Australian Crawl were a very popular Australian rock/pop band in the first half of the eighties. They released four studio albums and an Ep, along with two live albums in their relatively short lifetime. We'll be going through their recorded output and revisiting their material, or perhaps some folks overseas who are unaware of the band may discover them here.... Who knows? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Format-wise, we'll do an album introduction and then go through a song a day until we get to the end of the band's catalog. We'll probably take a look at Guy McDonough's My Place, and also some of James Reyne's solo material that did particularly well.... not just in Australia, but surprisingly also in Brazil I believe. Saturday's I will post a thread guide for easy reference back to what we have looked at, and Sunday will be a day off from posting, so as not to blaze ahead too quickly, and also give folks who are a bit busy, time to catch up.... it can also lead to some interesting side discussions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The band Spiff Rouch formed in 1976 in the Mornington Peninsula suburb of Mount Eliza on the outskirts of Melbourne. The group lineup featured James Reyne, brothers Bill and Guy McDonough, Paul Williams, Robert Walker and Simon Binks. Reyne had previously played drums for Archie Slammit and the Doors. By early 1978 Spiff Rouch had separated into two groups: The Flatheads (including the McDonough brothers and Walker, along with Sean Higgins and Nigel Spencer) and Australian Crawl. The original lineup for the latter was Reyne as vocalist, Binks on lead guitar, Williams on bass guitar, along with Reyne's younger brother David Reyne on drums and schoolmate Brad Robinson on rhythm guitar. Australian Crawl performed their first live gig in October 1978 and toured the pub circuit. David Reyne left the group in 1979 to finish his acting course, later becoming an actor and TV presenter as well as drumming for Cats Under Pressure and the Chantoozies (1986–1990). He was replaced in Australian Crawl by Bill McDonough. The group's popularity in the Mornington Peninsula area increased with further pub gigs, then they gained audiences with university students and inner city residents. Once the band's escalating popularity brought them into Melbourne they caught the attention of Little River Band's guitarist David Briggs, who helped them gain a recording contract with EMI and he produced their first single. "Beautiful People" (1979) reached No. 22 on the national charts. Reyne had co-written the song with guitarist Mark Hudson in 1975. The track included references to the shallow materialism of residents of Toorak and to the Bombay Rock night club in Brunswick. Just days before recording "Beautiful People" Reyne had been hit by a car on Swanston Street, Melbourne, breaking bones in both wrists, an episode later chronicled in the track "Indisposed". Australian Crawl made one of the most memorable debuts on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV series Countdown performing "Beautiful People" as Reyne still had both arms encased in plaster. "Beautiful People" remains one of their most popular songs according to listeners of Triple M in 2007. We aren't getting into the songs yet, but for the purpose of possibly introducing the band to people who are unfamiliar with them, and also to document this pretty bizarre debut on tv, here is the Countdown clip of Beautiful People As for me.... I loved these guys. they were fun and observant. They often sang about Australian things, somewhat like Skyhooks before them. Though Aus Crawl probably had a broader range, lyrically, than Skyhooks had had. Countdown was a national institution in Australia and every Sunday I watched Countdown without fail as a young pup. It was one of the few places where you could actually hear and see Australian bands, as radio generally stuck with the big international artists, aside from a few stations around the country. Some context for those unaware. Australia is about the same size as mainland USA, but with a stunningly smaller population. In 1980 the entire population of Australia was 14.69 million..... Australia has produced many great bands over the decades, but sustaining them has been difficult, due to such small numbers and the distances needed to travel to get exposure to the population. I grew up in Perth, up there on the left, and it is apparently the most isolated city in the world... for bands in the Eastern States to do shows in Perth, unless they were big bands, they would need to get a decent sized van or two and do the drive. To give you another example. The drive from Adelaide to Perth is about 28 hours, 2695 km or 1675 miles... and aside from a few gas stations, there is absolutely nothing in between. That all may seem like "What are you talking about Mark? What does that have to do with anything?" It's just context for why so many great Australian bands have fairly short careers, unless they break overseas.... and of course the logistics for breaking overseas are another matter altogether... So Australian Crawl were big in Australia, and also did a little bit in New Zealand, but I assume the rest of the world probably doesn't know they exist. I picked up the band's debut album, as many Aussies did, probably in 81. It was a little less punchy rock than I was expecting, but showed a maturity and strength of writing that seemed a little unusual for an Aussie pop band of the day. We'll get into it later when we move into the debut album, but the band's debut album Boys Light Up reached number four on the National Album chart, and remained in the charts for 101 unbroken weeks.... which was pretty amazing for an Aussie band at that time, and is still a pretty big achievement. The album sold over 280,000 copies, which counts as 5x platinum in Australia, and that brings us back to why I posted the geographical and population info up there. To say an album sold 280,000 copies in the US, essentially means it was probably considered a failure. For an Aussie band to sell that many copies in Aus, in 1980, was pretty stunning. Anyway, I hope that some folks will join me on this journey. Aus Crawl were a great Aussie band, that knew how to rock, but were essentially a pop band.... and for anyone looking, at the time, being 1980 onward, no, this isn't a synth band, and it won't really be until their final studio album that we really hear much in the way of eighties production. Hopefully some of my fellow Aussies will join in the ride here, but even more so, I hope some of you folks from outside Aus will lend the guys an ear. As for when we start going through the albums and songs... if we're inundated with posters, I guess I'll start tomorrow. Otherwise I'll let it sit a couple of days for any folks that may be interested to have a chance to see it and join in. Cheers, Mark
@StefanWq ... I think I remember reading you may be interested in playing along with Aus Crawl. @KangaMom If you guys know anyone that will be interested here, please let them know Cheers guys
I saw Australian Crawl play at the Ainslie Hotel in Canberra, in 1979 or 1980 (too long ago to remember accurately). They seemed to have sprung up fully formed and well honed with their own unique sound, but no doubt that came from playing around Mornington.
Yea, I tried to see them in about 84, but it was pub gigs, and I was underage and didn't get in.... not surprising I looked about 12 when I was 15/16 lol ... I often got into the pubs and clubs, but when a gig like that came around, they knew it would fill up, so they didn't turn a blind eye to age. I finally saw them on the Final Wave tour.
I remember watching that episode of Countdown when Beautiful People was first aired. Great band and great TV show!
Thanks for the heads-up, Mark! I’ll make this band my new listen this week! Right after some Angel City!
Thanks for starting this thread - finally, I get to be at the beginning of one of these! Been a lifelong fan, although not particularly knowledgeable about the ins and outs of their history, so I'm looking forward to learning a thing or two from this thread. I just love their music and James Reyne, too. I grew up on these guys. Their music is as much a part of my youth as AC/DC and Cold Chisel. I have lots of favourite songs, hits and deep cuts, but three are particularly meaningful to me; they contain a sort of wistful melancholy that characterises so much Aussie music of that era - I remember we discussed this in the Cold Chisel thread. Downhearted, Reckless and Shutdown. So those are my special Aussie Crawl tunes.
Same. In fact I was an Aus Crawl fan before I was really fully aware of Chisel. I'm a lover of the music, and I know a couple of things, but I really hope we get a Crawl expert that can fill the gaps
Something I hadn't seen before, but it's very live in 1979, and James has his two broken arms, which is so bizarre to see Something I wouldn't have expected Jesus Just Left Chicago
From an international point of view, Australian Crawl released five studio albums, not four. "Semantics" was released as a 10 track LP in North America and in Europe and possibly other territories as well (so it disturbs me a bit when I sometimes see references like "the US version of Semantics" which seems to imply it was only released there). This album had the 4 tracks from the Australian "Semantics" EP plus 6 re-recordings (distinctly new and different recordings with some different instrumentation) of tracks originally released on the first two albums. I lobby for this album to be included in this forum thread as well.
One of the best bands going around in the 80s We were sure spoiled here in Australia with the likes of Cold Chisel, The Angels, Divinyls, and many more. Glad you mentioned the Hooks the Crawl certainly drew on many of the elements that made the Hooks perhaps the best Aussie act of the 70s. Solid solo career had James killer tunes and still out and about touring. One of the most distinctive voice of our time. My contribution to this thread, listen closely, you may recognise the melody used by another with great success later in the decade:
As a yoof in the 80s I was of course immersed in the music of the Oz pub rock scene, and Oz Crawl were a big part of that. Some great tunes with punchy production, although James Reynes' vocal delivery was often parodied. I still give my compilation CD Crawl File a spin every now and then. --Geoff
My Dad bought the Semantics EP on cassette, i remember aside from Reckless it had some pretty solid songs on it. He also went on to buy Reyne's first solo record which again had some good tracks on it from memory This was probably his first Australian music buy as we had moved to Australia that year (1983) And that is my contribution to the thread
Welcome to the forum. You don't need to be an expert on the band to follow the thread. If you have any interest, you can always listen to the posted song of the day, and post your thoughts, if you feel so inclined
So I reckon we'll hit the intro for Boys Light Up, the album tomorrow morning. In the meantime here is a little mini-doco from Countdown that may be of some interest to some folks. It is essentially a little run down of how a song is recorded, mixed stamped and distributed. It uses Aus Crawl recording Beautiful People, their first single, as an example.
Also something a little interesting here. This is apparently from 1979, and it is an early version of Looking For Cool, which will be reworked in 1983 for the Semantics album/EP. There is another song on this video, but I am not familiar with it. So if we do have some Crawl experts around the place, perhaps they can fill us in on the story behind these two tracks.
Saw them live supporting Duran Duran at Wembley Arena in 1983, I remember the set being enjoyable. They fitted well with DD as a support act, sadly I don't think there was a record release in the UK at the time to capitalise on the support slot.
