Various: Do The Pop! The Australian Garage-Rock, Punk Sound 1976-'87

[ Michael Hann
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2002

Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compliation showed that sometimes it takes distance and time to define a musical movement. Do The Pop! does for the Australian garage rock scene of the late 70s and early 80s what Kaye did for US psych-punk of 1965-68. Like Nuggets, it is a catholic selection, drawing on several varieties of Aus-punk.
The obsession with Detroit is illustrated by

Radio Birdman and their many spin-offs (including New Race - featuring Birdmen, plus a Stooge and an MCone); Cramps/Gun Club swampabilly comes from the Scientists; pure Easybeats garage pop from the Sunnyboys and the Screaming Tribesmen; Ramonic buzzsaw pop from the Eastern Dark and the Hard-Ons; Suicide/Doors style drone rock in the form of Died Pretty's towering Mirror Blues. And that's far from touching all the bases this incredible album covers.

Growing up in the UK in the 80s I was aware of quite a bit of this music - it would get played on

John Peel's late-night radio show - but distance and unfamiliarity prevented me seeing the broader patterns and connections. So contemporary garage punk, to me, meant the cartoonish frivolity of the British psychobilly scene and the US bands such as the Fuzztones.
This compiltation, by contrast, shows the Australian scene to have been about a passionate and committed group of musicians, many of whom persevered for many years despite little or no success, making music because they needed to do so. (And the exemplary booklet documents the connections in a clear and helpful way.)
Do the Pop! also provides a benchmark against which much of today's crop of garage punk revivalists must be measured - and too many found wanting. The inadequacy of the Dirtbombs or the Come-Ons is glaringly evident when compared to the least indpired of these Australian bands.]

Isolation can breed some pretty amazing music and if you're looking for proof, look no further than

this magnificent compilation chronicling many incredible years of the incomparable Oz garage/punk scene. Rarely is Australia's scene ever mentioned in the same breath as those of New York or London.
Shame, really, because whereas New York's was art-centered and London's was fashion-centered, the Aussies put the music firmly up front and center, right where it belongs.

Although few of the bands which show up here may be familiar to the casual listener (the exceptions probably being Radio Birdman, The Saints, and The Celibate Rifles), you may find yourself

scrambling to get your hands on everything you can by the rest.
There's not a duff track to be found anywhere here and if songs like The Lime Spiders' "Slave Girl," The Fun Things' "Savage," The Screaming Tribesmen's "Igloo," or The Exploding White Mice's "Burning Red" don't put some lead in your pencil, you may want to have someone check you for a pulse.

 
Various ‎– Do The Pop! The Australian Garage-Rock, Punk Sound 1976-'87

Label: Shock (2) ‎– DTP1976, Savage Beat! ‎– DTP1976

Format: 2 × CD, Compilation

Country: Australia

Released: 2002

Genre: Rock

Style: Garage Rock, Punk

TRAXS

CD 1.

01. The Saints: (I'm) Stranded (Producer – Mark Moffatt/Written-By – Bailey, Kuepper) 3:30
02. Radio Birdman: New Race (Original Version) (Producer – Charles Fisher, John Sayers/Written-By – Tek) 4:27
03. The Psycho-Surgeons: Wild Weekend (Written-By – Taylor, Armstrong) 1:51
04. The Saints: One Way Street (Producer – Rod Coe/Written-By – Bailey, Kuepper) 2:57
05. The Victims: Television Addic (Producer – The Victims/Written-By – Faulkner, Baker) 2:56
06. Radio Birdman: Aloha Steve & Danno (Producer – Charles Fisher, John Sayers/Written-By – Tek, Stevens, Younger) 3:56
07. Johnny Kannis: King Of The Surf (Producer – Deniz Tek/Written-By – La Pole) 2:16
08. Radio Birdman: Crying Sun (Producer – Phil Punch, Radio Birdman/Remix – Deniz Tek, Phil Punch, Rob Younger/Written-By – Tek, Gilbert) 2:53
09. The Hitmen: Didn't Tell The Man (Producer – Charles Fisher/Written-By – Masuak) 2:56
10. The Lipstick Killers: Hindu Gods Of Love (Producer – Deniz Tek/Written-By – Lipstick Killers) 3:18
11. The Visitors: Living World (Producer – Charles Fisher/Remix – Deniz Tek, Pip Hoyle/Written-By – Tek) 2:53
12. The Passengers: Face With No Name (Remix – Deniz Tek, Ron Sanchez/Written-By – Sullivan) 2:54
13. The Saints: Simple Love (Original Version) (Producer – Alcohol/Written-By – Bailey) 3:40
14. The Scientists: Last Night (Producer – Chris Tuna, The Scientists/Written-By – Baker, Salmon) 2:38
15. The Fun Things: Savage (Written-By – Shepherd) 2:40
16. The Sunnyboys: Alone With You (Original Version) (Producer – Lobby Loyde/Written-By – Oxley) 3:13
17. The New Christs: Face A New God (Producer – Cub Callaway/Written-By – Callaway, Yates) 4:22
18. New Race: Alone In The Endzone (Live) (Producer – Alan Thorne, Charles Fisher, Rob Younger/Written-By – Tek) 2:10
19. The Hitmen: I Don't Mind (Producer – Mark Opitz, The Hitmen/Written-By – Masuak, Tek, Kannis, Gilbert) 2:42
20. The Celibate Rifles: 24 Hours (SOS) (Producer – Colin Ford/Written-By – Lovelock, Steedman) 2:03
21. The Sunnyboys: Happy Man (Producer – Lobby Loyde/Written-By – Oxley) 3:03
22. The Lipstick Killers: Driving The Special Dead (Live) (Producer – Chris D./Written-By – Lipstick Killers) 3:41
23. Hoodoo Gurus: Leilani (Original Phantom Records Version) (Producer – Hoodoo Gurus, Martin Fabinyi/Written-By – Faulkner, Baker, Rendall, Radalj) 4:53
24. The Hitmen: Bwana Devil (Producer – Brown, Dunlop/Remix – Chris "Klondike" Masuak, David Price/Written-By – Shepherd) 3:49
25. Minutemen: Voodoo Slaves (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Needham) 2:27

Mp3 @ 320 Size: 178 MB 
Flac  Size: 568 MB

CD 2.

01. The Scientists: Swampland (Producer – Chris Logan/Written-By – Salmon, Williams) 4:09
02. The Lime Spiders: 25th Hour (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Mather, Blood) 3:09
03. The Screaming Tribesmen: Igloo (Producer – Chris Masuak/Written-By – Medew, Peno) 4:00
04. Hoodoo Gurus: Be My Guru (Producer – Alan Thorne/Written-By – Faulkner, Baker) 2:37
05. The Lime Spiders: Slave Girl (Producer – The Lime Spiders, Tom Misner/Written-By – Blood, Jakimszyn) 2:50
06. The New Christs: Like A Curse (Producer – Alan Thorne, Chris Masuak, Rob Younger/Written-By – Younger) 3:18
07. Died Pretty: Mirror Blues Pt. 1 (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Myers, Peno) 4:31
08. The Screaming Tribesmen: Ice (Producer – Chris Masuak/Written-By – Masuak, Medew, Robertson) 3:39
09. Decline Of The Reptiles: Don't Look Down (Producer – Mark Roxburgh, Philip Kerney/Written-By – Dean Coulter) 4:13
10. The Eastern Dark: Johnny & Dee Dee (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Darroch) 3:00
11. Exploding White Mice: Burning Red (Producer – Kim Horne/Written-By – Stephens) 2:47
12. The Hard-Ons: Bye Bye Girl (Producer – Vince Cuscuna/Written-By – The Hard-Ons) 2:00
13. Psychotic Turnbuckles: Groove To The Eye (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Sicodelico, Intruder, Wizard) 3:27
14. The Lime Spiders: Out Of Control (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Lime Spiders) 3:14
15. The Scientists:  Atom Bomb Baby (Producer – Peter Watts/Written-By – Salmon) 2:59
16. The Stems: Can't Resist (Producer – Alan Thorne, Rob Younger/Written-By – Mariani) 2:33
17. Died Pretty: Stoneage Cinderella (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Myers, Atkinson, Peno) 3:14
18. The Some Loves: Don't Talk About Us (Producer ["with A Little Help From All Those Involved"] – Darryl Mather/Written-By – Mather, Mariani) 2:35
19. The Hard-Ons: Girl In The Sweater (Producer – Rob YoungerWritten-By – The Hard-Ons) 2:44
20. The Eastern Dark: Walking (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Darroch) 3:31
21. The Celibate Rifles: Back In The Red (Live At CBGBs) (Written-By – Lovelock, Darroch) 2:43
22. The Philisteins: Early Morning Memory (Producer – Doug Thomas, The Philisteins) 2:11
23. Headstones: When You're Down (Producer – Headstones, Tony Espie/Written-By – Headstones) 2:23
24. The Stems: At First Sight (Producer – Alan Thorne, Dom Mariani, Guy Gray/Written-By – Mariani) 4:04
25. The New Christs: I Swear (Producer – Rob Younger/Written-By – Younger) 3:08

 
Mp3 @ 320 Size: 180 MB

Flac  Size: 599 MB

If you really know almost nothing about the Australian Underground scene, you can start downloading these bands from Urban Aspirines: Died Pretty, The saints, Radio Birdman, Hoodoo Gurus, The Celibate Rifles, British India, Crime and The City Solution, Ed Kuepper, The Birthday party, Louis Tillet, The Stems, The Dolly Rocker Movement, Kim Salmon, The Dubrovniks.