A life full of farewells, everything´s given to be taken away, thank you for making me beg. With song titles that rivals Morrisseys Australias Peter Milton Walsh remains one of pops best kept secrets. Only putting out four albums in 20 years he could be described as the missing link between the more doom laden melodrama of The Triffids and the popstrumming of Go-Betweens. Maybe he is a bit too self absorbed to reach a wider audience but this lovely track, complete with trumpets, finds him in his best form.

To judge by the coverphoto of mrs Shannon this song doesn´t refer to her own personal situation. So, for at least this writer, to see that it was penned by her boyfriend at the time, Blake Wescott, makes a bit more sense. Anyroads, When you live life alone is one of those songs that could have been so much more. A bit properly edited and structured I believe that Burt Bacharach would have considered it among his best. Certainly, the verse is up there with the best burtinspired pop ever. In the chorus though, Barbra Streisand enters the stage and smudders it with a bit too much melodrama to make it the 24 carat gold classic of a song it could have been. But if you have read this far into the text do check it out.

This is a British artist who does not deserve to be forgotten. She has a free, ranging voice and total charisma. Her trouble was that she got ripped off for life by a lecherous old-guy manager (Ambrose), who was mainly concerned with her considerable charms and the earnings he could siphon off to himself. She is now impoverished, but remains a great past-pop figure, and a great singer. Also a so-called icon of the homo world, where melodramatic performances are always appreciated. She was contemporary with the Beatles, but of a musical world they left behind.

I almost know nothing about the Chad Mitchell trio, except that John Denver was in the group. I'm not even sure that this is the same guy for that matter. I guess it's really not too suprising that an old folkie would team-up with geniuses like Bob Dorough & Stu Scharf for a little boot in the ass, since those guys seemed to be working a lot of crossover pop material. That's really the reason I picked this up, basically to see what could happen.

The record ends up being incredible actually. Imagine a mix of "golden throat" type schmaltz, Tom Rapp-ish hip folk, Nilssonesque melodrama, and the poetic and jazzy humor of Scharf & Dorough and that will sum it up. It can grow on you for sure.

This track is in the sort of word jazz thing in a highly characterized way hard to describe without taking up too much space... just listen. I think this was a piece from an Alan Arkin LP. Suppose I will have to get one of those now.

A great song that almost defies explanation. Suffice it to say there is a lot of the WB influence here. An incredible mix of young male melodrama and orchestral excess, but as genuine as it gets. I read mixed reviews of Don Gants voice from most people when they hear this album, but if he nails it, it's on this track for me, no question. The more I listen to this stuff the more timeless it becomes. My favorite line : "I turned on the today show and wished it was yesterday..."

THE perfect popsong ? Not sure, but it comes close to it. The tune has that typical late 60s "sound". Bombastically orchestrated in the "Barry Ryan style"... it's a melodrama with lots of
catchy hooks... IF you can find it, you will love it ... I usually rate a song not higher than
8/10, but this one... well, what can I say... 11/10 !!!

Great brooding mid-60s melodrama from this obscure British girl singer. A terrific stomping number dealing with the age-old teenage theme of heartbreak. "Burning in the background of my mind/are memories/and they seem to haunt me."

To most people The Love Affair will always be connected with their hits "everlasting love" , "rainbow valley" or "a day without love" ... undoubtably great songs which had lots of airplay and all made it into the charts. BUT ... there was trouble inside the group. The members wanted to play a more progressive sound and get rid of their pop-image. So a deal was made with the producer... he picked material for the a-side, the group could record a progressive tune on the b-side. One of those great a-sides was recorded in 1970 and released in 1971. "Wake me I am dreaming" has all the elements of their hit sound, but was hardly played. Why ? No idea, because it has the commercial potential it needed. Maybe it's due to the fact that the overall music scene was changing rapidly (country rock, glamrock, etc)... they surely deserved a hit with this orchestrated melodramatic ballad

This track is on one of those New Wave compilations that I tend to hoard but never really listen to. Well, yesterday I listened to it and found this precious jewel that's been on constant repeat ever since. I've always known about The Go-Betweens, people always told me "The Go-Betweens this", "The Go-Betweens that" and "Why don't you listen to The Go-Betweens?" but, honestly, I never really bothered to. They didn't sound that exciting to me. But this here! Like most ingenious and overwhelming things, at 3 minutes running time it is much too short and yet it is just long enough. It is 3 minutes of concentrated beauty, drama, new-wavy-angst and poetry. It feels like a heartbreak after a night of heavy boozing with its swaying, jerky melody and Forster's manic-depressive vocal performance. Actually, I should try listening to it after a night of heavy boozing and see if it can get any better than it already is.

OK, OK, OK........I know that many of you hipster types out there are probably wincing at this recommendation, but...deal with it. I'm sure that most people are all too aware of this track, and probably avoid it at all cost, but in my humble opinion, this is one of the best pop radio songs ever recorded. I think I heard it first when I was about 12 or 13 while on summer break from school. I was immediately drawn to the eerie, repetitious, heavy delayed intro guitar line. Granted, it has some cheezy lyrics, and a fairly melodramatic tone overall, but this song will forever hold a special place in my heart....awe.

Ridiculously sentimental and melodramatic like a number of songs on this album, but as often rescued by the singing and in particular by Sally Dastey's voice - really, this woman is genuinely the best singer I have ever heard - a beautiful, plaintive Australian accent that deserves to be ranked with asrtud gilberto as one of the most distinctive voices in pop.

The music here on this song very simple - just a banjo, guitar, and mouth organ for backing, with Dastey singing 'he was here, but not for long/ I'll let you in on a little secret now/' before suddenly just speaking, with immense sadness - 'he wasn't the best worker we ever had'. Really fantastic folk music.

Sally Dastey was one of the Tiddas, who I have gone on about elsewhere on this site.