Classic Australian independent rock
I heard The Saints' (I'm) Stranded being played at a café near the office where I rock my day job and I was struck by the comparison between it and another classic Australian independent release, GOD's My Pal.
Both feature raw production, both feature unsophistocated musicianship and both mention homes (one describes a protagonist being far away from home and the other is inviting you over to the protagonists house. Charming)
The big difference is a 16-year-old Joel Silbersher trying to sound like Lemmy versus a 17-year-old Chris Bailey trying to sound like Bob Dylan. My Pal is charged with a potent hook and (I'm) Stranded is utterly unlistenable.
Labels: And I didn't mention freakin Ed freakin Kuepper at all
posted by Paddy at 8:50 am
12 Comments:
I am thrilled. It may be pistols at dawn here...and not between the two firebrand guitarists who go toe-to-toe on most subjects almost everytime they meet...no no no. It is on this occasion the sanguine, phlegmatic and taciturn rhthymn section who hate each other's guts. Normally they are the luke-warm water but here Paddy has taken an open-handed slap to the face of Crafty who nominated in some grim North Melbourne pub 2 years ago (I'm) Stranded (once more excellent use of brackets to totally alter the meaning) as one of his five favourite songs of all time. I stand gripped by the possible developments.
In any event, My Pal is a cracker and I see from MW on FB that it and the whole catalogue is all being remastered and re-issued.
great song p-borg, watched it twice over. Had forgotten "The Factory" and now pleasantly recall it.
But as for the comparison and your dissing of the saints... hmmm...
Firstly to the unsophisticated musicianship... those were some pretty mean drum fills in My Pal. I don't wanna add to the pressure already placed on crafty by UT's comment but my word that GOD man can hit the skins.
And as for the Saints... surely you get more props for inventing this shit in Brisbane in the mid seventies than you do for slightly re-working in more than a decade later?
But there are definitely cooler Saints songs than Stranded, I guess.
And while we are stranded in the period, I offer up this as another fantastic little nugget for consideration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RyOQf0AoFc
(realising that in doing so I am opening up a discussion in which three of us are hopelessly ill-equipped to keep up with the semi-stalkerish expertise of our leader).
Am now feeling dangerously at risk of a Jay Bennett situation and better pull my head in ASAP.
I think it also remiss now that we are all attacking Paddy, an uncommon posture for us all, that he is in fact personal friends with the drummer from GOD, Matt Whittle, and his and my older brothers were classmates and good buddies with the sadly departed guitarist Sean Greenway...I don't hink he knows any of the Saints...and his autobiography was self-serving with many glaring omissions.
And as for Jay Bennett over looking him for the Guitar Gulag was a poor manouvre.
actually his lack of disclosure was remiss...as was my proof reading...you'd be disappointed if it wasn't.
am relieved at your clarification as had read your comment three times and could not work out if we were both hassling paddy or if I was out on my own.
The song can certainly stand on its own in any comparison with early Saints without me mentioning that I played bass in one of Matty Whittle's bands some years ago. Crafty, I'm happy to say, doesn't have to agree with me but I'd take Lemmy over Dylan any day of the week.
What would Crafty have to say about Silky's introduction of The Scientists?
paddy, I am choosing to ignore your repeated Dylan slights but I challenge you to watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HKz6JNu08Q
and not believe it to be awesome in every conceivable way.
It's just not possible.
really just listen, actually, as there is sadly no vision to accompany it.
As usual I am barely clear on what I am saying and in the hightened state brought on by this post it seems I am a complete mess...please note props due to me for using all my strength not to launch on Silky's introduction of Kim Salmon into the discussion...again, as usual I am impressing myself with my restraint.
One point though, it seems an excellent peice of sophistry by P-Bomb to have turned this into a Lemmy/Dylan comparison through a reference to his own earlier comparison.
The Lemmy/Dylan comparison was the reason for the post. So, Mr Restraint, you can shove your sophistry right up your gulag.
I am not sure this blog has seen this level of vituperation ever. I feel alive!
I had the pleasure of meeting GOD's former manager the other night (he moonlights as a pseudo-colleague of mine). Over several ales he told me he is working on sleevenotes for a forthcoming reissue that will be out soon to celebrate the boys' output. Apparently Joel is not all that interested in the project, which -- apart from half the band being dead -- is part of the reason it has taken so long to happen. Just thought I would pass this on to the fan club.
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