KIM'S 21ST BIRTHDAY PARTY 09/05/1981
(+ THE CONNOTATIONS)
FORMULA DISCO
All remastered at home
from poor to excellent quality cassettes.
The Toorak Angler's Hall performance is from the first gig in the slightly
ridiculous Voigt/465 tour of Melbourne. If memory serves me correctly, Tsk
Tsk Tsk were all dressed in white suits with pink trim. They played very
softly for the most part which served as a nice juxtaposition next to
Voigt's inherent loudness. The material is in the style of the Venetian
Rendevous EP with leanings towards real shlock - their version of Hey Jude
is splendid. Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor - it was recorded on
a cheap unit with an automatic volume control so that, between songs, the
hum rises to fill the silence. In any case, it's quite listenable.
Kim's 21st birthday party seemed like a slightly staid affair even if
everyone is obviously having a good time. The sound quality is excellent,
once again thanks to Tim V and the band play their party style set - which
they would do to good effect when they had a minor underground hit with
the Nice Noise EP. So there's versions of Funky Town, Eno's Third Uncle
and Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll Part I spread amidst hard drumming
originals. Even if they're playing this stuff with an arched eyebrow, it
still sounds pretty damned good.
Formula Disco is one of their set pieces, supposedly interogating the ins
and outs of disco as an art form. This sounds like a rehearsal (with some
snippets of critical conversations which I've edited out) but there's
scattered applause occassionaly so I'm not sure if it wasn't a real
performance. Most of these tracks are splendid thumping bass heavy things.
Not very disco at all, really, but played with vigour (like the band at
Kim's party).
