Ruby was the second album by Australian band Catfish. Released in 1991, it spent one week in the Australian charts, peaking at number 98.[1] The first single from the album, "Johnny's Gone", peaked at number 129 and stayed in the Australian top 150 for 8 weeks.[2]
| Ruby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by | |
| Released | 1991 |
| Recorded | 1990–91 |
| Studio | Trafalgar Studios |
| Genre | Rock |
| Label | WEA Records Salt Records (reissue) |
| Producer | Peter Walker, Don Walker |
| re-release cover | |
 | |
Background
editDon Walker had been the main songwriter and piano player with Australian rock band Cold Chisel. He was the author of many of their hit songs, but had a lower profile than some other members of the band. When they split in 1983, Walker travelled extensively through the Soviet Union, Asia and Europe. He intended to retire from the music industry.[3] In 1988 he released his first solo album under the name Catfish. It received some critical acclaim but only reached number 50 on the Australian charts.[4]
Recording
editWalker later said, "The two Catfish albums were produced by Peter Walker and even though I was feeling my way as a singer, he managed to get good performances onto those albums. And it also took me those two Catfish albums to try and figure out what I should be doing, as far as what kind of songs suit the tales that I have to tell."[5] Elsewhere, he said, "In the Catfish albums there are things that make me cringe and there are things that I think are really good. I think the song writing is very good. I think my skills were developed. The limitations on those album have to do with me trying to expand my competency."[6]
Songs
editAfter the subject matter of Unlimited Address reflected Walker's overseas travels, Ruby was a return to an Australian setting.[7] Walker said, "I tried to make it a little more light-hearted and less personal. For instance, there's one song which is about a transvestite who picks up a US sailor and cuts him up with a straight razor and there's another which is about three young blokes from a country town who go to a Bachelors and Spinsters Ball, pick up a girl and murder her.[8]
"The Year That He Was Cool" was inspired by a man Walker knew in Grafton. When he was younger, he had been a very popular surfer. "Back then I wasn't so much uncool as invisible," Walker recalled. Meeting later in life, the man reminded Walker of how unpopular he had been. Walker said, "He was right, but he said it nasty, to remind that back in the day I couldn't catch a ball, couldn't catch a wave, couldn't catch anything." The song ends with the character drunkenly vomiting outside the local bowling club. No one recalls or wants to know about the year that he was cool.[9]
"Charleville" was written after a night as the only resident at School of Art Hotel in town.[10] It was covered by Slim Dusty on his album Ringer from the Top End and soon after recorded again as a duet with Walker.[11] It later appeared on The Very Best of Slim Dusty, which stayed in the Australian country charts for over 15 years.[12]
Reception
editThe Canberra Times said, "With Ruby, Walker has been able to continue his impressions of contemporary Australia, without losing the blues-based rock n roll energy, perhaps a little like Chisel would have been if they'd survived into the '90s."[13] The Sydney Morning Herald called it, "a more flowing, rootsy and colourfully textured record, with a vocal strength not evident on the debut album".[14]The Age said, "Conjuring up a bleak Australia populated by winos, prostitutes and others, and informed by a sense of violence and alienation, Ruby is a strong album, surely among the most impressive released locally this year. ".[15]
Clinton Walker said, "Catfish boasts a rumbustiously appealing, rootsy sound, it allows Walker to explore possibilities denied in rock, like extended narratives, as he does in songs on Ruby like the title-track. Then there's cuts on the album like "El Alamein Blues" (based around the fountain in Kings Cross), the laugh-in-your-beer country lament "Charleville" and "Johnny's Gone", which may be nothing more than an excuse for a rockabilly rave-up."[16]
Reviewing the re-release, Inpress said, "there's more country, blues, and rockabilly. The romping opener "Johnny's Gone" would be at home on an episode of True Blood. While it doesn't have the absolute command of its predecessor, it's a worthy entry in the cannon."[17]
Re-release
editIn 2010, the album was re-released with new cover artwork from the original. The album was remastered by Don Bartley, and the songs "Johnny's Gone" and "See You Again" were remixed by Phil Punch. "Crooked Smile", a song about domestic violence, was partially re-recorded to be noticeably less poppy.[18] Walker said his previous record label had lost the masters for the album but, "fortunately I have the raw material in the form of original tapes - I have them very, very well stored and looked after - so I could go back to the first principles and put them together. Once I knew I had to do that I enjoyed it a lot. I redid some thing and had some fun with it."[19]
Track listing
editAll songs written and composed by Don Walker[20]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Johnny's Gone" | 2:48 |
| 2. | "Ruby" | 3:29 |
| 3. | "Jericho Road" | 4:35 |
| 4. | "Too Long" | 4:47 |
| 5. | "Crooked Smile" | 4:28 |
| 6. | "Charleville" | 3:17 |
| 7. | "El Alamein Blues" | 4:24 |
| 8. | "The Year That He Was Cool" | 5:48 |
| 9. | "See You Again" | 4:25 |
Personnel
edit- Don Walker – lead vocals, keyboards, bass (7)
- Ian Moss – lead guitar (3), rhythm guitar (4), guitar (8), backing vocals (2-3, 6)
- Charlie Owen – lead guitar (1-2, 6)
- Tony Cook – drums (1-4, 6-9)
- Ronald Laster – rhythm guitar (1-4, 6-9)
- David Blight – harmonica
- Paul Burton – bass (1-6, 8-9)
- Peter Walker – guitar (5, 7-8), lead guitar (1, 3-4)
- Sunil De Silva – percussion (2, 4-8)
- Graham Bidstrup – drums (5)
References
edit- ^ David Kent (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, New South Wales: Australian Chart Book. p. 70. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Week commencing 20 March 1989". Bubbling Down Under.
- ^ Lesley Sly. "Catfish Capers". Sonics (March 1989). Sydney, NSW: Federal Publishing Co: 16–19.
- ^ "CATFISH - UNLIMITED ADDRESS (ALBUM)". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ^ Natalie Rogers (20 April 2018). "Cold Chisel's Don Walker is the real bloody deal". The Brag.
- ^ Michael Dwyer. "Don Walker: From the highway to Hully Gully". Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ Michael Lawrence (2012). Cold Chisel: Wild Colonial Boys. Melbourne, Victoria: Melbourne Books. p. 239. ISBN 9781877096174.
- ^ "Ruby". Sun Herald. August 1991.
- ^ Don Walker (2019). Songs. BlackInc. p. 102. ISBN 9781760641504.
- ^ Don Walker (2019). Shots. BlackInc. p. 184. ISBN 9781760641566.
- ^ Jennifer Land. "Don Walker - Songwriter for the Common Man". The Dwarf.
- ^ "Slim Dusty Sets ARIA Country Chart Record". The Music. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ Michael Bachelard. "Chisel far behind for Walker". The Canberra Times.
- ^ Peter Holmes. "Don's Party". The Sydney Morning Herald.(Subscription required.)
- ^ Larry Schwartzs. "R.P.M." The Age.(Subscription required.)
- ^ Clinton Walker. "The Don". clintonwalker.com.au.
- ^ Doug Wallen (15 September 2010). "Re-release me". Inpress. No. 1140.
- ^ "Catfish re-release of two classic albums by Don Walker". Entertainment Depot. 15 September 2010. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
- ^ Julian Tompkin (20 January 2011). "In from the cold". X_Press. No. 1249.
- ^ "Ruby [sound recording] / Catfish". Trove.