The Sports - A Collection

 

The Sports were an Australian rock group which performed and recorded between 1976 and 1981. Mainstay members were Stephen Cummings on lead vocals and Robert Glover on bass guitar, with long-term members such as Paul Hitchins on drums, Andrew Pendlebury on lead guitar and vocals, and Martin Armiger on guitar. Their style was similar to both 1970s British pub rock bands (such as Brinsley Schwarz) and British new wave (such as Elvis Costello). 

The Sports' top forty singles are "Who Listens to the Radio", "Don't Throw Stones", "Strangers on a Train" and "How Come" . Their top 20 releases on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart are Don't Throw Stones (February 1979), Suddenly (March 1980) and Sondra (May 1981).

In October 2010 Don't Throw Stones was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

Fair Game EP (1977)

Reckless (1978)

Don't Throw Stones (1979)

O.K. U.K.! EP (1979)

Poor Mouth (single, 1980)

Suddenly (1980)

Sondra (1981)

The Sports Play Dylan (and Donovan) (1981 EP)

All Sports (1982, Compilation)

This Is Really Something (1997, Compilation)

Do the Pop! The Australian Garage-Rock Sound 1976-87

For collectors of compilation albums, you can't go past this amazing collection of gems and rarities from the "other" side of pop. Over two decades before the White Stripes and the Hives made 'garage-rock' the new buzz-word, numerous Australian bands were cranking out a raw, high-energy music which had all the elements that the kids are hankering for today.

Isolation can breed some pretty amazing music and if you're looking for proof, look no further than this magnificent compilation chronicling 12 incredible years of the incomparable Oz garage/punk scene. Rarely is Australia's scene ever mentioned in the same breath as those of New York or London. Whereas New York's was art-centered and London's was fashion-centered, the Aussies put the music firmly up front and centre, right where it belongs. 

Although few of the bands which show up here may be familiar to the casual listener (the exceptions probably being Radio Birdman, The Saints, and The Celibate Rifles), you may find yourself scrambling to get your hands on everything you can by the rest. There's not a duff track to be found anywhere here and if songs like The Lime Spiders' "Slave Girl," The Fun Things' "Savage," The Screaming Tribesmen's "Igloo," or The Exploding White Mice's "Burning Red" don't put some lead in your pencil, you may want to have someone check you for a pulse. 50, count them, tracks that will certainly quench your thirst for a good dose of garage rock.

I remember having many of these as vinyl singles in my own collection which have now (sadly) moved on to other music aficionados. It's good to hear these again, they bring back some sweet memories.

Do the Pop Once

Do the Pop Twice

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Music from Our World

 

The Boys Next Door...Door, Door...1979 album..the origins of Nick Cave

The Boys Next Door (later changed to The Birthday Party) were an Australian post-punk band, active from 1978 to 1983. Despite limited commercial success their influence has been far-reaching, and they have been called "one of the darkest and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early 80's." The group's "bleak and noisy soundscapes" which drew irreverently on blues, free jazz and rockabilly, provided the setting for vocalist Nick Cave's disturbing tales of violence and perversion. 

The nucleus of the band first met at the private boys school Caulfield Grammar in suburban Melbourne, in the early seventies. A rock group was formed in 1973, with Nick Cave (vocals), Mick Harvey (guitar), and Phill Calvert (drums), with other students John Cocivera, Brett Purcell and Chris Coyne (on guitar, bass and saxophone respectively). The band played under various names at parties and school functions with a mixed repertoire of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, among others.

After their final school year in 1975 the band decided to continue as a four-piece group, with friend Tracy Pew picking up the bass. Greatly affected by the punk explosion of 1976, The Boys Next Door, as they were now called, began performing punk and proto-punk cover versions, such as "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Gloria", and a few original songs. The Boys' second guitarist, Rowland S. Howard, joined in 1978, and about this time, the group's sound changed dramatically. The addition of Howard's guitar was certainly a catalyst. 

The Boys Next Door's best known song, "Shivers", written by Howard, and first performed and recorded by his band The Young Charlatans, was banned by radio stations because of a reference to suicide. Their first album Door, Door was released in 1979.

After recordings and moderate success in Australia (including hundreds of live shows) they headed for London in 1980, changed their name to The Birthday Party and launched into a period of innovative and aggressive music-making.

See also: http://www.punkjourney.com/boys-next-door.php

...and: http://i94bar-dev.info/ints/lethalweapons.html

                                                                      

Mental As Anything...Get Wet...1979 debut album

Mental As Anything formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976 as a new wave/pop-rock band. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977-1999) was Martin Plaza (birth name Martin Murphy) on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa (birth name Chris O'Doherty) on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne "Bird" Delisle (birth name David Twohill) on drums; and Andrew "Greedy" Smith on vocals, keyboards and harmonica.Their original hit songs were generated by Mombassa, O'Doherty, Plaza and Smith, either individually or collectively; they also hit the Australian charts with covers of songs by Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.

The band's debut album, Get Wet, was released on 1st November 1979. With support from nationwide TV pop show Countdown, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" became the group's first Australian Kent Music Report top 20 hit, and also made No. 1 on the UK alternative charts when released there by Virgin Records and remains one of the group's most popular songs. Get Wet achieved a top 20 position on the Kent Music Report albums chart.

All of the early members are visual artists and have had combined studio displays, some have had solo studio displays with Mombassa's artwork also used as designs by the Mambo clothing company. The majority of the group's record covers, posters and video clips have been designed and created by themselves or their art school contemporaries. On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame alongside Kev Carmody, The Dingoes, Little Pattie and John Paul Young.

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Split Enz...Mental Notes...1975 release...underrated progressive rock album

Split Enz  formed in 1972 in New Zealand, by founding members Phil Judd and Tim Finn. One of the most successful New Zealand musical acts of the late 1970's and early 1980's, the band would go on to achieve chart success in New Zealand, Australia and Canada – most notably with their 1980 single "I Got You" – and built a cult following elsewhere. Their musical style was eclectic, incorporating influences from art rock, vaudeville, swing, punk, rock, new wave, and pop. Split Enz established a reputation for a distinctive visual style, thanks partly to their colourful, offbeat costumes and hairstyles.

The group's career falls into two phases. They began as an acoustic folk band in the early 1970's and by the time they recorded their first album they had changed to electric instruments and took on a progressive rock sound. From 1977 onward, with the departure of songwriter/guitarist Phil Judd and the arrival of Neil Finn, Split Enz' sound began to move from progressive rock towards new wave and pop.

In two weeks during May/June 1975 Split Enz recorded their debut album Mental Notes at Festival's Studio 24 in Sydney. It was produced by David Russell, who was also their tour manager in 1975 – 76. The engineer was Festival staffer Richard Batchens.

After its release in July it sold 12,000 copies in Australia, reaching No. 35 on the album chart for one week, and peaking at No. 7 in New Zealand. It was also a critical breakthrough. Much of the material derived from Tim Finn's and Phil Judd's fascination with the work of English writer and artist Mervyn Peake – notably "Spellbound", "Stranger Than Fiction" (their concert centrepiece) and "Titus", named after the hero of Peake's Gormenghast trilogy.

The album cover was painted by Phil Judd in 1973–74. The original painting is now in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

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