:: Redgum - Against The Grain

Redgum

Redgum are probably the best folk-rock band that Australia has produced, and they achieved several hits as well as widespread popularity as a live band during the 80s. Most Australian listeners would at least have heard their classic ‘I was only 19’.

This compilation covers the peak years of Redgum, from its founding in 1976 to 1986, when frontman John Schumann left to pursue a solo career (and later a life in politics with the Australian Democrats). The band continued for a few years after his departure, disbanding in 1990. Since that time their work has slipped into some obscurity, and it is high time it was revisited.

Short of trawling ebay or secondhand stores for vinyl, Redgum music is virtually impossible to obtain these days. Apart from “Against the Grain”, the only other Redgum CD available is “Caught in the Act”, the outstanding 1983 live album. These two albums go together well - Redgum live versus Redgum studio.

Redgum were, and are, important for a number of reasons. Their songs were political, intelligent, well constructed - and at times, extremely funny. ‘Servin USA’, set to the tune of the Beach Boys “Surfin’ USA”, is a very amusing song about the cultural relations between the US and Australia - and one still very relevant nearly thirty years on. “Fabulon” is an equally amusing commentary, but one that deals with consumerism rather than America-worship, and the great ‘I’ve Been To Bali Too’ is a laid back and funny account of a holiday on the island - it is easy to see why it was a hit.

Although Redgum could be funny when they wanted to be, this was not the main thrust of their work. On the whole, they sang songs about real people, songs that had actual meaningful content - something that is still somewhat of a novelty. They were a band that wore their heart on their sleeve - and in their vocals. They told Australian stories of substance, and they did so while actually sounding Australian, something that is still a relative rarity in Australian music.

This compilation includes tales dealing with rural Australia, such as ‘Spirit of the Land’ of hard-up immigrant workers finding the Australian dream is not so free and easy as they had hoped in ‘Maria’ and ‘Killing Floor’. ‘The Diamantina Drover’ and ‘Ted’ look back on Australian history through the life of a single man. ‘I was only Nineteen’ is included as well - it remains an extremely powerful and emotional song, based on John Schumann’s brother-in-law, who was a Vietnam veteran.

The members of Redgum, it must be said, came from middle-class backgrounds. Redgum was a band formed at Adelaide’s Flinders University at the suggestion of a lecturer, not spontaneously on an outback cattle station, a prison yard or factory floor. Where they take a first person perspective on unfortunates, such as on ‘Brown Rice and Kerosene’ sometimes it isn’t quite believable, and the cultured voice of Michael Atkinson on ‘Killing Floor’ doesn’t quite work with the tale of class war and forced redundancies. The version of ‘Poor Ned’ included here isn’t anywhere near as good as the live version on “Caught in the Act”, and a number of the songs are slightly dated by their 80s production values, rather than their lyrical content, which, sadly, is mostly still relevant.

The collection finishes on ‘Just Another Moment On Your Own’, an outstanding song about the facts of life on the road, thinly veiled as a story about sporting champions. It is a great song, and a fitting moment to end the compilation on.

This collection features 19 of Redgum’s best songs, with lyrics and comments from the band on each one. This list is very far from exhaustive, however, and it is to be hoped that Sony will transfer the Redgum back catalogue to CD sometime soon.