Redgum Anthology 1976-1986 [Import]

Redgum (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 16, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0006H98U0
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,565 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Poor Ned

2. Killing Floor

3. Servin Usa

4. Maria

5. Ted

6. Long Run

7. Brown Rise & Kerosene

8. Yarralumla Wine

9. Last Frontier

10. Where Ya Gonna Run To

11. Fabulon

12. Diamantina Drover

13. I Was Only 19 (A Walk In The Light Green)

14. I've Been To Bali Too

15. Asio

16. Spirit Of The Land

17. Gladstone Pier

18. Still Life

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 70's - 80's Protest from Adelaide Australia, May 22, 2006

By 

James Allan (Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Redgum Anthology 1976-1986 (Audio CD)

Watching Countdown on television in my late teens it was apparent that Molly Meldrum could not stand Redgum, but he admitted that they wrote one good song, I was only 19, a song about returned soldiers from the vietnam war. Perhaps if nothing else this is a good reason to take a closer look at this group.

John Schumann the lead singer was another political redneck in the same mold as Peter Garret from Midnight Oil, but singing country rather than rock. John like Peter went on to have a crack at politics when he contested the seat of Heysen, in my electorate in the Adelaide Hills, almost unsettling our Foreign Affairs minister Alexander Downer. John would have a crack at all of the institutions and assumptions of our society writing songs that side with the disenfanchised and alienated. His songs are littered with referrences to my home town of Adelaide, Hindley street, Anzac highway, Beaumont etc.

Redgum arise in an era where Australia is aligning itself with America on the international scene, having just extricated itself from the Vietnam war, trying to make an influence in Asia, coping with a growing migrant population and a growing fear of Nuclear war as the cold war intensifies. On the domestic front there is a growing separation between the affluent and the poor in our society. John Shumann seems to have a knack at taking off the pretentions and aspirations of the upper middle class in songs like Beamont Rag (not included in this collection).

This collection displays nicely the range of material the group has produced, with biting social commentry like, where you gonna run to, Ballads about the tribulations of Australian characters, the killing floor, the diamantina drover, down right subversive songs like brown rice and kerosene, caught in the act (not included) and humerous songs like I've been to Bali too and Fabulon. My favourite Redgum album is Midnight Sun (after John left the group) which is sadly unrepresented in this collection.

As an Australian Redgum is part of the social and political commentry that I grew up with during my University days. Redgum follows in a tradition of folk protest songs that in America spawned the likes of Bob Dylan, Art Guthrie etc...For an overseas consumer I would recommend this collection as an insight into Australia, a collection of powerful protest songs and a decade that is sadly slipping away.

In the current climate of war in the middle east, the threat of global terrorism and domestic agendas that disenfranchise individuals in favour of powerful corporations I wish that we had more Redgums, Midnight Oils etc to give our society a much needed conscience.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Australian to the core., February 17, 2007

By 

jblyn (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Redgum Anthology 1976-1986 (Audio CD)

Redgum were unabashedly, unrelentingly Australian in their outlook, their playing, everything. Even Midnight Oil made a few (VERY few) concessions towards wider world audiences beyond Down Under, but not Redgum. If you're not from there, particularly if you're from the U.S., it's a little unsettling. But listen to the songs--there's a heart and soul and, yes, righteous rage at the despoiling of the land, the caving-in to ouside interests and the exploitation of the poor, the immigrants and the indigenous people in Australia--and see if they don't move you in the way any music that calls to your conscience should. It's strong stuff, but Redgum is worth listening to, even if you're not from Australia.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb, May 18, 2007

By 

Guerilla Surgeon (NZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redgum Anthology 1976-1986 (Audio CD)

This is a compilation of the best of a group that was active in the 70s and 80s singing what were mostly protest songs. Some of them are funny, some of them sad, and " A Walk in the Light Green" is simply the best anti-war song ever written anywhere. This group never got the acclamation it deserved outside of Australia and New Zealand, and my only criticism is that as a compilation it has missed out one or two of my favourites, which is why I give it four stars instead of five.