Supposedly the original cover for Ego was supposed to be the band playing on the steps of the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne behind barbed wire with teenage girls clambering to get at the band. Someone told me Gudinski had the photo framed in his office for years.
Yea... same blank picture since I posted it. Played before I posted it, after I posted it, and after your post
Okay. Because I’ve seen this happen before with broken links, especially if the video’s claimed or deleted…
Jeff Jenkins’ book “Ego is not a dirty word - The Skyhooks Story” has a whole chapter on the US tour. Want me to select some bits?
I remember when they signed to Mercury they made all these journalists catch a train to Eltham to hear the announcement. The whole thing was broadcast live on radio like the country was going to war.
It was broadcast in real time. You heard the journalists getting on the train and speculating what the announcement was going to be. It was about 3 hours of total monotony. I fell asleep and read about it in the morning paper. The whole point of the thing was it was a 'million dollar ' deal.
Lol. Alas, I guess nobody made a recording anyway… Sorry if I’m a little off today; I’m just super fatigued…
The Other Side. The kids on the street are lookin' at me They wanna cut me down They don't like my energy They don't want me around They think I've gone, over to the other side They think I've cut my hair and swallowed my pride The girl at the table is lookin' at me She wants to hear me speak She wants to get a piece of me I ain't strong but I'm not that weak She thinks I've gone over to the other side She thinks I'm smilin' when I should really hide Everybody's got their problems Everybody's got their blues I got my own solutions For me and not for you Out on the roads they're lookin' for me They wanna shake my hand They wanna try and relate to me But they don't understand That I've gone over, over to the other side They think I told the truth but I really lied That I've gone over, over to the other side They think I told the truth but I really lied Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Steve Hill / Chris (t) Hillman The Other Side lyrics © Me And My House Music I'm guessing this is about becoming an adult, when adult things become more important than the things of youth..... but it is really going to depend on what regard the other side to be.... To some extent I could understand someone thinking that this is some type of gangbanger turned informer or something, with the "They wanna cut me down" type of talk in the lyrics. I think that would be a stretch though, based on some of the other lyrics. Essentially the idea seems to tie into the idea of Whatever Happened to the Revolution, and this works as a sort of example of the type of thing that happened. When we are young we have this high idealism, which is very nice, but generally based in ignorance/innocence, depending on how you want to view it, but here we have someone that has grown up, and doesn't really fit in with the folks he used to... It is sort of balanced out by the fact that although he doesn't fit in with the old group of people, he has people on the other side that want to shake his hand, probably in congratulations on "changing teams" or something, but he isn't comfortable with them either, and is just doing his thing, living his life. We often hear of the "Coming Of Age" movie, but it's a bit of a furphy, because life is a continual journey of coming of age to some degree, and this seems like a song based on that idea. We open the song with some nice arpeggio guitar, and it has a virtually dreamy sound and feel about it, but then it bounces into a more rocky feel, and this seems somewhat like a picture of the two sides. The more mellow, relaxed and technical side, and the more youthful, bouncy, rock n roll side. Over the course of this album, we see a few changes from the original sort of Skyhooks sound and style, from Living In The Seventies. That is a completely natural progression, and will happen to any band that is searching for their thing..... you never find it, you just have these incremental changes in direction as you weave down the road of life, whether in music, or just in life in general..... and I think that also ties into the idea with this song. The verse has this bouncy kind of rock and roll feel, and then in the chorus we have this almost reflective sort of thing going on, and musically we drop in a halftime feel to emphasise that. The bridge takes on this staccato, tacet arrangement and it sort of give pause to some hesitation, and again seems to musically reflect this changing of the ages, and the resistance that we naturally put up as we move through this weird game called life. In the last chorus we have something interesting. That I've gone over, over to the other side They think I told the truth but I really lied I'm not sure of the context here lyrically, but here is what struck me when I was listening to this more closely.... I wondered if this line was inspirational to Nick Cave when he was writing The Mercy Seat .... Perhaps a tip of the hat, perhaps a subconscious thing.... but I would imagine that Nick was aware of Skyhooks. 73-78 was the formative years of Boys Next Door, that would become the Birthday Party, that would fracture into Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and they were essentially a Melbourne band also ... Anyway, just a random speculation. We close out with a neat little bit of instrumental stuff, that is partly riffing and partly lead break, and it fades out nicely. Another good song from Skyhooks and side one ends off a very strong side of music from the guys.
Smart@rse Songwriters. There's a lotta smartarse songwriters Who think they're got the answers I wish they'd all just shut their mouths And get down with the dancers All those fancy words and major thirds Don't mean much to me And if you want me to listen to that Don't tell me no philosophy Oh well there's a lotta smartarse songwriters Who think they're got it down I wish they're all just drop their pens Get up and jump around All those stolen phrases and latest crazes Don't cut no ice with me And if you want me to listen to that Don't tell me your misery I don't wanna hear no love songs, seventy-eight piece Orchestra, girl choirs, fancy session men, multi-track Harmonies, conga drums, moog synthesizers, electric Pop-up toasters, Phase 3 GT Falcons with suckpower... You all know what I want You all know what I need You all know what I gotta have Why don't you gimme some Why don't you gimme some Why don't you gimme some Gimme some of that rock'n'roll melody Gimme some of that rock'n'roll beat Gimme some of that rock'n'roll ecstasy Knock me right off my feet.etc. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah There's a lotta smartarse songwriters Who think they've got the answers... etc. Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Macainsh Gregory J We open up with a rapid fire riff and then drop into a groove. This is a song about a punter who has no interest in a band preaching, doing love songs, being fancy, or pretentious.... they just want some good old rock and roll music, with no trimming. I would be interested if there was any trigger for this lyric. Perhaps some critics review? Anyway, if anyone knows, please let us know. The opening riff is a fast run up and then down melody, that's accented by the drums, and then we drop into a nice rolling groove. Shirl delivers a sort of angry vocal, and the layered rhythm of the groove, with little stabs of lead licks here and there works well. After each verse we move into some cool little instrumental sections that work well to break up the feel and give us some variation and texture. Then we break down into a bass and drums groove, and Shirl takes on the personality of the annoyed punter and makes a little speech, listing all of the things that are annoying him about the current scene. Personally I find this list pretty funny... none of that stuff bothers me one way or the other, but I know many folks feel this way about music. We break it down again and get a bit of a chant going on, and that breaks into a double time feel and then we break back into a repeat of the first verse, end on the opening riff with a cool little ending. I don't really have too much to say about this one, because I think it's pretty self explanatory, but it's a solid track that I like, and I think it generally popped up on the set lists of the band, at least in the first incarnation of the band.
Ok from Jeff Jenkin's book: Elton John announced on LA radio: “In my opinion, Skyhooks are most definitely ‘living in the 70s’. They will succeed… Like in the early 60s, when a place called Liverpool turned the eyes and ears of the world with the Beatles, the 70s could well see Melbourne become the city of tomorrow’s music world.” The $1.5m signing figure was in fact based on the band making 10 albums over 5 years – and the money would be spent on making those albums! Inexplicably, their US label Mercury, released ‘Mercedes Ladies’ as the first single. A local DJ in Jacksonville had been playing their album, as well as an import copy of Living in the 70s. Ego became a top 10 album there. “The kids had come for Skyhooks as much as they had for the Heep. Down the front, kids screamed and mimed an album full of lyrics. One fat boy, flogging himself to death with a copy of Ego, tried to pass Shirley a joint. The crowd went positively bananas. Two encores were required – a third was put off when the band ran out of material. Skyhooks were pleased, Gudinski was ecstatic.” In addition to Uriah Heep, Skyhooks also supported Styx and Joe Cocker at Fayettville in North Carolina. They also supported Sha Na Na and Roxy music. Bongo introduced himself to Little Richard and asked for an autograph. Little Richard said: “And what’s your name?” Bob replied, “My name’s Bongo Starr”. Little Richard replied, “Bongo, Bongo Starr, I like that. I like it a lot.” They sold 40,000 copies of the album and the tour made a $90,000 loss.
