Totally Biased Fan Review: Kookaburra – The Whitlams and The Black Stump

Track listingedit

1. “Man About a Dog” – 4:07
2. “No Aphrodisiac” (Black Stump) – 2:59
3. “Fallen Leaves” – 3:44
4. “In the Last Life” – 4:39
5. “The Day John Sattler Broke His Jaw” – 4:47
6. “You Sound Like Louis Burdett” (Black Stump) – 4:14
7. “Your Boyfriend’s Back in Town” – 3:23
8. “Nobody Wants to Be You” – 2:06
9. “There’s No One” – 3:35
10. “Blow Up the Pokies” (Black Stump) – 3:43
11. “50 Again” (Black Stump) – 3:21
12. “Witness Protection Scheme” – 2:57
13. “Birds” – 4:54

If you look at Golden Guitars nominations and winners and visitors to Tamworth over the years, many of our favourite Rock and pop music stars are there.

Tim Freedman, his Whitlams and The Black Stump Band are the latest to turn a little country. Paul Kelly, Billy Thorpe, Tim Rodgers, Jimmy Barnes, Diesel, Ian Moss, Wendy Matthews, Andrew Farris, Guy Sebastian, are some of the others.

It is not just Beyoncé seeing the light.

The album is labelled contemporary country but I think that it goes deeper. No Aphrodisiac is one of my favourite Aussie songs of all time but I’m not sure about the banjo version. What I am sure about is that every other song on this album is a gem. It has already given us a hit with a cover of The Day John Sattler broke his jaw. Not included here, but the boys had a hit with Kate Kelly last year with Felicity.

All of these songs have a country element. If it is not in the lyrics, it is in the subject matter or in the tune.

There are some really wonderful songs on here. Tim has always been one of Australia’s best singer/songwriters, but this could have really backfired on him. It hasn’t. If anything, it has enhanced his repertoire and introduced him to an entire new audience.

“I am a parochial lyric writer, and country music has a strong sense of time and place, so clothing my stories in a country music coat seemed like a natural progression to me, I had to scratch that itch and investigate.”^{[2] Tim Freedman said.}

With Rod McCormack and Matt Fell producing, a country conversion couldn’t be in better hands.

Tim has nothing to prove, he is already a legend. This is just an album for fun and joy and experimentation.

There are a few Whitlams do overs but mainly, they are a mix of covers and newbies.

Tim’s love and appreciation for Australia, as always, is reflected in these songs, as much as it is in his usual genre.

I absolutely adore Fallen leaves. It is a standout. In the last life, 50 Again and There’s No one are beauties too.

Not every one can convert a country try but this is an absolute pearler.

Tim has a very distinctive voice. I reckon if he sang opera, you’d pick him in a production. He could probably pull that off too.

Well done fellas.

Totally Biased Fan Review: Live from Echo Mountain – Charles Wesley Godwin EEP

1. “All Again” (Charles Wesley Godwin)

2. “Another Leaf” (Charles Wesley Godwin)

3. “West Of Lonesome” (Charles Wesley Godwin)

4. “Two Weeks Gone” (Charles Wesley Godwin)

5. “Miner Imperfections” (Charles Wesley Godwin, Zach McCord)

6. “Dance In Rain” (Charles Wesley Godwin, Zach McCord)

7. “Willing And Able” (Charles Wesley Godwin)

8. “The Flood” (Charles Wesley Godwin)

One of my favourite albums of last year was Family ties by Charles Wesley Godwin. He has taken 8 of the tracks from that album and has re-imagined them.

It is not your traditional LIVE album – it is not performed in front of a crowd. Other well known artists have recorded at Echo Mountain.

This guy is the real deal. The words and music of Godwin are just getting out there and I predict that this guy is here for the long run. He is doing a lot of touring at the moment.

I hope that he gets time off to record some new songs soon. In the meantime, this will keep us entertained and have us comparing the songs to his previous versions.

He is a special talent. He lets his songs do the talking – they say a lot.

Totally Biased Fan Review: Defining Moments – Shelly Jones Band EEP

1. Dude Or Dud
2. Pocket Full Of Words
3. Coolaroo
4. Dance
5. Love Is Like A River
6. Defining Moments
7. Shop Til I Drop

(EEP – 5-9 songs)

The Shelly Jones Band has been around for a while now, one of Australian Country Music‘s quiet achievers, toiling away, being consistent. They do the festivals – big and small – and are often on the indie country music charts.

Every now and then, they release an EEP or a single. This EEP offers 7 songs which are diverse yet very obviously traditional country.

I first saw these two at a TSA gig at The Post Office Hotel in Tamworth, a few years back! They inject a few different elements into their songs. They can be humorous, often in a satirical way, like Dude or Dud or Shop Til I Drop. They can be storytellers like Coolaroo. They can sing a sweet song like Dance (my personal favourite).

They can get you up on the dance floor, they can make you singalong.

Love is like a river is both lyrically interesting and easy to listen to. Lot of SJB’s songs are like that, you can just enjoy them on face value or dig deeper.

Defining Moments is clever, and appreciated more when you are of an age (like mine) and can relate to similar memories.

The EEP goes quickly, and covers a lot of ground.

Check it out.