|
|
Post by jno on Oct 20, 2021 18:00:58 GMT
Men At Work, arguably one of Australia's most famous bands active between 1978 and 1986. Now then, everyone knows 'Down Under', but if you listen to their OTHER singles today, what's your favourite?
Don't know them? Then why not have have a listen?
PICK TWO!
Who Can It Be Now? (1981)
Be Good Johnny (1981)
Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive (1982)
Overkill (1983)
It's a Mistake (1983)
High Wire (1983)
Everything I Need (1985)
|
|
|
|
Post by jjmolloy on Oct 21, 2021 13:54:29 GMT
Overkill and Who Can It Be Now were big 'radio hits' here in Ireland in the day. They got a lot of play into the noughties on Phantom FM, a pirate 'alternative' station, and now Nova FM which took a lot of their jock's from Phantom when they shut down and the band still get outings on a regular basis on Nova.
|
|
|
|
Post by jno on Oct 21, 2021 16:56:55 GMT
Overkill and Who Can It Be Now were big 'radio hits' here in Ireland in the day. They got a lot of play into the noughties on Phantom FM, a pirate 'alternative' station, and now Nova FM which took a lot of their jock's from Phantom when they shut down and the band still get outings on a regular basis on Nova. Glad to read this jj. 'Overkill' wins it for me, but I was torn between 'Who Can It Be Now?' and 'It's A Mistake' as they are both great tunes. The former just pipped it as I have the single, can play the sax part on the harmonica and have covered it in a band in the past. Great stuff. |
|
|
|
Post by Portland Road on Oct 21, 2021 21:20:59 GMT
Men at Work's star shone briefly - I think they declined along with 'real instruments' in the mid-80s. I had the 'Business As Usual' album back in the day, but don't seem to have it now  That's a shame because it was very good  Of the singles listed I had a liking for 'Who Can It Be Now', 'Be Good Johnny' and 'Overkill'. |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Oct 22, 2021 3:44:50 GMT
Men at Work's star shone briefly - I think they declined along with 'real instruments' in the mid-80s. I had the 'Business As Usual' album back in the day, but don't seem to have it now That's a shame because it was very good Of the singles listed I had a liking for 'Who Can It Be Now', 'Be Good Johnny' and 'Overkill'. I had 'Business As Usual' on vinyl then bought it again as a double pack CD with their second album 'Cargo'. The first album, as you say Portland Road is superb, and if I'm honest, apart from maybe the last song 'Down by the sea', all of them on there are really good songs. What's nice about Men At Work is how simplistic the songs are - ok, the originals are excellently produced but even when Colin Hay does them acoustically they still sound great: This is also a must watch: |
|
|
|
Post by barrythebook on Oct 24, 2021 21:38:30 GMT
I chose 'Overkill' and 'Who Can It Be Now' but the other tracks are also very good. 'Overkill' is one of my all time favourites by any band and when we were at school, me and my mates took ages to work out exactly what the lyrics were  . Colin Hay is a very good front man and can entertain an audience with funny dialogue and anecdotes. He's continued to produce some good music as a solo artist. |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Oct 25, 2021 19:55:21 GMT
Interestingly, I was thinking of asking my band to cover 'Overkill" ... not sure they'll go for it though as Men At Work is 80s so this is an immediate no for some people. Superb tune!
|
|
|
|
Post by chrisclark1977 on Oct 26, 2021 19:44:34 GMT
"Be Good Johnny" and "Who Can It Be Now" because they are the few songs from them that I know. A summer concert I went to a few years back featured Men At Work's singer on the bill.
|
|
|
|
Post by jno on Oct 26, 2021 22:08:33 GMT
"Be Good Johnny" and "Who Can It Be Now" because they are the few songs from them that I know. A summer concert I went to a few years back featured Men At Work's singer on the bill. #jealous |
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Nov 1, 2021 14:08:44 GMT
Men at Work's star shone briefly - I think they declined along with 'real instruments' in the mid-80s. I had the 'Business As Usual' album back in the day, but don't seem to have it now That's a shame because it was very good Of the singles listed I had a liking for 'Who Can It Be Now', 'Be Good Johnny' and 'Overkill'. I had 'Business As Usual' on vinyl then bought it again as a double pack CD with their second album 'Cargo'. The first album, as you say Portland Road is superb, and if I'm honest, apart from maybe the last song 'Down by the sea', all of them on there are really good songs. What's nice about Men At Work is how simplistic the songs are - ok, the originals are excellently produced but even when Colin Hay does them acoustically they still sound great: This is also a must watch: I've seen Colin Hay live 4 or 5 times and even met the great man after one of his shows. He's a hilarious raconteur - his shows last getting on for 2 hours and only feature about 11 or 12 songs with the rest of the time stories about his "showbiz" experiences. There are plenty to choose from on youtube and his "Paul McCartney/Heather Mills come to dinner" one is especially funny given that he left it out when she was at his show in Brighton a few years ago as it doesn't exactly paint her in the best light  His own favourite MAW song is 'Overkill' and it was the start of the "renaissance" (if you want to call it that) of his career when he and the song appeared in the first episode of series 2 of the zany US sitcom 'Scrubs' in an episode written loosely written around the song called 'My Overkill' - see . If you want to play it authentically it's in drop-D tuning... He's very upfront in that MAW fell out for all the usual rock'n'roll reasons - money, burnout, drugs, personalities etc. He fell out permanently with guitarist Ron Stryker many years ago but remained friends with sax/flute player Greg Ham. Colin is quite bitter about the Australian lawsuit about the authorship of 'Down Under' in which Greg was basically accused of ripping off the flute solo from an older traditional song called 'Kookaburra' and blames all the stress and shame of that allegation for Ham's untimely death. His latest incarnation called "Men At Work" was only Colin plus his wife's band, but playing MAW songs rather than CH solo ones. I gave that tour a miss. IMO some of Colin's best work has come post-MAW, especially 'Beautiful World' and 'Waiting For My Real Life To Begin' (which also appeared in a 'Scrubs' episode). If you ever get the chance to see him live I can thoroughly recommend it, and yes, he plays 'Overkill', 'Who Can It Be Now?' and 'Down Under' every night. |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Nov 1, 2021 17:05:57 GMT
What's the story about Hay and Stryker exactly? I've never really found anything on why Men At Work split up other than 'creative differences'. Are there any more details out there?
|
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Nov 1, 2021 18:47:55 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Nov 1, 2021 18:52:38 GMT
A couple of videos to give the general idea of a Colin Hay show |
|
|
|
Post by mybodyguard on Nov 3, 2021 13:17:22 GMT
I always used to think the lyrics of Overkill said "day after day we have beer."
|
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Nov 3, 2021 14:00:25 GMT
"Goats appear and fade away" |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Nov 4, 2021 14:17:10 GMT
That is 12m29s of pure talent there - hilariously funny and superb songwriting and musicianship all in 1 video. Beats anything I've heard in the last 20 years.
|
|
|
|
Post by Portland Road on Nov 5, 2021 6:39:58 GMT
I liked Men At Work and think they should have had major success for longer.
When they started having hits, it was still amidst New Wave and like e.g. Joe Jackson and The Police, and they fitted in with this.
Though music was moving towards cliched 80s production, removing the 'bite', and indeed by 1983 when they reached a UK peak they sounded two years prior.
|
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Nov 8, 2021 20:49:01 GMT
Though music was moving towards cliched 80s production, removing the 'bite', and indeed by 1983 when they reached a UK peak they sounded two years prior. Which of course they were as 'Business As Usual' was recorded and released in 1981 in Australia, and 'Down Under' was originally a 1980 B-side  which is incredible to think now it's considered the second Australian national anthem. It was a hit in the US in '82 and in the UK in early '83, which is why we (incorrectly) think of them as a mid-80s band. The irony of the belated success of 'Down Under' is that the follow-ups were in the same year but from the next album, and included 'Overkill' which will have increased their short-term sales but decreased their longevity. As Colin Hay's retrospective on this period says - "15 million records... then... f**king nothing" |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Nov 9, 2021 4:24:45 GMT
Over the years I've covered Down Under and Who Can It Be Now? in two bands. I remember one Austrian bass player commenting on how Who Can It Be Now? was "hardly very difficult" in a sort of derogatory way. This annoyed the hell out of me as simplicity is often the key to good music, and Men At Work are a prime example of this. Huey Lewis & The News are a similar sort of "simplicity just works" type of band for me.
One thing really stands out about Men At Work for me though. Colin Hay has a killer range as a singer. Lazy bass players who never bother their aris to sing one note wouldn't appreciate this but in both the songs I've mentioned here, Colin Hay really can hit the high notes. It's the same with the second half of 'Overkill' after the guitar solo, he's right back in and right up there. The vocals on "It's A Mistake" are phenomenal too. As a singer he has a very unique style and a voice that is instantly recognisable which I wholeheartedly applaud.
|
|
|
|
Post by barrythebook on Nov 9, 2021 21:20:26 GMT
Colin Hay has a killer range as a singer. Lazy bass players who never bother their aris to sing one note wouldn't appreciate this but really can hit the high notes. It's the same with the second half of 'Overkill' after the guitar solo, he's right back in and right up there. The vocals on "It's A Mistake" are phenomenal too. As a singer he has a very unique style and a voice that is instantly recognisable which I wholeheartedly applaud. I agree and was also going to mention 'It's A Mistake' as a great example of CHs' vocals. I'm not a guitarist myself so wouldn't have a clue as to the intricacies of playing but I remember reading a review about Men at Work and CHs' later solo career which commented that Hays style of play could easily lead the listener into believing they were hearing two guitarists playing together rather than just the one musician. I've got that sentiment whilst listening to some of his stuff, I think he's very talented. |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Nov 10, 2021 4:32:51 GMT
Colin Hay has a killer range as a singer. Lazy bass players who never bother their aris to sing one note wouldn't appreciate this but really can hit the high notes. It's the same with the second half of 'Overkill' after the guitar solo, he's right back in and right up there. The vocals on "It's A Mistake" are phenomenal too. As a singer he has a very unique style and a voice that is instantly recognisable which I wholeheartedly applaud. I agree and was also going to mention 'It's A Mistake' as a great example of CHs' vocals. I'm not a guitarist myself so wouldn't have a clue as to the intricacies of playing but I remember reading a review about Men at Work and CHs' later solo career which commented that Hays style of play could easily lead the listener into believing they were hearing two guitarists playing together rather than just the one musician. I've got that sentiment whilst listening to some of his stuff, I think he's very talented. I've not seen enough of Men At Work live to work out which of the two guitarists is playing what on a lot of the songs - the sax is often the primary top line (melody) instrument. I did watch a live version of them doing 'Overkill' and it's definitely Colin Hay playing the solo. I sat down recently and learnt that one myself (part of the reason behind this thread) and it's very well put together, especially for the time. The chords for Overkill mean that guitar solo isn't some straight usual thing and if you listen carefully it's a real work of art. At the end he plays an ascending C# minor scale over three octaves with a delay (echo) kicked in towards the end. It's also played clean i.e. no distortion - now, if I think back around that time, who else was playing clean ascending three octave runs in pop songs? Answer: no one. I love that 'Overkill' solo, it just rests so nicely over the chords, very well done. People often bang on about Brian May having an instantly recognisable sound - it's true, he turns up on Holly Johnson's 'Love Train' and you think "Hang on, that's Brian May innit?" For me, Men At Work also have a extremely distinct and instantly recognisable sound too. When you hear a new Men At Work song you think "Hang on, that's gotta be Men At Work innit?" These 3 things are pretty unique about this band I think: - Hay's voice - who else sounds like him? No one. - Slapback delay/echo (they use a lot of this) e.g. intro to 'Be Good Johnny', 'Overkill' solo, it's all over the 'Business As Usual' album - the inclusion of both lead and more discrete accompanying saxophone parts in songs* *Having a saxophone in a band is always a dilemma. Men At Work usually make use of Greg Ham perfectly for me. Most bands will have guitar/bass/keyboard/drums. Sax players are a great addition but what do you with them when there's no sax part? They can't just stand there having 5 songs at a time off. Generally, a band like say Spandau Ballet use their sax player as the main soloist only. Men At Work put sax parts everywhere which is genius if you ask me. Madness do the same thing. I was having a discussion with the drummer in my own band recently about this. We cover 'Baker Street' where I play the sax part on an amplified harmonica. The other guys in the band love the sound but the drummer brought up the idea of just getting a sax player in, so I could play more guitar in the song to fill it out more. The issue with getting sax players in is that suddenly you're bound to play songs with saxophone in them. Otherwise they just stand there doing nothing for half the night, or if you're lucky they'll shake a tambourine. If you were forced to name 10 popular songs with sax in them, you'd probably get to 5 and then start running out of ideas. Don't get me wrong, I love the instrument, but not every pop/rock song has a sax part in it. Men At Work tuck sax parts into lots of places which is just great. Meanwhile back on topic, are Men At Work a pop band or a rock band? Or a mixture of the two? For me they're just a great band! |
|
|
|
Post by barrythebook on Nov 10, 2021 9:49:58 GMT
Quite an insight jno and good, interesting stuff.
Going slightly off topic, on YouTube there's an early,live performance of 'A Girl Called Johnny' by The Waterboys which has a blistering sax solo and accounted for probably the whole second half of the track - awesome stuff.
|
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Nov 10, 2021 19:06:17 GMT
When I saw CH supporting Barenaked Ladies in the smaller room at the O2 Arena the headliners gave up some of their setlist to play "Who Can It Be Now" with him and he stayed on stage to sing lead on one of their songs 'Pinch Me'. Both of these are on youtube if anyone's interested.
BNL singer Ed Robertson said they were honoured to have Colin as the support act and that he'd watched every minute of Colin's performance every night of the tour. He has also played with Ringo Starr on several 'All Starr Band' tours and is pretty friendly with Paul McCartney so is clearly held in extremely high regard by his fellow musicians.
|
|
|
|
Post by jno on Sept 4, 2022 16:44:09 GMT
Just changed one of my votes from 'Who Can It Be Now' to 'It's a Mistake', top song and extremely well written.
|
|
|
|
Post by Portland Road on Sept 9, 2022 5:30:59 GMT
Yes, I am similarly indecisive about 'Be Good Johnny' and 'Overkill'.
|
|
|
|
Post by jno on Sept 10, 2022 10:22:25 GMT
I've been playing a lot of Men at Work lately, and have learnt to play "It's A Mistake" (including the solo) on the guitar too.  I've also purchased this live album called 'Brazil' from 1998, which is sort of their last official album, even though only two of the original band are on it.  This is an interesting story from 2009 regarding former guitarist Ron Strykert threatening to kill his former bandmate Colin Hay in 2009: www.nme.com/news/music/various-artists-4366-1305450There is very little out there on Strykert. |
|
|
|
Post by jno on Sept 16, 2022 20:36:16 GMT
I just played that live album and it is fantastic! Incidentally, if you can manage to watch the 'Colin Hay - Waiting for my Real Life' documentary this is one of the best music documentaries I've seen in a very long time. P.S. it's on a certain video site we all know.  |
|
|
|
Post by barrythebook on Sept 18, 2022 14:13:08 GMT
I just played that live album and it is fantastic! Incidentally, if you can manage to watch the 'Colin Hay - Waiting for my Real Life' documentary this is one of the best music documentaries I've seen in a very long time. P.S. it's on a certain video site we all know. Have you watched the video of 'Are You Looking At Me?" which seems to be an account of CH's move as a young man from Scotland to Australia in the very late 60s? Very good, informative lyrics and a great performance from CH. A massive decision to make and carry through at the time - all power to him. |
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Sept 21, 2022 23:45:25 GMT
I just played that live album and it is fantastic! Incidentally, if you can manage to watch the 'Colin Hay - Waiting for my Real Life' documentary this is one of the best music documentaries I've seen in a very long time. P.S. it's on a certain video site we all know. Have you watched the video of 'Are You Looking At Me?" which seems to be an account of CH's move as a young man from Scotland to Australia in the very late 60s? Very good, informative lyrics and a great performance from CH. A massive decision to make and carry through at the time - all power to him. It was his whole family that emigrated - CH was only 14 at the time. He talked quite extensively about his father and the magic of growing up in a music shop when I saw him in 2013. His father had died relatively recently and there were some songs on his latest album about him and the grief of his death. |
|
|
|
Post by coyote on Sept 21, 2022 23:50:17 GMT
Incidentally, if you can manage to watch the 'Colin Hay - Waiting for my Real Life' documentary this is one of the best music documentaries I've seen in a very long time. P.S. it's on a certain video site we all know. I remember this coming out and it only being available to view in the US at the time, and subsequently forgot about it. Mrs Coyote is away for a few days next week so it will definitely be getting an airing on the smart TV at Coyote Towers |
|
That's a shame because it was very good 
.
which is incredible to think now it's considered the second Australian national anthem.
