Thursday, January 7, 2010

An album a day, #7: Weddings, Parties, Anything, "Roaring Days," 1988



If they were not Australia's pub band laureate, they should have been. An album of beautiful, heartbreaking songs, somewhere in between the Pogues' "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash" and the Mekons' "Honky Tonkin'," a tribute to Australian country music of the 40s a...nd 50s, and also to their hard-drinking and self-destructive heroes such as Brendan Behan and Dylan Thomas. In case you don't recognize where the band's name comes from:

"Any song you want
Playing requests now on the bandstand
El Clash combo... See More
Paid fifteen dollars a day
Weddings, parties, anything
And Bongo Jazz a speciality"


--The Clash, "Revolution Rock"

Can't find any videos of the recordings from the album itself, but here is an early live version of the title track:



And here are some much later, lo-fi live versions of other songs:



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