It’s been a while since I did a music post on here - actually, it’s been a while since I posted; I’ve been hard at work on the I Feel Dirty single (announcement tomorrow about that, actually) and redesigning my online stuff and haven’t had time to use my typing muscles.

BUT, I scored a bunch of records from the second hand shop around the corner from my house today. All great Australian stuff; Peter Allen’s Taught By Experts, INXS’ Listen Like Thieves, The Triffids’ Born Sandy Devotional, Skyhooks’ Living In The 70’s and what a fairly obscure collection of late 80’s Kylie Minogue 12” mixes. I’m a big fan of extended club remixes from the late ’80s, the way some of those awful-tastic pop tunes sound when spread over five or more minutes is a beautiful thing.

LP Cover: Look! It’s Mandurah before the CUB’s!

Now that I’ve managed to pull myself away from Kylie, I’m getting deep into The Triffids. They’re a Perth band from the 80’s, if you’re from out of town - if you’re from here I’m probably stating the obvious. I’ve had (and grown to rather love) thier record Calenture for years, oddly enough after Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Little did a pretty great cover of Bury Me Deep In Love about a decade ago. For ages people have been telling me to get into their other stuff, but I underestimated how right they were. The songwriting and arrangements are perfect.

Sorry, I’m not being very articulate. I’ve been writing my own press releases all day and it’s messed up my ability to make accurate use of adjectives. But go get yourself a copy of this record. They had a kind of cult success that these days would be considered actual success, but nothing like what they deserved. This is the song everyone always talks about… I like it better in the context of a full album, but it’s rather splendid.

I think one of the things that gets me excited about this record is that it paints a picture of WA captured just prior to my starting to live here as a kid (I was born in Adelaide). I can already imagine the outlines of the geography the song lyrics are talking about anyway, and the songwriting fills in the gaps. Anyway, this platter is doing more flips on my record player than a disco gymnast, so I thought I’d get evangelical about it at you. Born Sandy Devotional by The Triffids. Go get it.

You may not want to take my advice though… if this album hadn’t been in the second hand shop, this could have just as easily been a piece of evangelism about Kylie’s Made In Heaven (Maid In Australia Mix)…