Customer Reviews

Primitive Man

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Icehouse -- the vehicle for Australian singer/songwriter Iva Davies -- changed lineups numerous times and even enjoyed some Stateside chart success in the late 80's with songs like "Crazy", "Electric Blue" and "No Promises". PRIMITIVE MAN was the 2nd album and, surprisingly enough, all of the instruments (including the drum machine) herein are played by Davies, after he disbanded his original lineup. Still, this album contains some of Davies' most stellar songwriting despite the somewhat sparse -- and now dated -- sound. "Hey Little Girl", "Street Cafe" and "Great Southern Land" (a homage to the land down under) are bonafide classics that I could listen to a million times over. I suppose this album was Iva Davies' stab at new romanticism and synthpop, since it is his most synthesizer-laden album, but the melodies are infectious even if they are a bit on the melancholy side.

This remastered edition is a real treat because it includes the version of "Love in Motion" that was included on the U.S. release, although the sequencing is different on this Australian release. You also get the songs "Break These Chains" and "Over the Line" which were released on a separate EP -- FRESCO -- in the States, as well as additional 12" mixes and live cuts.

At first listen, the typical genre labels are usually thrown at this work: "Synth-Pop", "New-Wave" and inappropriately "New Romantic". While it does scale these genres, Primitive Man possesses a good amount of aural atmospherics, musical backbone and a sufficient amount of guitar to it to give it rock credibility. A lost classic and an excellent album in its time, it only peaked at #129 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart in 1982

Most of the bonuses and add-ons to this remastered and repackaged version are welcome additions but I still prefer the original ten tracks in their original order. In fact, when I finally replaced my old 1982 cassette copy with the CD remaster this year; I burned a CD-R with the original running order, sans the bonus tracks. I guess I am indeed a stick in the mud. The track order when Primitive Man was originally released in 1982 ran this way:

1 Uniform
2 Street Cafe
3 Hey Little Girl
4 Glam
5 Great Southern Land
6 Trojan Blue
7 Love in Motion
8 Mysterious Thing
9 One by One
10 Goodnight, Mr. Matthews

Quality cuts are abundant on Primitive Man . "Uniform" has a martial-sounding bridge and excellent and chilling synth riffs. "Street Café" is an airy and atmosphere track that shifts between ballad verses and a mid-tempo chorus, and the bonus version in the remaster does the original version justice. " Hey Little Girl" a pensive track, strangely was the only song from the album to score rock radio airplay, peaking at #31 on Billboard's Album Rock Track Chart in 1982. "Great Southern Land" a band and fan classic, shows Icehouse leader Iva Davies providing a deeper and more substantial portrayal of his native Australia, much better than fellow Aussies Men At Work's picture postcard portrayal "Down Under" which ironically was released the same year to much more commercial success than Davies' epic.

"Trojan Blue" is one of the Primitive Man's best tracks, an epic but yet subtle and ethereal song that has a slow but effective guitar riff to it. "One By One" is the most dated and unapologetically 1980's song in this set, right down to the droning vocals, quirky guitars and eerie synths. It sounds like it could have wound up on a Depeche Mode or Smiths record. The original album closes on a very high note with the anthemic "Good Night, Mr. Matthews".

More Roxy Music and Ultravox than Human League, Primitive Man is a great album and that possesses the finer points of New Wave, Art-Rock, timeless Pop elements and of course, some fine guitar work.

When I originally bought "Primitive man" on record in 1986, I fell in love with all but one of the songs on it. I never cared much for "Hey little girl" which was the one song from the record that you would hear on the radio from time to time. For myself, It was simply to generic to deal with.
Like most of the the music in the early to mid eighties, it was very synth based but MUCH cooler than most of the radio fare garbage. If you're a Ultravox, Gary Newman or O.M.D. fan from the eighties, then you will probably enjoy this one.

Primitive Man was the Icehouse jump to the Electro side of the New Wave.

After releasing the excelent post-punk album 'Flowers', Iva Davies (Icehouse's leader) decided to give a chance to the electric beats and the synths to compose a solid work still very enyojable.

In contrast of the rest of their work, Primitive Man offers a good collection of hits in the pure style of the early 80s electro-pop.

'Great Southern Land' opens as a still-great radio hit (in my opinion one of their best songs) and we notice that the boys have choosen their way, then comes Uniform (very regular)and Hey Little Girl (A good single reminding the Bowie's pop style).

Then 'Street Cafe' an enjoyable rock-ballad shows versatility followed by Glam, personally I don't like this one due sounds like a useless mirror of 'Paradise Lost' [Flowers Album] but out of date.

The second part of the album is also recomendable. 'Trojan Blue' is an interesting slow song sounding like a classic, even when it's almost known only by fans.
'One by One', is one of the album's best pieces, a kind of experimentation with voice and guitars mixed up with synths (the result is great, in the line of the early New Order but with the amazing Icehouse seal).

'Break These Chains', a great rocker piece, is a little contrast with the rest of the album, then 'Mysterious Thing' returns to the regularity (i always skip it).

For clossing the album we've got, 'Goodnight Mr. Mathews' another good slow and 'Over The Line' not bad but it feels like something is missing (I suggest you to listen it before 'Break These Chains for judging better).

The Remaster worths by the pretty clear sound and the Bonus Material, even the mixes and the live versions could be interesting jus for the band fans, even 'Love In Motion' developes a good 80s pop song (like those songs that have everything to be a classic in the radio stations).

Overall this one is a good album, a new propose in the Icehouse sound but I still think that the boys were better doing post-punk music.

I HAD SEARCHED FOR THIS CD FOR A WHILE. IT WAS EXACTLY AS I REMEMBERED IT. RECEVIED IT IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AND WAS IN GREAT CONDITION. WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO OTHERS WHO ARE LOOKING FOR A LATE 80'S SOUND.

Iva Davies is a genius. I recently discovered Icehouse's music and I can't believe I've lived half of my life without it. There is not a bad song on this CD. Do yourself a favor and buy their first four CD's, because they're all that good (although Sidewalk is probably the weakest). I'm a huge Ultravox fan, and I consider Icehouse to just as talented, if not more.

Ok, I am reviewing 2 of the same thing here, I have the UK Love in Motion which as I recall did not have Break These Chains on it, and did have Love in Motion (which I heard on the radio the other day, magic!) and the Australian Primitive Man tape which did not have Love in Motion on it (which is a shame because its a great track).

PM features real signature tracks, everyone knows "Hey Little Girl" because you still here it now, and it features on every 80's compilation, brilliant rock ballad "Street Café" which had an amazing video, and Australian anthem "Great Southern Land" which is one of the (forgive me Australians) 3 Oz rock "National Anthems" along with Men at Works "Down Under" and Gangajangs "This is Australia". There are plenty of other great tracks on this album which has a foot in 2 camps, the new-wave synth camp of Uniform and the soft-rock Street Café camp. Which sounds a bit odd, but the mix of styles really works, thanks to the musicianship of Iva Davies, who really was the driving force behind the album(Iva the Engine) writing, singing, playing most of the instruments and producing. You always get good value out of Australian bands because of the way that the music scene worked there then, with bands gaining their reputation by touring first, which meant you got good live performances and a hard work ethic, which comes across in Icehouse's albums. The way that their sound evolved across 7 or so albums really is a musical journey and one well worth taking with them.

This album was originally released in 1982 in the USA and Australia as "Primitive Man" - the title it holds to this day. However, it was re-issued in the UK in 1983 as "Love In Motion" with a different track list and different front cover. The inner sleeve is the same as the original 1982 issue (reproduced in the CD booklet).

Just for the interested, the 1983 "Love In Motion" tracks were:
Side 1. 1. Uniform 2. Street Cafe 3. Hey Little Girl 4. Glam 5. Great Southern Land
Side 2. 1. Trojan Blue 2. Love In Motion 3. Mysterious Thing 4. One By One 5. Goodnight, Mr. Matthews

As you can see from the track list of this re-issue, the extra tracks cover both issues of the original album - and the bonus tracks - like the German sung version of "Uniform" - are incredibly difficult to find on original vinyl, so a welcome inclusion here.

I bought these albums in the 80's and loved their sound then - and still do - a sort of Australian Cars meets Roxy Music meets Talk Talk meets Spandau Ballet meets Thomas Dolby meets Prefab Sprout meets...well you get the idea. Icehouse' sound is I suppose closest to the hypnotic and superb synth melody of "Heartbeat City" by The Cars. It hasn't dated either like some of the dire 80's productions.

They were re-issued in the USA at the very beginning of CD re-issuing (about 1987 and 88) and they were better than the vinyl versions then, but only ok soundwise - as most of those early CDs were. These new IVA DAVIES (principal songwriter in the band) remastered versions from 2002 are fabulous - superb sounding - and stacked with bonus tracks that will thrill fans. There's little hiss on the tracks, he's not cranked the treble for effect - in fact, they're just muscular in their sound - really great.

"Great Southern Land", "Street Cafe", the groove of the funky instrumental "Glam" - all ripe for rediscovery.

Of their albums, I recommend heartily the superb "Sidewalk" from 1984 where they seemed to hit their stride and "Measure For Measure" with the stunning "No Promises" from 1986. "Man Of Colours" too from 1987 is another peach - the 2002 reissue contains the 2 bonus 12" mixes of "Crazy" that were on initial releases of the CD + 5 more bonus tracks.

Icehouse are held in great affection - and on rehearing these albums again - in this glorious sound quality - it's easy to see why.

Great band - superb sounding re-issues with fan-pleasing extras. Way to go guys.

Great Aussie band of the 80's. New-Wave. If you like Aussie/Brit 80's music, you will probably like this CD. Hard to find in stores.

Overpowering synths and drum machines are the core to any essential eighties cd, and this cd is no exception. I happen to like this band, but I think, really, only one of their cds was good, that being Man of Colours. As far as standing the test of time, their other cds just don't do it. The drum machines on this cd are very overbearing at times and kind of drown out some of the songs in a very distracting way, not to mention the synths. The singer's vocals are good, but like a lot of music from the era, get lost at times behind overproduced, plastic music. Hey Little Girl is borderline bad, with offbeat synths popping up to emphasize certain words. I will say Great Southern Land is a gem for this type of music. It's catchy, if not a little redundant at times. The chorus is bad in comparison to the rest of the song, but taking out the chorus, it's a good song. Bottom line, it's about par for the course for most eighties retro synth music. It's not really great, but it's not horrendous. It's about as average as the other thousands of non-standout groups of the eighties.