Marshall Lore

_{Louide and Charlie Marshall. Supplied.} 

The name Charlie Marshall should be familiar. He was the singer and guitarist in one of Melbourne's legendary outfits, Harem Scarem, beloved in the 1980s for their swamp blues 

Charlie's a sensible chap - knowing that rock'n'roll does't always pay the bills (never mind buy you a house), he has a job, just like most of us. He is a science teacher.

Unlike most of us, he established  The Body Electric, which ran (or, perhaps, may still run) from the early 1990s to about ten years ago, with a variety of fine Melbourne talent, which has released at least five albums. Along the way he's also released another six records with different line-ups. Seems his job doesn't keep him out of mischief.

The calibre of musicians that Charlie has arrayed around him is high: they include Jim White (Dirty Three), Warren Ellis (Fungus Brains, Dirty Three, Nick Cave), Brian Henry Hooper (Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Beasts of Bourbon), Bryan Colechin (The Marching Girls, Hugo Race), Cam Butler, Matt Heydon (Cow Penalty, The Voyeurs), Clare Moore (The Moodists, Dave Graney) and Darren Richard Seltmann (The Avalanches).

And then I listened to, and was mightily impressed by, Charlie's latest album "Gaian Soul" by Family Affair, a duo with his son  And  I thought a few questions were in order.

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• charlie marshall
• harem scarem
• family affair
• gaian soul
• louie marshall
• the body electric

Young Charlatans' legacy laid bare in a stunning time capsule

1978 - Young  Charlatans (Eminent Vinyl)

If you go on YouTube you can see a remarkable clip of two 18-year-old kids, Rowland S Howard and Ollie Olsen, being interviewed by the ABC. As the teenagers walk down St Kilda Road in Melbourne, they are jeered at for looking like aliens with art school aesthetics.  

It was 1978 and a vastly different time in Australia. In the beige, conservative world ruled by the Tories and the Country Party. Every second house had porcelain ducks on its wall and a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd. The Robert Menzies vision of Australia ruled and the fashion mindset embraced Dennis Lillee’s porn star moustache and safari suits.

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• ollie olsen
• rowland s. howard
• 1978
• jeffrey wegener
• young charlatans
• janine hall
• eminent vinyl

Harem Scarem founder Charlie Marshall (and Louie's) Family Affair

Family Affair - Gaian Soul (Charlie Marshall)

Because I've been in a tunnel several years long it's been a while since I reviewed a CD. I won't say I'm out of the tunnel because I'm not. As most music writers know, LP or CD reviews always take up a lot of time (the book I'm currently beavering away at doesn't get much of a chance when reviews come tapping at the door. Poor little thing).

However. I was asked if I would do a CD review to get The Barman out of a hole and I rashly said yes, so this will probably be the last for a while, so there.

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• charlie marshall
• harem scarem
• family affair
• gaian soul
• louie marshall

They're still Not Like Everybody Else

Not Like Everybody Else – The Damned (earMusic)

Growing up in Sydney in the ‘70s, betrothed to the rise of punk music, you and most of your fellow travellers understood that this music had roots.  It did not appear out of vacuum.  It was a folk art built upon a tradition.

While folk art maybe sneered upon by some, it creates a sense of community and shared history.  And punk rock is counter culture.  It celebrates the outsider by counter-intuitively placing the outsider within the shared myth of the outsider.

Humans love our smoke and mirrors.

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• the damned
• brian james
• captain sensible
• not like everyone body else

Asteroid Ekosystem incoming: Alister Spence talks about "Sounds Have Dreams"

 ^{Ed Kuepper (left) and Asteroid Ekosystem with Alister Spence (second from the rigtht). Photo supplied.} 

Back in the day, I never saw The Saints with Ed Kuepper. Partly, because they just never got down to Adelaide, and partly because I was in my early teens when they were burning up the world. 

I didn't even see the first Laughing Clowns tour of Adelaide but did catch the second tour. Completely hooked, after that I saw every Clowns show in Adelaide. 

Traditional bollocks says the Clowns were kinda a jazz outfit. I suppose there were obvious building blocks. But they weren't jazz – and nor were they rock'n'roll. Didn't matter to me, I just danced at every gig, all the way through.

Forty-some years on, I'm a fat wheezy old fart who couldn't dance for half a song without getting puffed and reaching for the Zimmer frame.

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• ed kuepper
• laughing clowns
• the saints
• alister spence
• sounds have dreams
• asteroid ekosystem

It's Alive! Canadian rocker Rich Hope and his red hot band hit the mark

Live At The ANZA Club - Rich Hope (Planned Obsolescence Recording & Novelty Inc)

There was a time when you could walk into a designated rock and roll club in most sizeable North American  cities and try your luck, knowing that you might just stumble on a band that would make it the best night of your month.

It may still be the case in musical hotbeds like Austin and Nashville. No idea because it’s been such a loooong time between long-haul trans-Pacific flights. But that's the scenario that Canadian rocker Rich Hope tried to replicate on “Live At The ANZA Club”.

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• rich hope
• Planned Obsolescence Recording & Novelty Inc
• kive at the anza club

Punk pioneer Brian James bids us ciao

Kicks and Diabolik Licks – Brian James (Easy Action)

As his last will and testament, “Kicks and Diabolik Licks” is Brian James as most fans of The Damned have never heard him.

It’s rock and roll, mostly, stripped right back in places with a dollop of jazz, and most of it is a few steps removed from the punk rock foundation that he helped build and the dark storm that was The Lords of The New Church.

Brian James passed in March 2025 after protracted health issues. Not before he’d re-joined Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies for Damned shows and a one-off with a reconstituted Lords with Michael Monroe subbing for the long departed Stiv Bators.

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• the damned
• lords of the new church
• brian james
• Kicks and Diabolik Licks

Ex-Barracuda Jeremy Gluck and The Ontological Glitch

ARTVO1D
By Jeremy Gluck
(Lulu)

Ah, marvellous. Just what the world needed in its hour (well, decade, really) of self-inflicted demagogues, disgusting abuse of power, torture, wars-that-aren't-apparently-wars-though-that's-not-what-the-poor-bastards-beneath-the-bombs-think, and misery: a six-track EP of new songs by those finger-wagging irrelevancies, U2. Boys? Guys? Your time is OVER. Back to the 1980s with you! 

Not naming any names, but it's a pity more bands formed in the late ‘70s couldn't break up a few decades earlier, perhaps with the lead singer going on to, I don't know, open a bongo shop, somewhere where he wouldn't be recognised. Perhaps ... Bear Island?

Right, well then, if we can just shove through the throng of lemmings-like U2 fans heading for the cliff, I'd like to remind you that the apparently endlessly prolific Jeremy Gluck once fronted The Barracudas, is the last man standing from the “I Knew Buffalo Bill” supergroup LP, and he's got a new art/picture book out: "ArtV01d".

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• the barracudas
• lulu
• artvoid

2025 Top Tens: Melbourne solo and band artist Penny Ikinger

_{Heather McDonald photo}

Joseph Keckler – Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne 
He made my Top Ten last year, and his return only confirms why. Joseph Keckler remains one of the most distinctive voices working today: brilliant, entertaining, and unlike anyone else.

An American singer, musician, performing artist, and writer, Keckler moves effortlessly between absurdist operatic monologues and eerie, emotionally charged ballads. His work is steeped in the unorthodox and the uncanny, balancing dark humour whilst showcasing the breadth of his musical talents—something beyond the ordinary. 

Melbourne musician Rosie Westbrook opened the show with a mesmerising solo guitar set. 

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• new christs
• bob dylan
• tex perkins
• the johnnys
• rob younger
• the beasts
• penny ikinger's marbles
• run run run
• joseph keckler
• rosie westbrook