New album reviews

I’M TALKING Bear Witness (Bloodlines)

Four stars

Fact: if Dua Lipa or Katy Perry released a song as good as I’m Talking’s Holy Word in 2018 it would rightly be hailed as a pop masterpiece.

Also a fact: when I’m Talking released Holy Word back in July 1986 it reached No. 9 but the song, like the band, remains cruelly overlooked in the history of Australian music.

Like all of I’m Talking’s music, it was born from guitarist Robert Goodge’s love of Nile Rodgers and Chic’s funky disco, Donna Summer, 808 drum machines, Giorgio Moroder, heavy bass, the New York new wave club scene that gave the world Madonna and the addictive rush an unashamed pop song can provide.

I’m Talking only released one studio album, Bear Witness, and 32 years (and now two reissues) later the songs and production still sound both of their time but also timeless.

It was the 80s and the era of vinyl so there were only eight tracks on Bear Witness, which means all thriller no filler and heavy sax. This reissue raids (and digitally remasters) the I’m Talking archives to tell the whole short but sharp story.

The deep-dive disco funk grooves of Do You Wanna Be hold up in an era where people are still trying to get the sound Nile Rodgers gave to Daft Punk.

How Can It Be was their final single, missing the charts but not the hearts — a stunning ballad that reminds you that Kate Ceberano was then barely legal but had years of under-age jazz shows under her wings (one of the bonus tracks is a crystal ball cover of Cry Me a River).

Their early singles now join the album — their trademark cover of Rose Royce’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, breakthrough hit Trust Me (a seriously impressive first impression) and the brassy, Michael Jackson-influenced Lead the Way.
Zan Abeyratne, who sang Holy Word, gets time to shine on brittle ballad It’s Over and Disaster is that apocalyptic disco Frankie Goes To Hollywood were dealing in at the time. Stay With Me could have slipped on to any early Madonna album, Love Means Everything could be a Chic track, which goes to prove how good Ceberano’s voice was even in the early days.

The deep-dive disco funk grooves of Do You Wanna Be hold up in an era where people are still trying to get the sound Nile Rodgers gave to Daft Punk.

How Can It Be was their final single, missing the charts but not the hearts — a stunning ballad that reminds you that Kate Ceberano was then barely legal but had years of under-age jazz shows under her wings (one of the bonus tracks is a crystal ball cover of Cry Me a River).

Their early singles now join the album — their trademark cover of Rose Royce’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, breakthrough hit Trust Me (a seriously impressive first impression) and the brassy, Michael Jackson-influenced Lead the Way.
Zan Abeyratne, who sang Holy Word, gets time to shine on brittle ballad It’s Over and Disaster is that apocalyptic disco Frankie Goes To Hollywood were dealing in at the time. Stay With Me could have slipped on to any early Madonna album, Love Means Everything could be a Chic track, which goes to prove how good Ceberano’s voice was even in the early days.

FLOWERTRUCK
Mostly Sunny (Spunk)
4.5 stars

Where has this band been all your life? Sydney. There’s a nuggety, admirable desperation to their daggy jangle-pop, like Men In Hats and Devo dressing up as The Cure. Enough For Now is a soft synth launch, Falling Asleep is a lost ’80s fast-pop gem from a John Hughes film, All My Girlfriends Are Zeppelins shows off Charles Rushforth’s voice, “Nothing new to my name, melancholy’s to blame.” It’s one to imitate in the shower. Buy two copies to be safe. /MIKEY CAHILL

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKE ... The Go Betweens, Plastic Bertrand

DAMI IM
I Hear a Song (Sony)
3 stars

Let’s politely leave behind the fact that Dami Im slayed at Eurovision and is now seemingly doomed to creative death by consecutive covers albums. While the Carpenters one made her sound old before her time, this one works well. Jazzy gems from everyone from Beyonce (Love On Top) to Nina Simone (Feeling Good) to Norah Jones (Come Away With Me) to Bonnie Raitt (I Can’t Make You Love Me). Two originals suggest Dami is more down with bebop than dance pop now. /CA

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKE ... Blossom Dearie, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday

JACK WHITE
Boarding House Reach (Third Man/Columbia)
3.5 stars

Jack White is an oddball. Did you know he owns a 1938 Action Comics No. 1, where Superman first appears? “I can preserve this comic book, it is cooler than buying some Ferrari,” he quipped. White is a collector of valuables.

This helps us get inside the former White Stripe’s head. His third solo album is another collection of songs he sees as more than ephemeral.

Similar to Lazaretto, it’s all over the shop. The 42-year-old still has the blues, sure, but he’s able to blitz through 13 songs while barely pausing for breath. Connected By Love shuttles down to earth, White suffering for his (he) art as the song rears up on an organ and grandiose Pink Floyd meets The Band affectations. The female backing vocals give it oomph as White tries to convince himself this time love is the real deal.

Why Walk a Dog barks for existential meaning, while Corporation never gets beyond

a call-to-arms idea that Beck would add elements to — this gets left out to dry, jauntily.

Ice Station Zebra is both heaps of bongo-led fun and another song on this LP crying out for a decent chorus.

Over and Over and Over storms backstage and pushes over chairs as White and his outlaws raid Ed Sheeran’s rider. It’s a blues rock typhoon. Ezmeralda Steals the Show begins with a plaintive Everybody Hurts guitar as White comes off as Johnny Depp doing Jack Kerouac. It’s worth making a bid on.

Our own CW Stoneking humoured Jack’s request to swallow a dictionary on Abulia and Akrasia (it earns its keep on listen number eight), think Raah Project meets Archer.

Then White asks us to Get In the Mind Shaft with him. Once you invest in his maddening world you’ll find a pocket to nestle in, happy. It’s not all super, man, but there’s value./ MC
VERDICTAnalogue master dares to dance digitally

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKE: Beck, Gomez

GEORGE EZRAStaying at Tamara’s (Sony)

3 stars

George Ezra, the Brit behind the crossover hit Budapest, has resurfaced with his second album. The first single Don’t Matter Now was a bit Dexy’s Midnight Runners with its big brass and chant-a-long vibe. Staying At Tamara’s offers throwback blues and soul anthems that might have been cut any time since the ’60s. Although modern anxiety encroaches on Pretty Shining People. Staying At Tamara’s is absurdly untrendy but perhaps that’s its secret charm. CYCLONE WEHNER

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKE: Hozier, James Bay

SOUNDTRACK
Love, Simon (Sony)
4 stars

Jack Antonoff has curated this soundtrack like John Hughes’ picked tunes for his ’80s teen flicks. As well as his ’80s-lovin’ band Bleachers, Antonoff teams with MO for pop banger Never Fall In Love and has his fingerprints on the gothic electro heartbreak of unearthed Troye Sivan tune Strawberries & Cigarettes and Amy Shark’s turbo-moody Sink In. Khalid and Normani’s Love Lies adds some R & B vibes, while Whitney’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody pretty much shows everyone else up. CAMERON ADAMS

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKE: Pretty In Pink — Original Soundtrack