Cold Chisel are an Australian band formed in Adelaide, South Australia. After the usual falling into place of members and ideas they essentially became Cold Chisel in 1974. They relocated to Melbourne to no avail and then Sydney and just as Jimmy Barnes was about to leave the band they had "one of those gigs" and he changed his mind. The following month they were picked up by Warner (June 1977). Jimmy Barnes - lead vocals Ian Moss - guitar and lead vocals Don Walker - keyboard Phil Small - bass Steve Prestwich - drums ============================================== Added on May 18, 2018 as per Mark's request The easy album and song reference list Cold Chisel (the debut) 1978 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 - Juliet - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2- Khe Sanh - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 - Home and broken hearted - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 - One long day - Discover Cold Chisel here One long day live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 - Northbound - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 - Rosaline - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 - Daskarzine - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 - Just how many times - Discover Cold Chisel here Breakfast at Sweetheart's 1979 - Discover Cold Chisel here and supplementary information - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 - Conversations - Discover Cold Chisel here Conversations live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 - Merry-go-round - Discover Cold Chisel here Merry-go-round live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 - Dresden - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 - Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) - Discover Cold Chisel here Goodbye live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 - Plaza - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 - Shipping Steel - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 - I'm Gonna Roll Ya - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 - Showtime - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 - Breakfast at sweetheart's - Discover Cold Chisel here Breakfast at Sweetheart's live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 - The Door - Discover Cold Chisel here The Live Tapes Volume 2 Recorded 1979-released-2014 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 - Shipping steel - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 - Home and broken hearted - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 - Dresden - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 - Conversations - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 - Showtime - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 - The Door - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 - Breakfast at Sweetheart's - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 - Plaza - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 - One long day - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 - Merry-go-round - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 - Wild Thing - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 - Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) - Discover Cold Chisel here East 1980 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 - Standing on the outside - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 - Never before - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 - Choirgirl - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 - Rising sun - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 - My baby - Discover Cold Chisel here My Baby (on countdown) - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 - Tomorrow - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 - Cheap Wine - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 - Best kept lies - Discover Cold Chisel here Best kept lies live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 - Ita - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 - news report and Star Hotel - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 - Four Walls - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 - My Turn To Cry - Discover Cold Chisel here Cold Chisel live at the Manly Vale Hotel 1980 - Discover Cold Chisel here Infamous Countdown/TV week awards ceremony My turn to cry - Discover Cold Chisel here Swingshift 1981 - Discover Cold Chisel here - Discover Cold Chisel here a couple of cover versions from the album Knocking on Heaven's door - Discover Cold Chisel here Don't let go - Discover Cold Chisel here Long as I can see the light - Discover Cold Chisel here Circus Animals - 1982 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 You've got nothing I want - Discover Cold Chisel here lyrics - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 Bow River - Discover Cold Chisel here Bow River - Live - Discover Cold Chisel here lyrics - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 Forever Now - Discover Cold Chisel here lyrics - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 Taipan - Discover Cold Chisel here Taipan live - Discover Cold Chisel here lyrics - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 Hound Dog - Discover Cold Chisel here Lyrics - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 Wild Colonial Boy - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 No Good For You - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 Numbers Fall - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 When the war is over - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 Letter to Alan - Discover Cold Chisel here Live at Rockpalast 1982 - Discover Cold Chisel here Barking Spiders Live 1983 - Discover Cold Chisel here a couple of tunes from the album It's Only Make Believe - Discover Cold Chisel here Taipan - Discover Cold Chisel here Georgia (on my mind) - Discover Cold Chisel here The Last Stand - 1984 Discover Cold Chisel here a few tunes from the album/concert video Standing on the outside and Cheap Wine with Doco inserts - Discover Cold Chisel here Flame Trees - Discover Cold Chisel here Khe Sanh - Discover Cold Chisel here Twentieth Century - 1984 Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 Build This Love - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 Twentieth Century - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 Ghost Town - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 Saturday Night - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 Painted Doll - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 No Sense - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 Flame Trees - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 The Only One - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 Hold Me Tight - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 Sing To Me - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 The Game - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 Janelle - Discover Cold Chisel here track 13 Temptation - Discover Cold Chisel here The end of Chisel phase 1 - and some solo album info - Discover Cold Chisel here A page of compilation albums and box sets - Discover Cold Chisel here Teenage Love - 1994 A compilation of unused studio tracks and demos - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 Hands out of my pocket - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 Nothing but you - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 When the sun goes down - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 Suicide Sal - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 It ain't wrong - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 Teenage love affair - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 Monica - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 Mona and the preacher - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 Drinkin' in Port Lincoln - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 Payday in a pub - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 Metho Blues - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 Yesterdays - Discover Cold Chisel here track 13 Notion For You - Discover Cold Chisel here track 14 F111 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 15 A little bit of daylight - Discover Cold Chisel here Jimmy Barnes - Daylight - Jimmy Barnes the album thread - FTWCM version - Jimmy Barnes the album thread Track 16 The Party'sOver - Discover Cold Chisel here The Last Wave Of Summer - 1998 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 Mr Crown Prosecutor - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 The Things I Love In You - Discover Cold Chisel here Things I Love In You - live - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 Baby's On Fire - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 This Time Round - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 Bal-A-Versailles - Discover Cold Chisel here Bal-a-Versailles - live 1998 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 Yakuza Girls - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 Once Around The Sun - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 Somewhere in the Silence - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 By My Side - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 Water Into Wine - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 Never Stop Loving You - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 Red Sand - Discover Cold Chisel here track 13 Angel In My Room - Discover Cold Chisel here track 14 Pretty Little Thing - Discover Cold Chisel here Pretty Little Thing - live 1998 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 15 Someone Caught My Eye - Discover Cold Chisel here track 16 He Can't Believe It's Over - Discover Cold Chisel here track 17 Way Down - Discover Cold Chisel here track 18 This Big Old Car - Discover Cold Chisel here Big Old Car - Live 2003 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 19 So Hard - Discover Cold Chisel here track 20 Last Wave Of Summer - Discover Cold Chisel here Ringside - 2003 - Discover Cold Chisel here A few tunes from Ringside Home and broken hearted - Discover Cold Chisel here Rosaline - Discover Cold Chisel here My Baby - Discover Cold Chisel here Hound Dog - Discover Cold Chisel here Plaza - Discover Cold Chisel here Four Walls - Discover Cold Chisel here Lovelight - Discover Cold Chisel here When The War Is Over - Discover Cold Chisel here All I Wanna Do - Discover Cold Chisel here Flame Trees - Discover Cold Chisel here Bow River - Discover Cold Chisel here Water Into Wine - Discover Cold Chisel here Goodbye - Discover Cold Chisel here No Plans - 2012 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 No Plans - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 Everybody - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 All For You - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 HQ454 Monroe - Discover Cold Chisel here HQ454 Monroe - Live 2012 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 Dead And Laid To Rest - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 Missing A Girl - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 Too Late - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 I Gotta Get Back On The Road - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 Our Old Flame - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 This Day - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 Summer Moon - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 The Horizon - Discover Cold Chisel here track 13 I got things to do - Discover Cold Chisel here Perfect Crime - 2015 - Discover Cold Chisel here track 1 Alone For You - Discover Cold Chisel here track 2 The Backroom - Discover Cold Chisel here track 3 All Hell Broke Lucy - Discover Cold Chisel here track 4 The Perfect Crime - Discover Cold Chisel here track 5 Long Dark Road - Discover Cold Chisel here track 6 Four In The Morning - Discover Cold Chisel here track 7 The Mansions - Discover Cold Chisel here track 8 Toast of Paris - Discover Cold Chisel here track 9 Shoot The Moon - Discover Cold Chisel here track 10 Mexican Wedding - Discover Cold Chisel here track 11 Get Lucky - Discover Cold Chisel here track 12 Bus Station - Discover Cold Chisel here track 13 Lost - Discover Cold Chisel here Cold Chisel Live 2015 - Discover Cold Chisel here Some early stuff and some rare stuff On The Road - Discover Cold Chisel here Bunny's Blues - Discover Cold Chisel here Guilty (Randy Newman cover) Discover Cold Chisel here Home and Broken Hearted - Live 1976 - Discover Cold Chisel here When The War Is Over - Bootleg live footage from 2015 - Discover Cold Chisel here In the early months of 1978 they recorded their first album simply titled Cold Chisel. The first single released off the album was the iconic "Khe Sanh" (in Australia at least) and was instantly deemed too offensive for airplay. Over the next few days, weeks, whatever, I'm going to go through some Cold Chisel songs and albums for anyone who may like to discover a great and original rock band from Australia.
Not a huge fan of Chisel but love "Flame Trees" ,the best one IMO. Also like "Cheap Wine" "Choir Girl" "Forever Now". One of the iconic Australian bands
The first album cover, like the music within was a little underdone. Some good songs, some even great, but they were still getting a feel for recording and writing. One thing that wasn't underdone was their ability to play live. As anyone in the Australian music scene of the seventies knows, live was where it all counted.
wow I never knew footage of this song existed... Tis off an EP called your 13 your beautiful, your mine which is a collectors item.
Breakfast at Sweetheart's Starting to gain momentum the band was back in the studio in July 1978. They had released a live E.P. in between (you're thirteen, you're beautiful and you're mine) with five songs "one long day", "home and broken hearted", "merry-go-round", "mona and the preacher" and "wild thing". The title is a parody of the song "you're sixteen" by the sherman brothers, which was popularized in 1960 by johnny burnette and in 1973 ringo star. Barnes later said, "At this stage we were listening to jerry lee lewis and somebody suggested we call the EP 'You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're Mine' after the Jerry Lee Lewis song. I thought because Jerry Lee married his 13-year-old cousin.... (although obviously not written by Jerry Lee) Walker later said the title was "dreamed up at a drunken recording session, and obviously ten thousand other people thought it was funny too. Sweetheart's was a cafe in Sydney's notorious King's Cross and the album has the gritty reality reflected in its songs. The album was recorded over six months during a constant touring schedule that was wearing on the band. Don Walker said, "It was a very bad low point for the band. We were constantly touring and when we got a weekend off we were thrown into the studio and expected to be creative." The results were very good and Sweetheart's went on to be nominated for best Australian album at the 1979 countdown music awards, even though the band received very little radio airplay and no real support from countdown (which was revisited when Chisel's next album went stellar and they played the countdown awards show of that year ... more on that later) The album had been produced by Richard Batchens, who wanted to shave the harder edge of chisel off and polish them up. The band doesn't look back favourably on the album due to the tension between them and the producer. Barnes said, "There are really great songs on that record, but it wasn't the most enjoyable recording process. We wanted to go into Studio One at Alberts, where ac/dc and the angels were doing great records. We booked, but couldn't get in, so we ended up in Studio Three, which was a new studio and didn't have the same atmosphere."Barnes said of the album, "Breakfast at Sweethearts stunk, and you can spell that f-*-c-k-*-d." Walker said, "he (Batchens) made it quite clear to me that they weren't as good as Richard Clapton's songs." Barnes added, "We went into the studio with him and it was absolutely disastrous - we were in a **** room with this bad tempered c*nt. But don't quote me. Don't say he was bad tempered." Reviewers of the album disagreed with Batchen's view of Chisel's songs ... Allmusic stated "the songs on this album may comprise the best set of any of the band's non-compilation studio discs," but notes, "it is a masterpiece tainted by a poor recording job." The reviewer notes, "Don Walker's songwriting -- and his storycrafting around local references -- could engage a listener underwater." The album is given a score of four stars from a possible five.
There's some stuff to digest and get a feel for Chisel. Next we will get into the album East where the band exploded onto the Australian charts and stamped their name down in Australian rock history. Feel free to post any favourites from these two albums and please add any information of worth that I may have missed. This is the first time I have attempted anything like this, so I could use all the help I can get. @Kingsley Fats - I reckon you may have stuff to add mate.
This Randy Newman cover is only released on the New Zealand version of Shipping Steel under the wrong title of Plaza.
Cheers mate ... love chisel. I hope to spread the word overseas, cause they're missing out over here. Any input you have, feel free to add it in. Tomorrow will be east.
Great band - Jimmy Barnes' voice wasn't damaged then. Many world class albums to discover here, folks!
If there is any interest here, i may do barnesy's solo stuff next. Throw catfish and matchbook in as well ... idk we'll see
For anyone who is new to Cold Chisel one important thing to note is, don't listen to one song and think you don't like the style or whatever. Chisel covered an awful lot of bases with there music, hard rock, classic rock, blues, country.... They were blessed with the songwriting skills of Don Walker and as the band progressed every member contributed very valuable songs to the repertoire and they grew better with each passing album.
Listening to the Guilty video we can not overlook Ian Moss' vocals as an alternative to Jimmy Barnes. I first heard Cold Chisel through the Khe Sanh single & then the Breakfast at Sweetheart's album. I mangaged to see them a number of times in concert situations including a couple of times at the magnificent Perth Concert Hall. My cousin lived in Elizabeth South Australia an outer suburb with a large migrant population including Scots such as the Barnes/Swan family & my relatives.John Swan, Jimmy Barnes older half brother, was a friend of my cousins. Jimmy was regarded as Johns dickhead younger brother.
