirdest and oddest looking birds in the world and here's Ross Noble explaining more about it:

That was a little bit extra because I've only got two albums under the letter "E" but it's always a odd one, it's a vowel that's used so much but not at the start of words it seems. I don't know why it's taken so long to write and post it with only two albums, sorry about that. It's been busy and sometimes I really do know why I'm doing this blog anyway.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring by Eddy Current Suppression Ring
OK, If I was only picking one Eddy Current Suppression Ring album it has to be the debut self-titled album because it was all recorded in only four hours, in one session. Of course they've gone on to bigger and better things, so if you haven't checked this out you should.


Everyday Lies by Hoss
Well, this has to be one of the greatest bands from the 1990's, plus one of the most underrated and this albums was I think their mid decade perk. This is what Joel Silbersher did after his teenage band GOD broke-up in 1989. Joel Silbersher is another Aussie singer-songwriter who should get more praise, credit and kudos.

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

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

Duck or this Aussie member of the duck family called the Pacific Black Duck which is my favorite duck and once again from the John Gould's The Birds of Australia too. If you missed my last three posts I've now edited them because all these post which are about my favorite Aussie albums started getting to be not really at least before I edited them, that probably only makes sense if you read them before.

At the top of the post I'm just going to pick out one of my favorite Aussie birds that starts with the same letter as the albums in the post and I've been looking at the old John Gould's The Birds of Australia books so it seems right to use the images and hopefully it will not take a month to write each one - which is how long the last three have taken.

Anyway on with the next four albums of my 100 Aussie albums under the letter "D". I think I will continue with keeping what I write on each of these albums short to one sentence like the last post, or this is going to take me forever but I might come back and write more on each album at a later date, under the title of "classic album" because I think all these are classics, have I already said that?

Dead Wood Falls by Jen Cloher & The Endless Sea

Well, Jen Cloher has somewhat been lost in the flood of solo Aussie female artists over the last few years. For me she is on pretty much on the top and this, her debut album, is the one I would have to pick out.


The Definitive Collection by The Sports

This two disc set is epic in just how much stuff is included on it, for a band who released four EPs and four albums in the late 70's and early 80's before breaking up, this is what the title says it is.


Dirty Three by Dirty Three

How could I not includ the debut album from the band I would call the greatest band in the 90's No one could come close to this band in that decade, not just in Australia but the whole wide world.


Drunk On A Train by The Painkillers

This was recorded as just a demo to get more gigs but this was just too good or so great not to releas as their debut album and it's also a wicked comeback for James Baker.

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

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

This time I've picked out the Cockatoo or my favorite one the Red tailed Black Cockatoo for the above picture.

OK, on with the albums which there are seven in this post, I'll just write one line on each album or this really is going to take forever.

Cannot Buy My Soul by Kev Carmody/Various Artists
One of the greatest if not the best tribute albums ever made plus all the original songs too on disc two, his songs are like one masterstroke after another.


Cellulite Soul by Witch Hats
A totally wicked and amazing debut album from a few years ago that makes Wolfmother look like The Wiggles.


Charcoal Lane by Archie Roach
This was his unbelievable debut album, he was at the age of 34 at the time of the release which is such a shame that it had taken that long but thanks to Paul Kelly.


Circus Animals by Cold Chisel
My dad's favorite band of all-time which I listened to the most as a kid because he just was always playing them so after a very long time of not wanting to listen to them this one I find the easiest.


Coal by Devastations
This is their second album out of three albums, so far but have been dead quiet since 2007 so I think most people have totally forgotten about this band now. This a prefect classic from the mid-2000's.


Crossing Off The Miles by Chad's Tree
So maybe this should be under "K" for Kerosene which was the one and only great album but this is the reissue with all early recordings/demos, 7" singles/B-sides well, everything they recorded in the 1980's but only released last year.


Cruel, But Fair by Laughing Clowns
Yet another reissue in this list of mine, what Ed Kuepper did after he left The Saints. I think Laughing Clowns are so much better and this is everything they ever recorded too. They are my favorite band from the 80's.


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

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

The Albatross or the Shy Albatross above. OK I've edited these posts because this is taking way too long doing it like I have been so I'm just going to pick out an Australian bird for the picture at the top of the post, from John Gould's The Birds of Australia which was originally published from 1840 to 1848 in seven huge volumes.

Straight on with my favorite 100 Aussie albums now. So it seems everyone has rules for these kinds of lists but mine are going to be just anything you can lay your hands on, physically so CDs, vinyls, box sets, reissued albums are fine plus I'm including also a few compilation albums too.

As for who's included here you will not find Powderfinger or Silverchair or The Living End or INXS or even Midnight Oil for the simple reason that everyone always has them in these kind-of list so I'm not and you can just go to Triple J if you want a mainstream list of Aussie albums. This Hottest 100 Aussie Albums is a worse list than I was thinking it would be and just proves Triple J is completely useless in teaching listeners any kind-of history of the Aussie music scene.

I'll write just a few of lines on each album, I could go on forever but I'll try not too. This blog is basically to keep my writing going and just maybe I'm getting in a bit over my head with 100 albums but anyway here goes...

A is for...
The A to Z Recordings by Paul Kelly
Well, this is the reason I'm doing my list like this and it's much better than rating them in a count down which can be a bit silly really. I'm reading his book so I had to get this eight CD set. Paul Kelly's songs don't need anything more that him on stage with a guitar.


Absence by Snowman
Well, one of two albums released this year but both have been in the pipeline for a long time. This one was worked on in London for at least the last few years and is the final album because band now is broken-up. Snowman will always be remembered as one of the greatest Perth bands.


Adalita by Adalita
Here's the second album of 2011, Magic Dirt's front woman solo album was released at the start of the year. I think it's been worked on for a long time but finally saw the light of day now. We might not ever have another Magic Dirt album but if this is what she going to do as a solo artist it should have been out years ago.


All Times Though Paradise by The Saints
The second box set already but if your going to listen to The Saints you really only need the first three albums and this is where you can find them plus live recording and a shit load of bonus tracks from around the same time, 1976-1979.



Australian Ghost Story by The Paradise Motel
This album was released on 11 June 2010, the 30th anniversary of Azaria Chamberlain's birth. Which I should have wrote about at the top of this post under "A" but if you don't know anything about who she is, you should. This is The Paradise Motel's comeback album after ten years silence.


The Axeman's Jazz by Beasts of Bourbon
If this band formed today it would be labelled a supergroup but back in 1984 they were all nobodys. These guys just wanted to get drunk and play music and that is what happens here so this debut album by Beasts of Bourbon was recorded in an afternoon session of their live set list at the time before going off to the gig.


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