Ian Dury

[SomebodySomewhere]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Frank_Chickens[/i]
<br>Thanks TM!

It's to that show that I discovered that Aussie bands Liquid Engineers and The Orphans (not the Perth punk band).[/quote]


Don't know who The Orphans were, but I have the Liquid Engineers single (the picture sleeve has a gross drawing of a squid on the cover) and it was all she wrote for them. They were from Melbourne. Lineup was...

Shane Thornton - lead vocals, guitar
Carl Anderson-Dalheim - keyboards
Dale Greenwood - bass
Mick Royle - drums

[TragicMagic]

Howdy there

Countdown was very good (more so the Host, Molly Meldrum) for trying to give prospective up and coming bands some exposure along with highlighting the big names (national and international) of the time.

In these 2 cases I am pretty sure nothing really ever took-off for these bands (in these forms in any case) In Australia.

Australia in 1984 was a-wash with these sorts of bands and many of them vanished as quickly as they appeared it seems.

SomebodySomewhere - I'd imagine you'd be one of a small few who'd still have such an album. Don't think there are many other Aussies around here, but some others may have better recollections of these names than myself!

TM

[SomebodySomewhere]

Just jogged my memory on The Orphans. Have a single of theirs, as well. Amazingly, I actually found it, too. (Will look for Liquid Engineers this week. Shouldn't be too hard to miss that giant squid eye staring at me.) Couldn't stand the A-side ("Hop Skip Jump"), but loved the B-side ("See You"). They should have flipped the sides.


[b]The Orphans - See You[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/15gn0n

[b]The Orphans - Hop Skip Jump[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/iw3ayq


Songs were recorded in Melbourne. This 45 (Rough Diamond/Astor, 1982) has no PS (at least my copy doesn't) so I'm not exactly sure of the band members, but "Hop Skip Jump" was written by one A. Burns and "See You" was written by a C. Crisp. A. Burns is Alexander Burns and C. Crisp is Cres Crisp. Crisp is currently in something called the Riley Jordan Band. They have a myspace page if you want to ask him anything. According to that page, The Orphans were together 1980-1983. Had at least one more single following this one, "Big Ronnie," but I don't think I don't have that one.

[b]ETA lineup (thank you Google):[/b]


Alex Burns - lead vocals
Michael Bright - guitar, vocals
Cres Crisp - keyboards
Alex Batsch - bass
Jim Logan - drums


Rough Diamond was a short-lived label owned by David Briggs (Little River Band) that put out some great music in the early '80s (Young Homebuyers, The Stockings, etc.)

[Frank_Chickens]

Thanks for the info and the tracks SS. HSJ I really like and the flip side is a really nice track. Obviously HSJ had to be the a-side since that was the music of the time and is a unfortunate they only released a couple of singles before disappearing but that's the way things go.

A search for Alex turns up his homepage: http://members.iinet.net.au/~orios/alexburns.html which gives his current whereabouts.

Damn shame that was the only thing LE ever released as they deserved better than that.

[Frank_Chickens]

@TM: Molly is a huge personality down there isn't he? I didn't realise he was so popular.

You're right that at the time there were many similar bands around and they just disappeared into the crowd.

Here are a couple of YouTube accounts to get you into the Aussie scene at the time (although you probably already know them!):

http://www.youtube.com/user/aussie80ss

http://www.youtube.com/user/AussieClassicVideos

The Reels - love will find a way and Deckchairs Overboard - that's the way (even though it's a total mess) on the latter account come recommended.

[Frank_Chickens]

Oh, and one last thing, just found this:

The Orphans: Big Ronnie:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/oj5fs2

[SomebodySomewhere]

Checked "band family trees" (for some additional memory jogging) and I see members of Liquid Engineers, The Orphans [i]and[/i] David Briggs all joined forces in the Melbourne blues supergroup, Vacation in Harlem. Carl Anderson-Dalheim was in Marginal Era afterwards. They were originally from New Zealand, where they put out 3 singles (1 of which was a hit, another of which was a TV theme song). Frontman Paul Agar moved to Melbourne in 1985, got new bandmates (one of whom was Anderson-Dalheim), bigger hair, and released 2 more singles -- and fell flat on their face. Pseudo Echo's Vince Leigh was also there for their 4th single only. Their 5th and last single is pure class. I can't believe it wasn't a hit in Australia. TragicMagic, it's all your fault.


[b]Marginal Era - How Can I Explain[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/cnny4k

[Frank_Chickens]

Interesting to hear what is really the complete story of LE. It's nice to hear that some of them experienced some chart success and yeah TM, it is YOUR fault that the track failed to chart!!

[SomebodySomewhere]

I love that we derailed "toyah's" thread. Nice change of pace. Somebody should start an Australasian Bands thread in Obscure '80s like the New England Bands one.

Can't find my Stockings records at the moment, but here's some other records off the Rough Diamond label. Young Homebuyers were a Melbourne sextet fronted by Nigel Lawrence (Nasty Nigel) and Greg Williams. No Fixed Address were an aboriginal Melbourne sextet fronted by Bart Willoughby. The latter were profiled in the 1981 documentary "Wrong Side of the Road." Young Homebuyers had a self-titled album in '82. The should-have-been-hit (again it's your fault, TragicMagic) "Take One Step" was the first single and "She's a Girl" was the second. No Fixed Address had 2 EPs in '81 and '82. The second one was the one on Rough Diamond. The first one's impossible to find.



[b]Young Homebuyers - Take One Step (single version)[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mc1gwo

[b]Young Homebuyers - Take One Step (album version)[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/opei8f

[b]Young Homebuyers - Showbiz Revolution[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/60bsm6

[b]Young Homebuyers - Every Dog[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/93iwmd

[b]Young Homebuyers - She's a Girl[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/9421jx

[b]No Fixed Address - We Have Survived[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5w4ly1



And before Marginal Era, Paul Agar had Paul Agar & The Set (Auckland, I think). They were labelmates with Car Crash Set. I'm sure that wasn't confusing or anything. The Set had a single in '82 (whose A-side somehow manages to be titled differently on the Australian 7", the New Zealand 7" and Agar's bio), a compilation track in '83 and then split. The comp track, "Mail It to My Heart," is a personal favorite of mine.



[b]Paul Agar & The Set - Mail It to My Heart[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/sansp8

[b]Paul Agar & The Set - Look into Your Eyes[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/fey14u

[b]Paul Agar & The Set - Beat the Night[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lkq1pp



Thanks for digging up "Big Ronnie." After hearing that, I'm not in any rush to pick it up. Maybe the Rolling Stones cover on the flip side is better.

[toyah]

i'm enjoying all this, as are fellow Ian Dury fans, I'm sure;
and early 80s Toyah did well in Autralia, despite the fact that she never toured there...

[Frank_Chickens]

Thanks for the post, SS. Young Homebuyers did some good stuff and Take One Step should have done something but sadly didn't. NFA didn't do anything for me and found PA a bit patchy.

Big Ronnie sounded like a mixture of the a & b-side of their first single, maybe if they could make up their minds about the course they were going to take it would of done something but who knows and as for the cover version I couldn't say but wouldn't imagine it was any worse.

[SomebodySomewhere]

"Help Me" is still AWOL but I dug up my Deckchairs Overboard album if you want to hear anything off that. Ironically, I had the "That's the Way" 45 slipped in the jacket. It was their first 45 and yes it's crap, but the LP is loads better than that. Has 2 great singles ("Walking in the Dark," "Fight for Love") and a just-as-good album cut ("Teach Me to Cry"). "Fight for Love" was a modest hit in Australia. Too bad they split about 10 minutes after it came out.

[Frank_Chickens]

Didn't say I thought 'That's The Way' was bad, just that it was a total mess (which of course adds to the charm). Downloaded all their singles and EP bar for 'Fight For Love' so it would be interesting to hear the best tracks from the album, thank you for the offer. [:)]

As for LQ, it'll turn up when it's good and ready.

[SomebodySomewhere]

Don't know which singles you downloaded - they had 4 (5 if you count "Walking in the Dark" being released twice, with different picture sleeves and B-sides). The late Paul Hester (Split Enz/Crowded House) was their drummer in 1983. And "That's the Way" is definitely crap. I think it actually charted in Australia, too. I have no idea how. The 2nd single, "Shout," was even worse, if that's somehow possible. Hester left after that trainwreck and then frontman John Clifforth discovered melody.

Unlike a lot of the other Aussie acts in this thread, they actually had pretty decent international distribution (through WEA) with records released in Canada, Japan and Germany. Just no American deal.



[b]Deckchairs Overboard - Fight for Love[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/v0n4c7

[b]Deckchairs Overboard - Teach Me to Cry[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gvjfx5

[b]Deckchairs Overboard - It's All in the Game[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/k0im9p

[b]Deckchairs Overboard - Walking in the Dark[/b]
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b1vwg6

[Frank_Chickens]

The singles and EP I have by them are Deckchairs Overboard EP, Carried Away, Shout and Walking in the Dark. I do like "That's The Way". Granted, it's not the greatest single in the world but being a complete mess adds to its charm.

Thank you for posting the tracks, I shall look forward to listening to them. [8D]