Skyhooks: Don't You Believe What You've Seen Or You've Heard

Skyhooks: Don't You Believe What You've Seen Or You've Heard

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1975. A momentous year in Australia.

The Dismissal. Medibank. Double J. Countdown. Colour TV.
 
And Skyhooks.

Although Living in the 70’s was released in October 1974 and was an instant smash, it only became clear the following year that Skyhooks were not only breaking both rules and records, but they were seriously breaking new ground as well. New ground as in new frontiers, as in taking the country to places it had never been before. As in changing the culture in a way that hadn’t happened since The Beatles visited the Antipodes 11 years earlier. Yes - Skyhooks were that different, and, in Australia in 1975, that ubiquitous.
 
And after 16 weeks atop the national album charts with their first album (and 6 months in that spot in Victoria – hometown fans in Melbourne of course led the charge for the band), they released Ego Is Not A Dirty Word in June and spent another 11 weeks there. Their success and their cultural impact was unprecedented for an Australian band. And make no mistake, they were a very Australian band – one who sung about Australian places (that weren’t Gundagai) and an Australian life that mainstream society had barely glimpsed, and one who were all of a sudden the biggest and brightest thing in a country that was undergoing some serious changes.

While things inevitably tapered off slightly in ’76 as the band set its sights on the US, 1975 remains the year that Skyhooks peaked. And Living In the 70’s and Ego Is Not A Dirty Word remain together in the nation’s consciousness as the two records that charmed the band into our collective pants. Indeed the albums remain a cohesive pair; together they were the soundtrack to the band’s extended period of mania.
 
So, 40 years down the track, it is perhaps inevitable that these two classic albums should be brought together to celebrate Skyhooks brilliance and success. Don't You Believe What You've Seen Or You've Heard is a deluxe 3CD set that does just that. In stunning remastered sound (overseen at every step by Greg Macainsh himself), this new collection presents Living in the 70’s and Ego Is Not A Dirty Word as they were meant to be heard. Add a bunch of pre-album demos to each, as well a third disc of previously unreleased live recordings from late ’74 and ’75 that we’re calling Skyhooks In Concert 1974-75, and you have the ultimate 44-track audio document of this period of the band’s life. Chuck in a new essay by RAM magazine editor and early Skyhooks confidante Anthony O’Grady, numerous rare and unpublished photos, and the type of deluxe packaging that disappeared with your local cd store, and Skyhooks’ legion of fans really won’t believe what they see or they hear when they pick this up.

CD1 - ‘Living in the 70’s’ 
1. Living in the Seventies
2. Whatever Happened to the Revolution
3. Balwyn Calling
4. Horror Movie
5. You Just Like Me ‘Cos I’m Good in Bed
6. Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)
7. Toorak Cowboy
8. Smut
9. Hey What’s the Matter
10. Motorcycle Bitch

Additional tracks:
11. Broken Gin Bottle - B side of  original ‘Living in the Seventies’ Single
12. Don't Suck it (Demo)
13. Hey What’s The Matter (Demo)
14. Horror Movie (Demo)
15. Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo) (Demo)

CD2  - Ego is Not a Dirty Word
1. Ego is Not a Dirty Word
2. Love on the Radio
3. Saturday Night
4. Love’s Not Good Enough
5. The Other Side
6. Smartarse Songwriters
7. Mercedes Ladies
8. All My Friends Are Getting Married
9. Every Chase a Steeple
10. Private Eye
Additional tracks :
11. Sweet Sister (Demo)
12. The Other Side (Demo)
13. Saturday Night (Demo)
14. Love on the Radio (Demo)
15. Smartarse Songwriters (Demo)
 
CD3 - Skyhooks In Concert  1974-75
1. Hey What's the Matter
2. Living in the 70’s
3. Whatever Happened to the Revolution
4. Balwyn Calling
5. Toorak Cowboy
6. Smut
7. All My Friends are Getting Married
8. Ego is Not a Dirty Word
9. Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)
10. Private Eye
11. You Just Like Me ‘cos I’m Good in Bed
12. Smartarse Songwriters
13. Horror Movie
14. Love on the Radio

Tracks 1-3 recorded at Sydney Opera House September 15 1974 
Tracks 4-9 Sydney State Theatre April 12 1975
Track 10 Her Majesty’s Theatre Adelaide July 9 1975
Tracks 11-12 Reefer Cabaret, Ormond Hall, Melbourne December 31 1975
Tracks 13-14 Festival Hall Melbourne July 3 1975

Find out more about Don't You Believe What You've Seen Or You've Heard here.

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