INNER
CITY SOUND – Various Artists (Laughing
Outlaw)
It’s
raining Australian 1970s and ‘80s underground compilations if you hadn’t
already noticed and while they’re coming from different directions,
each has a charm all its own. “Inner City Sound” is very much
from the left-of-the-dial. It’s intended to be the musical companion
to the re-
printed
and expanded book of the same name, a collection of zine articles assembled
by long-time Australian writer/TV producer Clinton Walker and first published
back in the mid-80s. It sits neatly as just that. Forty-eight tracks over
two discs and a fold-out family tree make for a value package.
First, to what “Inner City Sound” isn’t and that’s
a complete and comprehensive picture of what the various Oz underground scenes
were over the span of 1975-85. I lapped up the original book of the same name
– went through two copies, so dodgy was the binding job on the first
run - and pored over it for mentions of personal faves, but it was very much
a patchwork of opinions and reviews. Whether you agreed with some of the contents,
it nevertheless filled a very important gap.
Like the book, Clinton Walker brings to this compilation his own likes and
biases. One of the things he never took to when he moved from Brisbane to
Sydney was the so-called Detroit scene and its myriad offspring. There’s
a bit of revisionist stuff to that effect in his confessional and very readable
autobiography/musical history, “Stranded”. If you didn’t
know that, the elemental nod to the genre in this set’s liners is a
dead giveaway. The New Christs’ “No Next Time” looks like
a token inclusion (even though you’re on flimsy ground if you regard
that band as Detroit) and there are minor glitches in the Birdman-related
branches of the family tree. Anyway, deal with it and move on. That's my bitch
and it's now off my chest.
Walker’s musical stirrings began as a boy in Brizzy with his mates the
Saints and they (the “real” Saints, that is) are represented by
“Wild About You”. The Bailey Saints pop up on disc two with “Ghost
Ships”. Both songs are easily procurable elsewhere so you have to ask
why they were included. They do sit well in the tracking anyway. “Ghost
Beat” is there from Ed Kuepper’s Laughing Clowns. Walker was an
avid Birthday Party fan and “Release the Bats” is here. Was this
really one of Kylie Minogue’s fave tunes before she started crooning
with Ol’ Nick? It’s the archetypical Birthday party song I suppose,
if again an obvious choice.
Harder to find is stuff from the likes of *** ***, tch-tch-tch, Voigt/465,
Severed heads (the original “Dead Eyes Opened”), Equal Local,
Machinations (the Phantom single of “Average Inadequacy”) and
Seems Twice, all restored from vinyl. Seems Twice would have given Minuteman
a run for their money with “songs” like “Look At It”
(28 seconds of agitnoise, five seconds of fade out). The electronica/synth-based
material doesn’t rock my boat much, but still sounds well ahead of the
curve and far preferable to the mindlessness of today’s breaks and beats
or whatever the fuck they call it.
What might be regarded as spikey punk’s flag is flown by Razar, the
Leftovers and Last Words. I’m still none the wiser what’s punk
and what’s not and Walker makes some valid points about all those labels
in his notes. (He’s also said in the past that he couldn’t see
the point of some of the stupider aspects of punk). The great X’s representation
is “TV Blues”, a post-Cafeiro song that I personally adore, but
the absence of something from “X-Aspirations” might surprise many.
If you think the two-chord thrash content is a little light on, those Aberrant
compilations are said to be coming down the pipeline in CD re-issue form anyway.
While electronica merits a good look-in, understated/classic pop positively
dominates with Sardine, the Triffids, the Apartments, Sekret Sekret, the Plug
Uglies, the (great) Lonely Hearts and the GoBetweens all here, with lesser-known
songs. It’s the diversions away from the obvious that work best for
me.
The both great and hideous thing about digitisation is that you can set and
forget, so if you have a CD rotel you can slot these discs in alongside “Do
the Pop!”, “Born Out of Time” and “Tales of the Australian
Underground”, crank it up and have a helluva good time. By my rough
reckoning, that’s just shy of seven hours of music, with less than 25
percent duplication.Of course, that would spoil some very clever sequencing
on Disc Two, but you get the point.
You could argue what should or shouldn’t have been included but frankly
it’s a waste of time. If you don’t like it, go burn your own compilation
disc. Fact is that there’s plenty here that’s damn near unprocurable
anywhere else and you don’t have to be Record Collector Scum to enjoy
it. –
The Barman
