Vinyl of the Week - 2 December, 2021

Frontline, Redgum

DISPLAYABLE vinyl of the week. Last week my daughter and I went for a drive. She’s currently on her L’s, so we set off with no particular agenda other than to get some more entries in the logbook. We ended up in Katoomba, grabbed some lunch, then went to the local record store for a look. The Velvet Fog has been serving Katoomba for many years, and I’ve picked up some great records there. This week’s album jumped out at me straight away. Not because Redgum were such a great band, and they were, with their brilliant political folk-rock. It was the fact that seeing that cover instantly took me back to a very specific time and place in my life. It was 1990 and I found myself temporarily back at my mum’s place after living with my first real girlfriend (which didn’t turn out to be such a great idea). I don’t recall how I had possession of Frontline, but I listened to it constantly for weeks. The song that Redgum had some success with from Frontline was the tongue-in-cheek “I’ve been to Bali too”. But I loved all of this album. I loved the story of the Aussie battler that was “Gladstone Pier”, equally the fast-paced rock of “A.S.I.O” and the premise of data collection by the government - way ahead of their time with that one!! I couldn’t wait to get home and put it on the turntable. And it certainly didn’t disappoint. Took me straight back to my room under my mum’s house, Redgum keeping me company until I was ready to face where I was at and get on with it. Gotta Love great music - DS