| New Zealand Music Month - Day 20 |
[May. 20th, 2009|08:19 pm]
Daveosaurus
|
Dave Dobbyn really shouldn't need much of an introduction, having sold bucketloads of the Footrot Flats movie's theme tune in Australia, but in case one is needed, a potted biography is: Started off about thirty years ago with quintessential bogan rockers Th' Dudes, tried out a few genres with new group DD Smash (everything from Bon Jovi-style hair rock to funky brass-heavy pop) and eventually settled down as a creator of sparse and tuneful songs.
He's put out a lot of good singles, although most of the albums he's been on have had a fair amount of average material (The' Dudes' excellent "Where Are The Boys?" and his own "Lament for the Numb" - for which he borrowed some of the Attractions off Elvis Costello) are the only real exceptions). On "Twist", one of his lesser albums, he borrowed a couple of the Mutton Birds off Don McGlashan, and both Finns off Crowded House; the line-up on this CD was: Dave Dobbyn - vocals, guitars, piano, some other keyboards and noise; Neil Finn - guitars, backing vocals, piano, optigan (whatever the hell that is), some other keyboards and noise; Alan Gregg - bass; Ross Burge - drums; and Tim Finn - backing vocals, percussion and vibe. Tchad Blake also gets credit for "noise", which may just be someone in the team trying to be "cute" (he was this album's producer).
So why am I choosing something off this album? Because it's a bloody great song. Language isn't one of his best known songs, but it was a decently popular single in its day and... well, I'm a bit of a sucker for songs that start off good and develop into something huge (see also The Terminals' Vertigo).
|
|
