Australian Crawl was an Australian surf / pop rock band. The band released four studio albums, three live albums, six compilations, seventeen singles, one extended play, and three video albums. These include releases credited to Australian Crawl, Australian Crawl and James Reyne (but not his solo material), and 'Members of Australian Crawl'. The band was founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano), his younger brother David Reyne (drums), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass guitar) and Simon Binks (lead guitar) in 1978.[1][2] David Reyne left in 1979 and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion),[3] and in October 1980 the band was joined by his younger brother Guy McDonough (vocals, rhythm guitar).[3][4] In 1979, Australian Crawl recorded their first single, "Beautiful People", produced by Little River Band's guitarist David Briggs.[3] Briggs helped them gain a recording contract with EMI Records;[1] he also produced their debut album The Boys Light Up in 1980,[3][5] which peaked at number four on the Australian Kent Music Report album charts and remained on the charts for 101 consecutive weeks from 1981 to 1982.[6]
| Australian Crawl discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 4 |
| EPs | 1 |
| Live albums | 3 |
| Compilation albums | 7 |
| Singles | 17 |
| Video albums | 3 |
The band's second album, Sirocco, was released in 1981 and achieved number one on the albums charts.[3][6] On the 1981 Australian End of Year Album Charts, Sirocco is number two, behind Double Fantasy by John Lennon and ahead of AC/DC's Back in Black, making it the best-charting album by an Australian act for the year.[6][7][8] Their third album, Sons of Beaches, was released in 1982; it also reached number one.[6] Bill McDonough left before they recorded their extended play, Semantics, in 1983,[3][6] which achieved number one on the Kent Music Report singles chart.[1][6] Bill McDonough was replaced on drums, temporarily by Graham Bidstrup and permanently by John Watson.[1][3] Semantics contained the track "Reckless (Don't Be So)", which is described as a number one-single in Music Australia's profile on James Reyne.[4][8][9] The live album Phalanx was a stop-gap measure between studio albums; nevertheless, it reached number four on the albums charts during December 1983.[1] In early 1984, the band signed with Geffen Records for international release of their material.[1]
In 1984, the band released the best of their early material as a compilation titled Crawl File,[4] which peaked at number two on the albums charts.[6] Geffen released Semantics, internationally, as a long play album with six newly re-recorded tracks compiled from their first three studio albums.[10] Promotion of the album and the subsequent tour was stalled when Guy McDonough died in June of viral pneumonia.[1][2] Before Guy's death, he had recorded demos with his brother Bill McDonough, and ex-members of their earlier band, The Flatheads.[3][11] Bill McDonough assembled the tapes and produced Guy McDonough's posthumous album My Place on Wheatley Records in April 1985.[1][11][12] Tracks from these sessions were re-mastered and released on Lost & Found in 1996, credited under the 'Members of Australian Crawl' name.[13] Meanwhile, remaining Australian Crawl members had recorded their fourth studio album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which was released in 1985 and achieved number 11 on the albums charts. This was followed by the announcement that they would disband after another tour.[1] The live album, The Final Wave recorded their performance on 27 January 1986;[1] it was released in October and peaked at number 16 on the albums charts.[6]
Australian Crawl were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 30 September 1996.[14] Two weeks later, on 13 October 1996, Robinson died of lymphoma.[1][14][15] After Lost & Found, another compilation was released, More Wharf: Their Greatest Hits in 1998.[3] This was followed by the compilation Reckless: 1979–1995, released in 2000 and credited to Australian Crawl and James Reyne. This was followed by the compilation Australian Crawl and James Reyne: The Definitive Collection, released in 2002.[3]
Albums
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [6] |
NZ [16] | |||
| The Boys Light Up | 4 | 14 | ||
| Sirocco |
|
1 | — |
|
| Sons of Beaches |
|
1 | 29 |
|
| Between a Rock and a Hard Place |
|
11 | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart and/or did not receive certification. | ||||
Live albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [6][17] |
NZ [16] | |||
| Phalanx | 4 | 13 | ||
| The Final Wave |
|
16 | — | |
| Live at Billboard 1981 | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||
Compilation albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [6][17] | |||
| Semantics[nb 1] | — | ||
| Crawl File | 2 | ||
| Lost & Found[nb 2] |
|
— | |
| More Wharf: Greatest Hits |
|
— | |
| Reckless: 1979–1995[nb 3] |
|
— | |
| The Definitive Collection[nb 3] |
|
— | |
| The Greatest Hits |
|
4 |
|
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
Video albums
edit| Title | Video details |
|---|---|
| The Crawl Video File | |
| More Wharf: Their Greatest Video Hits | |
| Australian Crawl and James Reyne: The Definitive Collection[nb 4] |
Extended plays
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [6] | |||
| Semantics[nb 1] | 1 |
|
Singles
edit| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [6] |
NZ | |||
| 1979 | "Beautiful People" | 22 | — | The Boys Light Up |
| 1980 | "The Boys Light Up" | 22 | — | |
| "Downhearted" | 12 | 25 | ||
| 1981 | "Things Don't Seem" | 11 | — | Sirocco |
| "Errol" | 18 | — | ||
| "Oh No Not You Again" | 58 | — | ||
| 1982 | "Shut Down" | 17 | — | Sons of Beaches |
| "Daughters of the Northern Coast" | 76 | — | ||
| "Runaway Girls" | 88 | — | ||
| "Santa Claus Is Back in Town"[nb 6][27] | — | — | Non-album single | |
| 1983 | "Reckless (Don't Be So)"[nb 1] | 1 | 8 | Semantics EP |
| 1984 | "Louie Louie" | 81 | — | Phalanx |
| "Unpublished Critics" | — | — | Crawl File | |
| 1985 | "Two Can Play" | 44 | — | Between a Rock and a Hard Place |
| "If This Is Love" | 87 | — | ||
| "Trouble Spot Rock" | 69 | — | ||
| 1986 | "Two Hearts" | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||
Other appearances
edit| Year | Song contributed | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Six Days on the Road" (Dave Dudley cover) | Rocking Australia Live[28] |
| "Unpublished Critics" (live version) | Rocking Australia Live[28] |
References
editGeneral
- "Australian Crawl – Discography". Allmusic. Macrovision. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
- "Australian Crawl – Discography". Discogs. Zink Media Inc. Archived from the original on 12 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
- "Australian Crawl – Discography". MusicBrainz. MetaBrainz Foundation. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
Specific
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Australian Crawl'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
- ^ a b Nimmervoll, Ed. "Australian Crawl". Howlspace – The Living History of Our Music (Ed Nimmervoll). Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Australian Crawl". Australian Rock Database. Magnus Holmgren. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d Mureika, Tomas. "Australian Crawl > Biography". Allmusic. Macrovision. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ "The Boys Light Up". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian singles and albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
- ^ Angus Cameron, ed. (1986). The Second Australian almanac : an 800-page databank crammed with essential information for every Australian. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson. p. 345. ISBN 0-207-15232-2.
- ^ a b c St. John, Ed (1986). The Final Wave (Media notes). Australian Crawl. Sydney, NSW: EMI.
- ^ a b "James Reyne". Music Australia. National Library of Australia. 3 April 2007. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ Schnee, Stephen SPAZ. "Semantics > Overview". Allmusic. Macrovision. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Guy McDonough". Australian Rock Database. Magnus Holmgren. Archived from the original on 19 March 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ a b "Obscure 80's/MFV Archive". New Wave Outpost. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ a b c "Lost & Found album insert". James Reyne Official website. Archived from the original on 27 July 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ a b "1996: 10th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ Petkovski, Suzi (December 1996). "Master Blaster". Australian Tennis Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-10-20. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ a b Steffen Hung. "Australian Crawl - Downhearted". charts.nz. Archived from the original on 2020-04-03. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
- ^ a b "Discography Australian Crawl". australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2009. NOTE: Information supplied by ARIA shows that Australian Crawl has no Top 50 charting albums or singles since they started their charts in mid-1988.
- ^ "ARCA Desk Tape Series". Support Act. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ^ "Live at Billboard 1981 (DD)". Apple Music. 1 July 2020. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2019 Albums". ARIA. November 2019. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ "Crawl Video File, The". Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia). Australian Federal Government. Retrieved 2009-05-26. [dead link]
- ^ "Catalogue Details - Australian Crawl, Greatest Hits and More Wharf". State Reference Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 2009-05-26.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Australian Crawl - Greatest Hits and More Wharf". Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia). Australian Federal Government. Retrieved 2009-05-26. [dead link]
- ^ "Archived Australasian Releases: May 2004". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ "The Definitive Collection - Australian Crawl". Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia). Australian Federal Government. Retrieved 2009-05-26. [dead link]
- ^ "International Dateline" (PDF). Cash Box. 25 February 1984. p. 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021 – via World Radio History.
- ^ "single cover of "Santa Claus is Back in Town"". Rate Your Music.com. Retrieved 2009-05-26.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Rocking Australia Live". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
Notes
edit- ^ a b c Semantics was released as a four-track EP in 1983 in Australia.[3] It peaked at number 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report singles chart - there was no separate EP chart.[6] The track, "Reckless (Don't Be So)", was the main one played on radio stations.[1] Some sources describe "Reckless" as a number 1 single.[4][8][9] Semantics was released by Geffen Records as a ten-track LP in 1984 for the international markets, by the addition of six re-recorded tracks from their first three studio albums.[1]
- ^ Lost & Found is credited to 'Members of Australian Crawl'.[3][13] Seven tracks on this album had originally appeared on Australian Crawl's guitarist and songwriter Guy McDonough's posthumously released solo album, My Place in 1985.[3][11][13] Both My Place and Lost & Found were produced by Bill McDonough (ex-Australian Crawl drummer and percussionist), Guy's older brother.[1][11][12]
- ^ a b Reckless: 1979–1995 and Australian Crawl and James Reyne: The Definitive Collection are credited to both Australian Crawl and to James Reyne.[3] They contain material from Australian Crawl's performances, and James Reyne's subsequent solo performances.[3]
- ^ Australian Crawl and James Reyne: The Definitive Collection was a 2 disc DVD; the first disc featured 15 video clips of Australian Crawl songs, two live appearances, two television appearances and a number of extras including a rare recorded performance by Spiff Rouch (the earliest incarnation of Australian Crawl). The second disc features videos and live recordings of James Reyne, as a solo artist.
- ^ The DVD was pulled from shelves by the distributor shortly after its release.
- ^ "Santa Claus is Back in Town" was originally released as a B-side to "Runaway Girls" in December, 1982 but was also released as a separate single.
External links
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