Share OUT OF THE DARKNESS: SLEEPLESS, SINGLES & OTHER STORIES - Ups & Downs (Feelpresents)
Here's a group of Sydney-via-Brisbane paisley-popsters-turned-dark-enigmas who were typical of the best, and worst, things that befell bands in the Australian underground in the late '80s. The major labels went a' hunting, and bought a bunch of acts that they had absolutely no idea what to do with. They then promptly wiped most of them like a baby's bum.Face the facts you retired old label veterans: If you were working in marketing for a major record companyl in Australia back then you probably weren't any good at your job. You'd moved on from promoting Beta format VCR. You'd studied Marketing at a private college that your parents paid to put you through and had written an assignment on the Leyland P-76 and the Edsel. It sucked to be you, so you compensated by snorting expense account lines of coke from nightclub toilet cisterns and fucking up the fortunes of totally fine, if sometimes gormless, young bands.
Enter an act like Ups & Downs. Janglier than an A & R man's nerve endings after a double expresso and chocolate milk splurge on a post-Manzil Monday morning, they had their hearts in the music of the '60s and eyes on the prize (whatever it was.) Just getting a record out was almost enough for most.
Ups & Downs made their mark in their home-town, quickly outgrew Brisbane and moved to Sydney. Their '60s/Paisley Underground sparkle was offset by moody lyrics and minor chord darkness. Their first recordings were crackers - their EP ("Sleepless") topped local indie charts and scored US college airplay - but of course their label, True Tone, wanted a Neil Diamond cover to send them crashing over the barriers and into the mainstream. They put it out as a filmclip. They should have said "Fuck that for a joke" but they didn't. You and I probably would have done the same.
In time, Ups & Downs would end up on an even bigger label in Mushroom, have some success, lose the plot a little and be ignominiously shuffled out of the deck, to return to relative obscurity. I thought they were more than OK as a live band but their songs sometimes bounced all over the quality spectrum. Besides, they dabbled in samples and those horrible synths, a self-induced act provoked by some of those faceless UK bands that used to come out to Australia during our summers. I wouldn't bat much of an eyelid now but I seem to remember (and the well-written liners by main-man Greg Atkinson attest) that this directional change only pissed off old fans and alienated others not so committed. Just like when the Flaming Hands fell in with the evil combination of a major label and INXS members. Now, THAT would enough to leach out anyone's soul.
This collection spans all of Ups & Downs' career - from early killer tracks like "Sleepless" to the "hits" like "Lit By The Fuse" and "Moments Away." You can gripe about the gimmicky sample in the former and the big rock sounds of the latter, but the best songs here have aged well and some sound better than back in the day. Greg Atikinson wrote some terrific songs and the yin and yang within the pick of them made the band stand out.
There's a bit of "ups and downs" about the more recent material (circa 1990), much of which was previously unreleased, but the older diehards will probably take to it. To these ears, it isn;'t quite as urgent soiunding as the earlier material. Perhaps the band had seen the end of the tunnel by then. In one sense, it took them back to what they once were.
This is a mighty solid collection and a reminder that Ups & Downs probably deserved a better hand than the one fate dealt. - The Barman
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