The 1980 Listening Post - Cold Chisel - East

Cold Chisel - East


June 2 1980

Cold Chisel

East

Genre: Rock

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Standing on the Outside

Choirgirl

Tomorrow

One of the best experiences of this project are the Discoveries. Sometimes it’s just an album, other times it’s an entire band and their catalog. 

Cold Chisel falls into the latter category. But that’s a recent thing because I missed their 70s records and only heard them when this project hit the mid-80s (which came before the early 80s cuz, of course). Twentieth Century was a masterwork collection of unheard rock tracks and front man Jimmy Barnes’ solo follow up was nearly as good. 

Turns out, that’s no fluke. In fact, I bet had they traveled stateside more, they might have broken on American AOR radio. These tracks are solid. Don Walker can write, man. But, so can the rest of the band. Ian Moss’s “Never Before” and Phil Small’s “My Baby” are neat little ditties and Jimmy himself adds to the fun with the roots rocking “Rising Sun” and rambunctious “My Turn to Cry”. Even the drummer, Steve Prestwich gets a chance with “Best Kept Lies”.

No wonder these guys were big down under. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/east/1443845175

The 1985 Listening Post - Jimmy Barnes - For the Working Man

Jimmy Barnes - For the Working Man

#171

May 22 1985

Jimmy Barnes

For the Working Class Man

Genre: Rock

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

I’d Die to Be with You Tonight

No Second Prize

Boys Cry Out for War

Thick Skinned

Paradise 

I really loved that last Cold Chisel record. For me it was a helluva discovery. A band whose name I’d heard for decades and, when I finally gave them a shot, they really paid off. 

Barnes comes out of the gate with his best John Mellencamp impression. The heartland rock pedigree here is strong, the only thing missing is a John Fogerty cover. Is he Bryan Adams?  Is that what he wants to be? 

Steve Van Zandt, Jonathan Cain, Tony Carey…all contribute tunes to this thing. Kim Carnes does backup vox. Tommy Thayer. Waddy Wachtel. Charlie Sexton. They all play on this thing. It’s a cornucopia of who’s who to help Jimmy break through. 

He doesn’t, obviously, but it’s not for lack of trying. 

And, to be honest, I can’t figure out why. Is it Jimmy? Is it his screech? That doesn’t make sense for the era. This is right in that mid 80s heartland rock wheelhouse. 

If you were anxiously waiting between Bruce records (years) or disappointments with the subdued nature or balladry of Mellencamp or Adams or you were just annoyed by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, this would’ve been right up your alley. It’s right up mine. 

Solid.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/for-the-working-class-man/778183044

The 1984 Listening Post - Cold Chisel - Twentieth Century

Cold Chisel - Twentieth Century

#375
1984 Housekeeping
Cold Chisel
Twentieth Century
4.75 out of 5

Highlights:
Twentieth Century
Saturday Night
No Sense
Hold Me Tight
The Game
Temptation

I regret that Cold Chisel is one of those bands that I know nothing about. Not that this album makes me want to go back into their catalog, just that their name kept popping up on Soulseek and other boards.
So, naturally, when I read up on this, being called their "best" I was excited.
Umm....this is...disco. If a disco band was fronted by Danko Jones. Why they opened with 3rd rate Kiss makes no sense to me since the album rips right after that. So much so, that the gentle throb of "Saturday Night" is earned as part of this hodgepodge coda as it builds into a Foreigner arena rock epic.
The whole first side is an exercise in "What happened?" or, rather, "What didn't happen?" because based on this Cold Chisel could have been the right band at the end of the right time to hit it big.
It's a little bit Aerosmith, Foreigner and Journey.
It's a whole lot of extraordinary. What a great way to end 1984!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGZHiGEu-Zs&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVDjnmCbsMFZ9yKIAD0E9BWm