| Sound And Rain Relief
I was in the centre of the Victorian bushfires for three weeks, they got within a kilometre of us and we evacuated four times, but I was still surprised that the combination of the concert good will and teeming rain was so cathartic, an emotional end significator for phase one of the post- fire period. It will take years, if ever, for many people and communities to fully recover but at least the worst is finally over.
So I watched the Sound Relief concerts with a feeling of exactly that. In the comfort of the house that five weeks ago I was in front of, with a garden hose in my trembling hands fighting ember attack.
We love a good sing-along don't we? Certainly the crowds at both venues took every opportunity to raise their voices in song whether asked to or not. The bedraggled thousands had ample opportunity with Coldplay and Farnsey , "Crowded House",Kylie, Hunters And Collectors and Bliss N Esso providing the choruses and encouragement for communal karaoke that distracted from the inclement weather.
You Am I's Tim Rogers surrendered his body and soul to rock n roll, I loved the turban and hat combo with his matching bluebird tattoos, Jet do have a great song, and while Andrew might have a new Wolfmother all he needs is a guitar and big amps to channel his 70s-hard-rock record collection matched with his castrato shriek and a Woodstock headband and hairdo.
And then came the old school rockers.
Iva Davies' featured the most sophisticated and detailed sound on the day, did their hits, even first single I Can't Help Myself while aside from the short cropped white hair, North shore tan and stylish white suit he looked and sounded the same as he ever has.
Clad in Noel's baseball stitched design suits Split Enz' pop hits bracket was somewhat "schizophrenic" - Neil's choirboy pop and Tim energetically recreating his demented angry-drunk-in-a-berserk-cabaret persona, while the band seemed to play louder and harder than they ever have.
Hunters And Collectors then played an all hits and no misses set, earned the only encore of the day with The Slab and reminded me of the power of the band's big bottom end bass of John Archer and Barry Palmer's guitar grind that rubbed up against Mark's earnest and sincere vocal shout. They were better than ever.
Of course Midnight Oil played flat out and loud, Jim getting a solo spot with a feedback-drenched Advance Australia Fair and Rob got his drumming-on-every-available-surface cameo, once again they played their hits, while a slightly restrained Peter wobbled and warbled the lyrics with surprising conviction.
Meanwhile in Sydney things got surreal or embarrassing depending on your perspective, The northern end had been more showbiz with Marcia Hines, Farnsey, Dicko and Toni Collette making appearances but when the Barry Gibb Las Vegas cabaret show finished the concert it went over the top. Yes he is still hirsute, albeit grey and yes he still sings in that annoying silly faux-falsetto but when he introduced Olivia Newton John as "the greatest female singer in the world!" and they proceeded to sing and act like performers at a children's party, the question was why did the organisers think that this tasteless travesty was appropriate to conclude an otherwise wonderful day?
That said, a heartfelt thank you to all those behind, on or in front of the stages!
Sadly one premier Australian band was conspicuous by its absence.
Men At Work went from a Thursday night residency at a small inner-city Melbourne pub to a Number One Single Who Can It Be Now? in Australia and America in 12 months, followed by a Number One album for 12 weeks in America. Their second single Down Under also went to Number One internationally, by January 1983, Men at Work had the top album and single in both the USA and the UK - a feat never achieved previously by an Australian act. They toured for two years flat-out before taking a break, and then the rhythm section Jerry Speiser and John Rees were advised by management that they were no longer members of the band. The remaining members then recorded a third album which flopped, guitarist Ron Strykert left, then Greg Ham, until the band was only Colin Hay with hired session men before they finally called it a day in 1986. Ten years later Hay and Ham revived the name for a South American tour and then toured extensively until 2000, recording and releasing an album. Colin has been pursuing a solo career, Ham, Speiser and Rees still work in music, while Ron lives in Montana as part of a spiritual community and dabbles in music.
But sadly Ron has recently been arrested for making threats against Colin Hay. Strykert threatened to kill Hay in December 2007, according to the LA County district attorney's office, and a bench warrant was issued after he skipped an arraignment on the charges last May. There's been some bad blood between the two for a while; Strykert left the band in 1985, and his MySpace page reveals some long-standing animosity toward his former lead singer:
“With Regards to a Men at Work reunion it will not happen and I have strong reasons for this. Colin Hay was part of a situation with CBS Sony Records NY NY and also along with our manager back then when Colin did a solo album Looking For Jack CBS gave him $ 400.000 to make it as they do to help you make a CD album. The record didnt sell much it wasn't that good and so CBS wanted the $400.000 back or most of it, so they got that money back from the rest of the Men At Work royalties sales which they legally should not do but Colin and manager helped legally for this to happen or helped in some way back in '84-'85. So then now legally its too old to go back and make a court case about it and costs alot. My share could have been say from $300.000 one sixth share or so $50,000. Maybe Colin would like to pay me back now just to be a good guy. Sadly at this time I have no respect for Colin Hay.”
For a bunch of friends who out of the blue received a sudden level of fame and success beyond their wildest dreams, it’s a sad requiem that they could fall out so badly and dash their fans’ hopes of ever seeing and hearing them recreate some of their past glory again.
back
to top
|
