'Valiant: a tribute to the Small World Experience'
Released: 1996
Julian Williams in Melbourne assembled this tribute to Brisbane's Small World Experience. I didn't do particularly much of the work on this one - I contributed the NW track, recorded a couple of others, played on another. With that disclaimer I'm including it on the Spill site because it fits in with the other 'covers' compilations here and I think it's worth preserving.
Like the Box and Kraftworks comps this features a selection of Australian indies each making a SWE song their own. The songs being covered are, sadly, probably not as well known as those covered on some of the other comps here, because the SWE have not had mainstream success. I'd recommend looking up the originals by going to Pat Ridgewell's SWE web site.
Rather than me try to write track/band descriptions, Pat agreed it would be more interesting if he writes his impressions of the comp from the point of view of the songwriter whose songs were covered. So the comments below are his!
Click on songs to download, or grab the entire album.
1. New Waver .. Losing It .. 2:40 .. mp3
felt like i was ripping off new waver somehow when writing this one, so it was weird hearing it with the n.w treatment.
2. Jason Bright .. Security .. 3:06 .. mp3
as far as i know this is jason's only solo recording. don't think i'd ever heard him sing before this. great crazy horse section at the end.
3. Wank Engine .. Leaves .. 3:38 .. mp3
this is more like a crazy remix than a cover- played in a workshop.
4. Clag .. Get Lost .. 1:45 .. mp3
always had a thing for clag. this is like "clag 96" or something, with the drum machine, & bec's voice sounds different somehow. er, it sounds like get lost sung over a different song.
5. Riot Guy .. Vow of Silence .. 2:10 .. mp3
nice version. he made it his own.
6. The Sump .. Rounding the Bend .. 3:51 .. mp3
played similar to the original (even has accordian!) yet very sump like at the same time.
7. Julian Williams .. More of the Same .. 3:27 .. mp3
this reminds me - has anyone got a rip of julian's "take me to the golden sundial" album? my cd went all crackly long ago (already asked the man himself).
8. Stubby Love .. Over-Exposure .. 2:34 .. mp3
this is good. not sure who was involved, apart from mia of course. is that chrissy g singing too? it definitely has that albert st bungalow sound.
9. The Gatekeepers .. Shelf Life .. 4:24 .. mp3
mid-80s gothy. i seem to remember peter telling me that when he first heard the song, he imagined it being done like this. then along came a reason to do it.
10. Silver Pillows .. Too Far Gone .. 1:30 .. mp3
richie forster. rare for him to hit the record button. where is he now? hawaii?
11. Peter Harper .. Dregsy .. 3:55 .. mp3
this is one of my favourites. a sad & lonely version. it's got that busking-to-no-one sound.
12. Sea Org .. Plagiarism .. 2:00 .. mp3
tradition rather than plagiarism? a field recording from-who-knows-where.
13. Popemobile .. Procrastination .. 3:02 .. mp3
this sounds like it's gonna be the bats until laura's voice comes in.
14. Solids .. Leave .. 3:32 .. mp3
bizarrely, the verse here sounds like mondo rock's "cool world".
from Greg Wadley in Melbourne, Australia