In news that’s a little out of left field, Sony Music has decided Southern Sons‘ debut self-titled disc is worthy of a re-release!
The 1990 album launched the band, which consisted of Jack Jones (aka Irwin Thomas), Virgil Donati, Phil Buckle, Geoff Cain, and Peter Bowman. It featured the hits “Heart in Danger,” “Always and Ever,” and the tearjerker “Hold Me In Your Arms.”
The band released two more albums before breaking up in 1995. They seem to have well and truly moved on, with Irwin Thomas now playing in the rock outfit Electric Mary. They’ll support Alice Cooper on his August tour, a gig that couldn’t be more different than the Southern Sons shows of the 90s.
If, like me, you preferred the big haired heart-throb to the edgy new image, you can pick up the Southern Sons CD from June 22. Just thinking about it I had to fire up YouTube and see what I could see. I unearthed this old performance of “Hold Me In Your Arms” on Steve Vizard’s show. I think I just fell in love all over again!
This year’s Logies were a predictably cringeworthy affair, punctuated by terrible jokes, terrible dresses, and Gretel Killeen’s terrible hair. The one saving grace was Annie Lennox, who brought class and cred to the evening with her poignant solo rendition of the Eurythmics hit, “There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart).” If you missed it because you were avoiding the dross, or simply want to relive the magic, here it is!
Today is Anzac Day, a day where in between the two-up and the cheap beers we stop to remember those who fought so bravely for our freedom. This is a day when it doesn’t matter whether you support our involvement in wars or you don’t. Those diggers are pretty bloody fantastic. So take a listen to this song, raise your glasses, and remember those courageous men and women. Lest we forget.
You might remember me mentioning last month’s Billabong Design for Humanity event, a celebration of music, fashion, and art all for a good cause.
The night featured some top notch Australian entertainment including The Cassette Kids and DJ outfit Bag Raiders, but one of the standouts was young singer songwriter Ashleigh Mannix. You could have heard a pin drop as she opened the show with a stripped back version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” She performed to a backdrop of SurfAid International’s inspiring work with the people of the Mentawai Islands. It served as a poignant reminder why events like this are so important.
If you missed the event you can catch Ashleigh’s breathtaking performance here!
45, 000 Sydneysiders and 80, 000 Melburnians crammed into their respective cricket grounds for yesterday’s massive Sound Relief concerts.
Crowds at both shows were treated to some extra special performances. Coldplay originally promised an acoustic set, but their electric numbers proved anything but ordinary with the surprise addition of John Farnham to the line-up. The Aussie music veteran joined Coldplay for “Fix You” and “You’re The Voice,” a song Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin called the “national anthem.”
Having living legend Barry Gibb close the show was exciting enough, but to have Olivia Newton-John join him for the Kenny Rogers Dolly Parton classic “Islands in the Stream” was something else. They might not admit it freely, but I’m convinced everyone has a soft spot for that song.
Melbourne didn’t miss out either, with some amazing reformations and international stars. One of the biggest was Midnight Oil, who closed the show.
Their 50-minute set included hit after hit, “Read About It,” “Beds Are Burning” and “Blue Sky Mining” among them.
“You are such a good crowd for such an important event,” Peter Garrett told the enthusiastic crowd.
Initial reports said Kylie wouldn’t sing, but she did anyway, wowing crowds with this beautiful acoustic rendition of “I Still Call Australia Home.” This is another of those songs eligible for the title of honorary anthem – it gets to me every time. This video is preceded by a moving minute’s silence in remembrance of the victims.
Kings of Leon wouldn’t play “Sex on Fire” lest it offend the bushfire victims, yet their mammoth hit “Use Somebody” was well received. From the pop tunes of Gabriella Cilmi to the laidback sounds of Jack Johnson, and the country-tinged duets of Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, it was a concert that delivered something for everybody.
Wolfmother and Jet worked double-time, appearing at both Sydney and Melbourne shows. But they didn’t mind, with Wolfmother singer Andrew Stockdale adding that the event was one of the most significant in Australian music history.
“It just shows what this country does – it gets behind people when they’re down and out,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
Organisers expect the event to raise more than $5 million for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal and Queensland flood victims.
The Veronicashave become the first Aussies since Kylie Minogue to have a top 20 single in the United States. “Untouched” is currently at number 17 on the American charts after selling 758, 000 units.
“Feeling the energy of ‘Untouched’ doing so well in America is a great feeling. It’s a different style of music to breakthrough on the American charts, and people are excited. Especially us!” The Veronicas said in a statement.
Kylie peaked at number 7 in 2002 with “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” Can the Brisbane twins do better? Only time will tell, but they should definitely be congratulated on their chart success so far!
Here’s the song that did it for them live at last year’s ARIA Awards!
Gabriella Cilmi joined a star-studded international line-up for the recent ITV Divas special in Britain recently.
Melbourne’s pop diva played alongside Pink, Rihanna, Anastacia, Leona Lewis, and living legend Dionne Warwick at the breast cancer benefit show. ITV hosted the event to thank fundraisers and campaigners from the United Kingdom’s leading breast cancer awareness charities for their efforts.
Gabriella performed her global smash hit “Sweet About Me.” Check it out!
The Angels’ guitarist John Brewster is recovering in a Queensland hospital after suffering a heart attack.
John reportedly fell ill as the band was preparing to perform at Rumours in Toowoomba. He was rushed to hospital where he had a five-way bypass operation. He is recovering well, although it may take months before he can rejoin his bandmates.
This is it Australia: our two Australian Idol finalists have been decided and they’re heading to the Opera House next Sunday! Mark Spano was eliminated, leaving Luke Dickens and Wes Carr to battle it out for the title.
The highlight of the show was the unveiling of the potential winner’s singles. That’s right, singles. For the first time ever, the singers have selected different songs to release should they become the next Australian Idol. It makes sense really: the contestants are always different so why have we forced them to sing the same song for so long? Best of all, neither song is the “I can’t believe I’m here and I won” anthem we’re used to. These are actually the kind of songs people might want to buy!
Luke Dickens’ is a song called “When We Hear Hallelujah,” a moving ballad with a tinge of country. I was drawn in but it kind of lost me towards the end. It’s a lot better than anything we’ve heard out of the Australian Idol competition, but it’s just not my kind of song.
Wes Carr’s single, “You,” was a completely different matter. What a fantastic song! This bluesy love song is the sort of thing I could happily listen to when it’s played to death on radio.
I love both Luke and Wes. They’re so talented, and I really have no clue who Australians are going to choose. But if the winner’s singles give us any indication of what sort of artist these guys will be, I hope Wes comes through in the end.
With just three singers left in the Australian Idol competition, I expected big things from tonight’s show. Instead there were some standouts, but a few performances that were more miss that hit. So who smashed it and who sank? Here are my thoughts!
Luke Dickens opened the show with “Stuck in the Middle with You.” This is a good fun song, and Luke enjoyed himself. I loved the rasp of his voice on this song, but I don’t think it was outstanding. At this stage of the competition that’s what I’m looking for. Instead it was the standard I’d expect to see on a good night at the pub. But he was back in form with his take on the Elton John classic “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.” Luke knows who he is, and he’s got a voice that is just so recognisable. At this point he’s going to have a great career regardless of what happens tomorrow night.
Mark Spano was next up with the Fuel song “Bad Day.” Like Dicko, I didn’t know this one but he was just so convincing that it didn’t matter. It’s risky to perform a song the audience doesn’t know, but when you do it so competently the gamble pays off. I was very impressed. However I was less so with Mark’s rendition of “Smooth.” Maybe I was too harsh on him because Rob Thomas is my favourite singer on earth. But to me this just seemed like a pale version of the original.
It was a similarly lopsided night from Wes Carr. He never does a bad job, but I felt his version of “Easy” was a bit average. I loved the harmonica, but the rest of it lacked energy. You can be taking it easy without making us fall asleep Wes! There were no problems with the energy of his second song though. I was nervous when I heard Wes was doing “Get Back” as this song tends to get a little shouty, but it was a standout. Well deserving of the TV throw and the touchdown Wes!
With just one week until the Sydney Opera House finale I have no idea who’s going. Wes has to be there at the end, but I’m not sure who his rival will be. Mark is so talented, but Luke’s the Aussie battler and my nation always loves an underdog. I adore all three boys so I don’t really care which way it goes!