Australian Crawl - Live at Billboard 1981 (2020)
FLAC tracks | 1:24:03 | 633 Mb
Genre: Rock, Pop / Label: Black Box Records
From their start in 1979 to their demise only five years later, Australian Crawl stood as a bizarre anomaly against the largely punk and political scene Down Under. Essentially sculpted as the Melbourne Beach Boys, the Crawl's songs ranged from odes to Errol Flynn and Resort Girls to rousing singalongs like "Hootchie Gucci Fiorucci Mama," and their mash cover of the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie." Consisting of James Reyne (lead vocals, piano), Guy McDonough (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Bill McDonough (drums, percussion), Simon Binks (lead/acoustic/slide guitar), Paul Williams (bass), and Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), the Crawl initially appeared to be little more than hedonistic surfers – in Reyne's own words, "part of people's lives; a representation of the beach, the open air and good vibes." But their debut album, 1980's The Boys Light Up, also contained recountings of automobile accidents ("Indisposed") and vicious attacks against shallow materialists (the band's first single "Beautiful People"). Their combination of light, breezy tunes with significantly darker subtexts (not altogether unlike Brian Wilson's best material) left The Boys Light Up on the Aussie charts for no less than 104 weeks. 1981's sophomore effort, Sirocco, did not mess much with their proven formula. Alongside hits like "Lakeside," "Things Don't Seem," and "Errol," the album also produced their standard "Unpublished Critics," a Reyne rant later redone as a live track on the B-side of "Louie, Louie."