Article on the upcoming Hunters and Collectors tribute album, Crucible.

Author: Bernard Zuel, Sydney Morning Herald.

Date: 8 August 2013.

Original URL: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/famous-fans-honour-hunters–collectors-20130808-2rl1b.html

Article Text

Tribute album: Hunters & Collectors’ songs have been reworked by Paul Kelly, Birds of Tokyo, Missy Higgins and the Avalanches.

Who knew Eddie Vedder was a Hunters & Collectors fan? The American singer for Big Day Out headliners Pearl Jam had already revealed himself a Split Enz devotee when he joined Neil Finn on stage a decade ago in New Zealand. Now Vedder, joined again by Finn, has added his voice to a new album devoted to the songs of the Melbourne band who rose from underground dark funksters to giants of the beer barns.

Crucible, which will be released in late September, features 15 songs mostly written by Mark Seymour and originally performed by Hunters & Collectors in their 18-year career, which ended in 1998. Vedder and Finn cover the Hunters’ most famous and enduring song, Throw Your Arms Around Me.

Apart from Vedder and Finn the musicians are all Australian, including veterans such as Paul Kelly (who performs True Tears of Joy with Emma Donovan and exciting young rapper Jimblah), the Living End (Say Goodbye) and Something for Kate (When the River Runs Dry) alongside relatively youthful talent such as recent No. 1 artists Birds of Tokyo, who perform the first single released by Hunters & Collectors, Talking to a Stranger.

Collectors item: Eddie Vedder, who sings Throw Your Arms Around Me with Neil Finn on the album. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

Also on the album are Abbe May, Matt Corby and Missy Higgins, the Panics, Cloud Control and the unlikely but winning electro pop group Alpine.

The final track on the album ignited an online frenzy this week when rumours of the involvement of electronic outfit the Avalanches (whose second album, the follow up to their global smash debut, has been promised for more than a decade now) on a new album led to speculation that this was to be a new track by the mysterious and semi-reclusive producers.

Instead, the Avalanches have remixed Talking to a Stranger, now called Stalking to a Stranger, to close out Crucible.

Crucible will be released on September 27 through Liberation.

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