Hunters and Collectors Album thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Jun 10, 2018.

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  1. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    I love the first couple of H&C albums, but didn't really keep up with them after they became a more straight forward pop band. I'll follow this thread and see what I missed though.
     
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  2. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    More of a hunter myself, love hunting for vinyl or CDs( the chase), bit of a collector as well.has to be something tasty.
     
  3. Cushlamay

    Cushlamay Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Ghost Nation is worth having...a couple of fillers but worth it . After human frailty this is the only return to form. Saw them at their breakup gig eons ago at the powerstation in Auckland. One of the most pumped gigs I have ever been to. Those horns!! :)
     
  4. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    I have Fate on CD. It's the sort of band I never see in the used bins.
     
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  5. fRa

    fRa Conny Olivetti - Sound Alchemist

    Location:
    Sweden
    Love the first four albums, very good!
    Nothing compares to what they did on these.
    Lost interest when they became more "normal" rock band, if that makes sense
     
  6. Dingo

    Dingo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    HORN OF PLENTY is one of the best packages ever produced. Everything you could want from " The Hunners" ( as they were known in Oz), in a reproduction of a humidor, sliding drawers and all.
    H&C as a live act were immensely powerful, and I cannot think of any band from the U.S. or Europe who remotely resembled them.
    For a taste, you cannot go wrong with " Talking to a Stranger" from the early days, or " When the River Runs Dry" from GHOST NATION.
    Their failed effort to gain an audience in the U.K. is crypticly told in " Holy Grail' , ironic as it gets used to promote Australian Rules Football, with no one getting the cynicism of the lyric.
     
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  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The Fireman's Curse
    [​IMG]
    Studio album by Hunters & Collectors
    Released
    5 September 1983
    Recorded June–July 1983
    Conny’s Studio, Neunkirchen, Germany
    Genre Rock
    Length 40:04
    Label White/Mushroom, Virgin
    Producer Konrad Plank, Hunters & Collectors
    Hunters & Collectors chronology
    Hunters & Collectors
    (1982) The Fireman's Curse
    (1983) The Jaws of Life
    (1984)
    Singles from Hunters & Collectors
    1. "Judas Sheep"
      Released: August 1983
    2. "Sway"
      Released: November 1983
    The Fireman's Curse
    [​IMG]
    1991 version (White Label/Mushroom)
    The Fireman's Curse is the second studio album by Australian rock band, Hunters & Collectors, which was released on 5 September 1983. It was co-produced by Konrad Plank and the band in Neunkirchen, Germany. The album peaked at No. 77 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and No. 46 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. The lead single, "Judas Sheep", was released in August that year but failed to reach the Top 50 on the Australian singles chart, however it peaked into the top 40 in New Zealand.

    The Fireman's Curse was prepared in June and July 1983, Hunters & Collectors had decamped from United Kingdom, where they had been based while touring Europe for six months,[1] to Neunkirchen, West Germany. There they recorded their second album, which was co-produced with Konrad 'Conny' Plank (Can, Cluster, Kraftwerk), at Conny’s Studio, with Dave Hutchins engineering. It was released by White Label/Mushroom Records and Virgin Records on 5 September 1983.[2][3]

    [Virgin] picked us up because of our commercial potential, because of our image. They saw us as having a groovy tribal funk post-nuclear Mad Max image. In actual reality ... we looked like a football team, like Australian boys. When they heard The Fireman's Curse (the second album), they dropped us because they didn't think it was commercial.

    — Mark Seymour (27 April 1986), The Canberra Times[4]
    In Seymour's autobiography, Thirteen Tonne Theory: Life Inside Hunters and Collectors (2008), he recalled that their three-record deal with Virgin was broken when he and fellow band members insulted the label's executive, Simon Draper, by telling him that he was "a poncy little blueblood" with no faith in them.[5][6] While in the UK and attempting to enter the local market, the group's members "were doing odd jobs, illegally, to keep afloat and getting steadily more miserable in the process".[7] In the book, Seymour also describes this album as "an unmitigated disaster; an awful collection of tuneless songs full of twisted invective (mine, mostly) and apocalyptic moaning... The whole exercise was excruciatingly juvenile and a tragic waste of what could easily have been an international breakthrough record."[5]

    The album did not reach the top 50 in Australia, peaking at No. 77 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart but it did reach No. 46 on the New Zealand Albums Chart.[8][9][10] Its lead single, "Judas Sheep", released in August,[1]reached No. 35 in New Zealand but did not chart in Australia.[8][10] They had supported their releases with an eight-week tour of Australia during August and September.[1] After the second single, "Sway", released in November, failed to chart in both markets,[8][10] the group disbanded briefly.[2][5]

    In July 1991 it was re-issued on CD by Mushroom Records and was subsequently re-mastered and re-issued by Liberation Music on 11 August 2003.

    Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt The Fireman's Curse was "overly ambitious and cluttered, and generally suffered from a lack of fresh ideas".[2] Fellow music journalist, Mark Dodshon of The Sydney Morning Herald, predicted that it was "a likely winner" with their new material showing "there are no radical departures in musical style"
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Prologue
    This is a short intro to the album. It takes the form of quite a beautiful horn arrangement.
     
  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Curse
    A steady beat leads us into this song with with some quiet instrument sounds sitting way back. When the vocal kicks in the instruments become more prominent and the songs starts to take form. The band has all the instruments layered in a stew and then as the intensity is building up to bursting point we drop back down for the return of the vocal. A good and very interesting start to the album.


    Lyrics
    Good evening friends
    Better come gather round here on this Sabbath Sunday
    Come on and slap your hands
    There's a hot wind and it's blowing through our town
    After the storm, after the fire
    Don't teach your boys to kill
    And when is the storm?
    When is the fire?
    When all your women are still
    I say when all your women are still
    Curse it hard, curse it good
    Make a lesson and nail its hide to the neighborhood
    I say curse it hard, curse it good
    Make a lesson and nail its hide to the neighborhood
    Neighborhood
    And I took a blanket
    And I wrapped it around her, around her sweet old head
    Down in the river, that's where I found her
    Now pretty soon now she's going to be dead
    So after the storm, after the fire
    Don't teach your boys to kill
    Hear me, when is the storm?
    When is the fire?
    When all your women are still
    I say when all your women are still
    So curse it hard, curse it good
    Make a lesson and nail its hide to the neighborhood
    Curse it hard, curse it good
    Make a lesson and nail its hide to the neighborhood
    Hear me, neighborhood
    Neighborhood
    Good evening friends
    Better come gather round here on this Sabbath Sunday
    Come on and slap your hands
    There's a hot wind and it's blowing through our town
    After the storm, after the fire
    Don't teach your boys to kill
    When is the storm?
    When is the fire?
    When all your women are still
    So curse it hard, curse it good
    Make a lesson and nail its hide to the neighborhood
    Hear me spank it hard, spank it good
    Make a lesson and nail its hide to the neighborhood
    I say neighborhood
    In my neighborhood
    Neighborhood
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Fish Roar
    This songs starts with a bizarre and obviously sarcastic vocal. Then an excellent and very different guitar pattern kicks in. This song has so much going on it can be a little overwhelming. Still it is well written and coherent, but just barely. The band were stretching here for something different. They certainly got it, as to whether it was worth the reach is always going to be subjective opinion.


    Lyrics
    I asked her to sing in her
    Fish-roar voice with her lions-mane hair
    But she said NO
    Bend me like a long-horn and ride me way out west
    I'm burning up, I'm burning up, I'm burning up
    And there's dead-skin in my bed
    Under a bomber's moon she pouts, she frowns
    Exudes a dead-leaf smell and drags me down
    I refleshed her bones and I built a house of skin
    I knocked upon her dog-woman head and let some humor in
    Under a bomber's moon she pouts, she frowns
    Exudes a dead-leaf smell and drags me down, and my level up
    Bend me like a long-horn and ride me way out west
    I'm burning up, I'm burning up, I'm burning, burning, burning, burning
    And there's dead-skin in my bed
    I asked her to sing in her
    Fish-roar voice with her lions-mane hair
    But she said
    But she said no
    Bend me like a long-horn and ride me way out west
    I'm burning up, I'm burning up, I'm burning, burning, burning, burning
    And there's dead-skin in my bed, in my bed
    In my bed, sleepy head
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Blind Snake Sundae
    The band again remind me of the Birthday Party here with the aggressive yet atmospheric intro and some poetry yelling from Seymour and then the song breaks into a song. The band at the stage were pushing boundaries and for the most part succeeding here.


    Lyrics
    I hear a little voice
    And it comes winging in over the sea of a thousand fat faces
    The little voice whinges for something loud and heavy
    A little line of beer running down his chinny-chin
    Oh my god what a fat little skin
    And I smell something cooking
    Something soft, something sweet
    Something completely ridiculous
    In the beginning was the word
    It come to scrape away the shell-shock
    And I says shake it, shake it, shake it
    For another five minutes
    And we are blowing it up like shell-shock
    And to this fabulous waste
    Come and deliver yourselves
    I says come and eat up something
    Deliver yourselves
    With wet cherries on a Blind Snake Sundae
    And to this fabulous waste
    Come and deliver yourself
    Oh come and leave all your food lying down in the dust
    And listen to the Cook-House rock
    I said listen to the Cook-House rock
    Listen to it, listen to it, listen
    Listen to the Cook-House rock
    I hear another little voice, same as before
    Except a little bit poorer and wasted
    Winging for something loud
    By god you're fat boy, fat
    Beer dribbling down your weak little chin
    I will not let you in
    And yes, again I smell something cooking
    Something small and weak
    And completely ridiculous
    And to this fabulous waste
    Come and deliver yourselves
    I says come and clean up something
    Deliver yourself
    With a wet cherry on a Blind Snake Sundae
    And to this fabulous waste
    Come and deliver yourself
    I says leave all your food lying down in the dust
    And listen to the Cook-House rock
    I says listen to the Cook-House rock
    Listen to it, listen to it, listen
     
  12. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    The Hunna's first appearance was in the Fast Forward cassette magazine which included a demo version of World of Stone. A bit later a soundboard recording of a complete concert at The Jump Club in Collingwood was being sold at the import shop which was basically the World of Stone EP and most of the first album and a never released song called The Rendering Room. The interesting things about the tape is the absence of the brass section making it a really skeletal performance and the audience knows the words to Run Run Run and Loin Clothing.

    The Hunters' first gig was a benefit concert for visiting musician Snakefinger who had a heart attack on an Australian tour. A couple of songs are included on the Horn of Plenty box but the whole concert has been online and most of the songs seem underrehearsed and are basically played until they fall apart.

    World of Stone was popular a long time before it came out. Comedy duo Los Trios Ringbarkus used to do it (complete with gas cylinder) as part of their act.

    The single edit of Talking To A Stranger was withdrawn and remixed (TWICE!!) if it's got a picture sleeve it's probably the withdrawn original mix. If it's in a plain white bag check the matrix number because it's either one of two slightly different mixes.(the version on the US version of Collected Works sounds different again) The story is that it sold enough for a significant chart position but withdrawing it made it sell a negative amount.
     
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  13. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    Between The Jetsonnes and Hunters & Collectors Mark, Ray, Greg and John (allegedly) played in Peter Lillie's Guitar Method. Greg played his guitar as a percussion instrument with knives and drumsticks. The idea was playing in a guitar orchestra would tighten up their playing. It worked.
     
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  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Your posts are always appreciated mate. Cheers
     
  15. kozy814

    kozy814 Forum Resident

    I am a sucker for the Living Daylights EP.
     
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  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  17. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident

    Yes, I had that. Those songs are included on the Human Frailty CD even they though they weren't on the LP. We're getting ahead of the OP though.
     
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  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Im not sweatin' it lol. I like the early stuff, but human frailty is just awesome
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Mr Right
    Another sonic assault from the band here. A little more focused than some of the tunes on the album.


    Lyrics
    I says hey old mother-fixed balding boy
    Here's one good goon that we can't blame

    Hey they all cry
    Here's one for the fruit-bin

    Look at him, look at him, look, look, look
    La la la

    Twas a shrivelled fruit on a wrinkled
    Sack sack sack
    Thinks my god, did I marry
    That that that?

    She canned that marriage
    Out of sight
    When she found a testicle
    In the mouth of Mr Right

    Look at him, look at him, look, look, look
    La la la

    I says hey old mother-fixed balding boy
    Here's one good goon that we can't blame

    Hey they all cry
    Here's one for the fruit-bin

    Look at him, look at him, look, look, look
    La la la

    Twas a shrivelled fruit on a wrinkled
    Sack sack sack
    Thinks my god, did I marry
    That that that?

    Look at him, look at him, look, look, look
    Look at him, look at him
    Shake shake shake
     
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Sway
    The band lays back a little here with less of a wall of sound and some nice atmospherics that give the song some room to breath.


    Lyrics
    Slave, moan and sway
    All around the world you
    Slave, moan and sway
    Well I drove the Ute to the paper mill
    Where my brother is slaving still
    Messing around with the thick end of a screw
    Turning it and feeding it through
    To the steel above
    Big steam below
    When the process breaks down
    Nobody knows
    Where are the prizes to be next time he comes around?
    Where are the prizes to be next time he goes...
    Dancing to the rhythm of a falling sound
    Till the walls around the mill come tumbling down
    Slave, moan and sway
    Sing it
    All around the world you
    Slave, moan and sway
    Young bloods and sweethearts
    Slave, moan and sway
    So I drove the Ute to the paper mill
    Where my, where my brother is slaving still
    He's messing around with the thick end of a screw
    Turning it and feeding it through
    To the steel above
    Big steam below
    When the process breaks down
    Nobody knows
    Where are the prizes to be next time he comes...
    Dancing to the rhythm of a falling sound
    Till the walls around the mill come tumbling down
    Slave, moan and sway
    Sing it
     
  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Judas Sheep
    This song starts of with an almost Papa Was a Rolling Stone feel and sound. Probably the most accessible song on here and probably why it was released as a single.


    Lyrics
    I says mother I have lost my arms
    Lost my arms
    She says, use your charms son
    Use your charms
    And I says smell that fear mother
    Smell that fear
    She says off your knees son
    Off your knees
    Well, our friend the Judas sheep
    He's dressed up like a compost heap
    Our friend the Judas sheep
    To the top, top, top of the heap
    We are tentacle wrapped in memories
    Memories
    Down in the dark we stumble happy
    Happy
    We are wet to the skin
    Wet to the skin
    Free from sin
    Free from sin
    Oh father forgive this state we're in
    State we're in
    Because our friend the Judas sheep
    He's dressed up like a compost heap
    Our friend the Judas sheep
    To the top, top, top of the heap
    And I said our friend the Judas sheep
    Today's companion tomorrow's fresh meat
    I says mother I have lost my arms
    Lost my arms
    She says, use your charms son
    Use your charms
    And I says smell that fear mother
    Smell that fear
    She says off your knees son
    Off your knees
    We are tentacle wrapped in memories
    Memories
    Down in the dark we stumble happy
    Happy
    We are wet to the skin
    Wet to the skin
    Free from sin
    Free from sin
    Oh father forgive this state we're in
    State we're in
    State we're in
    Our friend the Judas sheep
    He's dressed up like a compost heap
    Our friend the Judas sheep
    To the top, top, top of the heap
    And I said our friend the Judas sheep
    Today's companion tomorrow's fresh meat
    I says mother I have lost my arms
    Lost my arms
    She says, use your charms son
    Use your charms
    And I says smell that fear mother
    Smell that fear
    She says off your knees son
    Off your knees
    We are tentacle wrapped in memories
    Memories
    Down in the dark we stumble happy
    Happy
    We are wet to the skin
    Wet to the skin
    Free from sin
    Free from sin
    Father forgive, father forgive, father forgive
    State we're in
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Eggheart
    a swirling mass of effects and instruments coming in and out of focus lead us through the start of this song. Seymour sings over the top of this melange while the bass and drums keep it held together underneath.


    Lyrics
    This song is dedicated to the sacred beaches of this great nation
    Where fifty thousand naked men and women prime their bodies
    With intensive care barrier cream and confront the liquid universe
    So we're lying around upon hot sand
    The health food of a nation's cream
    Inside our wet skin and
    Here comes the great sun-struck question
    Hear it go twisting, twisting
    Yeah one little sun-struck question
    And it goes twisting, twisting
    Oh yeah and yeah again
    Well it's a real head song this one
    Oh yeah, yeah, yeah
    Well it's a real brain song this one
    Now what is this sun-struck object
    Inside your ice-cream eyes
    Yeah one little sun-struck object and
    We won't let it sweat, we won't let it cry
    Let it sweat, let it cry
    And with some old egg-heart trouble
    I say give-me-gas
    Give-me-gas
    Hear my hard boiled egg-heart beat
    We go twisting!
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Drinking Bomb
    The drums lead us into this one and a bass comes in sounding like the bassist is snapping the string hard to bounce against the fretboard. Then a guitar plays a melody over that. The vocal comes in as the density of the music increases to disorienting proportions. It gives the feeling of being a little too drunk at a wild party.


    Lyrics
    I'm on a sixty-five year holiday
    Oh sleepy day, ungrateful night
    Kissing the bricks in the afternoon
    Go, go, go, go dead slow
    So we'll never, never work again
    No, no, no
    Never, never work again
    No, no, no
    And if I had a hammer
    How little I could do
    And if I had a lover
    Likewise
    Oh sleepy day, ungrateful night
    Come with me now
    And we'll drink this dream away
    I'm going to flood the national debt
    With a drinking bomb, drinking bomb
    Oh, it's such a hard option
    One foul pint of consumer based recovery
    Four beds to a room, and counting
    And we'll never, never work again
    No, no, no
    Never, never work again
    No, no, no

     
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