Sunday Afternoon Listening Cafe #15
Torch the Moon, The Whitlams
There was such a great response to No Aprhodisiac in the Tune Tag this week (check it out here) that I’ve gone back to my draft folder and dragged this out. Of all The Whitlams albums, this is the one with the most personal resonance for me, as it was recorded in the time frame when I was visiting Australia and seeing the band live. I was active in the fandom and remember the excitement when one of these songs would be played at a gig in advance of the release. And a couple really captured where I was at the time.
Torch the Moon came out in 2002, a few months after I returned from my second trip to Australia. It debuted at #1, thanks in part to a pre-sale that included a large purchase by Black Yak Records1 to sell on their website. It was certified platinum in Australia. It was produced, mixed, and recorded by Daniel Denholm2. Denholm had done the soundscape for love is a four letter word, a short tv series written by Matt Ford (yes, he of MGF/No Aphrodisiac fame). I suspect that’s where Freedman met him as Ford was one of his closest friends. With Freedman’s ongoing fascination with lavish arrangements, it’s a natural fit. Denholm easily crossed the pop and classical words and was successful in both. He ended up working on a couple of the last tracks on the previous album, Love This City. The songs were successful so he was an obvious choice.
Freedman was at pains to point out that this was the first true band album since 1995’s Undeniably The Whitlams. The band was solidified with lead guitarist Jak Housden, drummer Terepai Richmond and bassist Warwick Hornby. (All really lovely people.) As Freedman said in an interview: "A lot of the changes in the album are suggested by the rhythm section rather than by me. They've allowed it to go somewhere that my records haven't gone before."
Obviously I can go on and on about this album. It’s so much easier when the liner notes and credits are actually in your possession, plus my own personal collection of articles from 200-2008. Let’s get on with the music.
The opening track, Cries Too Hard, has a lyric I just adore.
She laughs too easily and cries too hard
Shouldn't drink alone, the colours run
How can she forgive
When we know well what we do?
Freedman describes the song.
It's about highly strung girls at university going through their difficult early 20s and there was always a Frida Kahlo poster on the wall, And that first verse was a memory of mine from a decade ago when I stayed out too late and my girlfriend had painted 'nothing's pure' on the bedroom wall and I thought, 'Whoa, I better come home on time in future'.
Fall For You was the first single and it’s a duet with Sofie Michalitsianos, who now goes by Sol Seppy. I love these words of wisdom she sings in the chorus:
Be strong and you'll get strength back
Feed the fire and you'll get warmth back
A reviewer described it as "With its shuffling beat and bendy guitar notes, this is the Whitlams song most often enjoyed by people who don’t normally like the Whitlams. It’s undeniably catchy and the whisper of a woman’s vocals underneath Freedman’s gives it a hypnotic quality."3
The Lights Are Back On is about finding love. I especially love the bridge in this. It doesn’t stand out like a lot of the other songs so I won’t feel bad if you don’t like it.
I Will Not Go Quietly (Duffy’s Song) was written for love is a four letter word and was released to support the show in advance of the album’s release. Duffy is a main character, a former rugby player who became famous for defecating on the field. Freedman said about the song in an interview4:
I wrote that song because I liked what the guy was saying and I enjoy exactly that confusion that can arise., There's enough of me in there so that I feel comfortable singing it. I don't mind people misunderstanding that it's me; but it's not me…I don't care if people think I'm cocky even though I'm not. They can throw as much mud at me as they want; I feel like I've been forged in a fire.
This clip includes scenes from the show. The band is sitting outside a pub in their then-native Newtown neighbourhood. I walked by it many times while I was staying there. It also features interaction between Freedman and the actor who played Duffy, Joel McIlroy. I can’t find out for sure, but probably directed by one of the 4 directors on the series.
I did a deep dive into Kate Kelly last month. You can read that here.
Royal in the Afternoon is the third single and probably the song I like the least. It’s a throwback to the early Whitlams sound and is a rolicking piece. I can see why it was chosen to be released. I’m just not a fan.
Gone Surfing is pretty much an instrumental with very few lyrics. created by the band. It’s so much fun!
And this brings us to Best Work, the song in the entire Whitlams catalog that speaks to me personally the most. See, Tim Freedman was my muse (and my obsession) for a while. Even now when I need a kick to my creativity I come back to him. So the lyrics to Best Work really fit how I was feeling at the time the song came out. This in the outro is pretty much a personal mantra.
There's no lovers up above
No lovers only love
He wrote it for the same woman he wrote Melbourne and No Aphrodisiac for. Rumour has it that after this she told him to stop writing about her. It’s the second single off the album and just stunningly beautiful. It’s starts off with a simple top note before it goes into the body of the song. It features Bernie Hayes on backing vocals. The outro is Freedman’s homage to The Beatles. One of my all-time favourite songs.
These days, Freedman is touring with country musicians. Listening to Start My Cellar Again now makes that connection evident. Was never a fan of the song but it’s touching in its way. In the CD under the song it says “for Miranda”. Maybe the reason I don’t really like it is that it talks about going on a drinking bender and I’ve never been a fan of that.
Coming Over really highlights Jak Housden’s rock roots and guitar playing. This one is about coming down from being high and needing help.
Out The Back has a string arrangement composed by Australian classical composer Peter Sculthorpe, whom Freedman met after the 2001 APRA Music Awards. Here’s a great interview talking with both of them where they talk about how they met and their process in creating this song. It features Australian Chamber Orchestra artistic director and lead violinist Richard Tognetti as well. The song is about bobbing in the water and just appreciating the beauty around you.
A version called the Sculthorpe Variation appears on the Best Work single. Spotify has it but won’t let me play it. Maybe you’ll be able to.
And now we come to the pretty songs that end the album. Breathing You In is a quiet piece that’s about that sleepy feeling in the morning waking up next to the person you love and reveling in that moment. It’s keyboard forward and just really gentle.
Ease of the Midnight Visit ended up becoming a theme for a later relationship of mine. These lines are a life theme for me:
Its not enough to be in love with you
I want to be loved too
Again, a quiet number with the keyboard forward. It tells a story about a guy newly in a relationship who tried to sneak into his lover’s bedroom but falls instead. It’s the trademark Freedman twist on a love song. Besides the lines above, these also really sit with me:
Born again to die again
My soul is in this body
Better give it a bit of peace
Whew! Got through the album. Here’s some footage shot during the making of the album.
I have the special edition 2 CD set, which has 5 bonus songs on the second disc, labelled Side 4. It includes Don’t Believe Anymore (which I’ve written about here). I really love the second track Last Life that doesn’t live on the internet. The third track, Witness Protection Scheme has been re-recorded for the latest release Kookaburra, which is taking Whitlams songs and countrifying them.
The last two tracks, Back into the Wild and Still in Love With You, are also not available for me to share with you which makes me sad because Still in Love With You is also a great track. I’m even toying with trying to record it.
This is probably the longest post I’ve ever written, certainly on this blog. It’s
length! No wonder I’ve been avoiding it. It’s a beast. Hope you enjoy your Sunday café!The record label founded by Tim Freedman for The Whitlams albums, which later branched out to other artists. As far as I can tell, it is no longer active.
Per his website: “An Emmy and ARIA Award winning music producer, composer, arranger and recording engineer from Sydney, Australia...Daniel is also a film soundtrack recorder, mixer, and sound designer…His sound installations are another passion.” Oddly, he doesn’t say what he won the Emmy for.
Love the Whitlams!
Thanks for the Tune Tag mention, MK, and for more about The Whitlams, about whom I knew nothing!