No Sign of Yesterday by Men At Work is playing on the iPod now. There was another of their songs that played before lunch, but I don’t remember which one it was. (I could back up to find out, but I won’t.) It had more of a Reggae sound to it.
Now, the '80s and '90s were ‘my era’ in music. I still like a lot of the '80s stuff… especially Men At Work – who actually did more songs than Down Under. Yes, they had that '80s Sound, but they were a little different.
ETA: Oh, what the hay. I looked it up. The earlier song was Crazy from the Business As Usual album.
If you can excise the blockbuster “Down Under”, their second album (Cargo) with “Overkill” and “Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive” stacks up comparably with “Business As Usual”. IMHO of course.
One of my favourites. Atmospheric and haunting. Or hauntingly atmospheric. Anyway, I live down by the sea; and when I lived in L.A. the ocean was still nearby.
He isn’t just doing their songs in his solo act. He has much more material of his own. I have seen him live a few times. He is absolutely fantastic - very funny, a terrific guitarist and has that unique vocal style.
Thanks for linking that video. I would pay good money to see him in person, but I live far away from any metropolitan area so I doubt he will play anywhere near me soon. I guess that gives me a reason to head someplace where he’s actually performing. According to his website, he’s playing on the US east coast right now.
Several years ago I was listening to music on one of those streaming services (not Spotify, maybe Rhapsody?) where you would start with a song you liked and then it would play other songs with similar qualities. I forget what I started with but it threw a couple of Colin Hay songs into the mix which I really liked but never followed up on. I will have to check out some of those linked songs when I’m not at work.
The flautist—and saxophonist, keyboardist, and occasional songwriter and singer—was Greg Ham, who, sadly, died in 2012. At the end, the band was down to just Colin Hay and Greg Ham.
Their first two albums had the big hits, but I really enjoyed their third album, Two Hearts, partly because of Ham’s contributions. I think “Giving Up” was my favorite
but this is the only one I could find with video of Ham singing:
Preach it, brother. Unique and so very fun. If I had to pick a favorite tune I guess it would be It’s a Mistake However, a close second would be the song that appeared at the end of the Modern Family ep where they all go to Australia - To Have and to Hold. I’d not heard of it but instantly loved it and would play the end of that episode just to hear it. For whatever reason I couldn’t find it anywhere else. Now it looks like it’s on Youtube.
Saw him as part of Ringo’s All Starr Band a year or two ago. He had to share the stage with the other musicians, but I enjoyed him the best. My partner and I have tickets to see him in New London, CT in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to it.
I still don’t hear the plagiarism in Down Under. I found a video called Comparison of Down Under (Men at Work) and Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree but it started with a three-minute, non-skippable ad… followed by a 2:25 non-skippable ad. Finally the video played. Sure, it kind of sounds similar; but to my ears, not similar enough to constitute plagiarism.
