Hunters and Collectors – Living in Large Room and Lounges
Living in Large Room and Lounges (cover)
Two CD live album set released in 1995. One CD is acoustic and the other contains live pub recordings.
Released In: [Australia / NZ]. [Europe] [USA] [Canada]
Release Date: 27 November 1995. Reissue: 16 June 2007.
Australian Chart Position: #45 (ARIA) / #50 (AMR) (Gold).
Availability: Moderately common. Available new in CD and digital forms.
Value: A$8-A$26.
Track Listing(s)
Legend:
Commercial single.
Promotional single.
Version: Mushroom and Liberation Records Australian two CD album.
Live At The Continental Cafe (Acoustic). CD 1 Album length: 56 minutes, 42 seconds.
ReplayGain loudness: -7.31dB (1995); -7.29dB (2007/2008).
- The Slab
- Say Goodbye
- True Tears Of Joy
- Throw Your Arms Around Me
- Easy
- Courtship Of America
- Betrayer
- Back In The Hole
- Ladykiller
- The Most Unoriginal Sin
- Holy Grail
- When The River Runs Dry (with Bonus at end of track).
Live At The Pubs. CD 2 Album length: 52 minutes, 58 seconds.
ReplayGain loudness: -8.05dB (1995); -8.05dB (2007/2008).
- Holy Grail
- Easy
- Stuck On You
- Say Goodbye
- Chalkie
- Blind Eye
- Everything’s On Fire
- 42 Wheels
- Head Above Water
- Mr. Bigmouth
- Where Do You Go?
- The One and Only You
- Do You See What I See?
Version: Mushroom Records Australian CD single (Living Single In Large Rooms and Lounges).
ReplayGain loudness: -7.98dB (1995).
- The Slab (Continental)
- Holy Grail (Continental)
- Say Goodbye (Continental)
- Say Goodbye (Pubs)
- 42 Wheels (Pubs)
Original studio source of the songs on this live album:
- The Jaws Of Life contains:
- Human Frailty contains:
- What’s A Few Men? / Fate contains:
- Ghost Nation contains:
- Cut contains:
- Demon Flower contains:
- No other source contains:
Review
N/A.
Liner Notes
Last night was cancelled because the singer’s throat was infected. A “virus” they called it. Almost took the whole band out. Fortunately there are so many of them, it’s hard to notice if someone is crook… they all seem to blend into the general state of mayhem at a club show… and they’ve done so many, things seem to run fairly smoothly most of the time unless there’s a power failure, and when that happens they all swing into pantomine and start yelling the lyrics out into the void.
The punters, despite being jammed together in conditions which some would describe as appalling, immediately catch onto the humour of this and bellow the song back at the band maintaining it’s ferocity until the power miraculously returns.
There are those who find it difficult to understand how anybody could look forward to going to a rock and roll show in a suburban club like this to be pressed into a throng of locals, almost all of whom are drinking, to be blasted by music from a monstrous P.A. system for almost two hours.
The lights are blinding, the music is very loud, very clear and bass heavy, and filled with ranting chorus lines that everybody seems to be singing… for first timers this is probably the most striking effect… the room is full of song… because despite the cacophony, this music is essentially melodic and demands to be sung.
For the band, each song is always changed by the live performance. Playing the songs live is as much a part of the creative process as writing or recording. And it works both ways… by earning such a strong live reputation H&C have always had the independence to inject that little bit of musical perversity into successive albums, and then to work on it more by going back on the road. In that sense, punters – and not just the band – have written the Hunters’ music.
It’s probably fair to say that you won’t enjoy the experience unless you’re prepared to participate… you can’t sit back and watch, the crowd won’t let you. There’s a feeling of unity in the crowd, you are being swept along… you feel as if you belong, but at the same time you don’t feel entirely safe. It is a ritual celebration of passion and spirit which can occur nowhere but in the space you are in right now.
Even the ballads become anthems… where else would you get hundreds of young men singing in unison:
“You don’t make me feel like I’m a woman any more” ?
The pubs have been Hunters territory for years, the place where the band has been able to exercise it’s art, it’s heart and it’s muscle, producing a musical experience that is far greater than the sum of all the parts.
It is not unlike Australian Rules. You either believe in the code of the game or you don’t. There is the same intense passion for the present. That’s what people say about H&C.. you either love them or else you simple can’t understand what all the fuss is about.
It’s the punter who makes the ultimate decision as to whether a band is any good or not. If the band keeps coming back then that only proves it is doing something well. Seems obvious really, except for the fact that many were saying live music has been undergoing a ‘slow death’… It’s funny how the band didn’t seem to notice. Now the experts are swinging the other way – live music is back! It seems that these suburban rooms will remain open and the whole noisy, passionate business will continue.
The Hunters going acoustic? At the Continental it was clearly not going to be just a pale version of the bigger shows, especially with a determined drummer and a committed electric guitar player. You change the detail to fit the scale, but the whole band remains.
Even in the more intimate performances, you can hear the thing that is ‘the band’ stirring, and then ultimately bursting through. The power of the H&C ideal takes over, and power is, in the final analysis, what this band is all about.
It is about locating that power that we all share, the power to celebrate life, to revel in love, to cheer each other on… it’s about intense experience, about cramming in one last but when it seemed impossible that any more could fit.
This a recording of that experience. All the performances are authentic, including most of the dubious growls of the singer who was helped through the ordeal with a healthy dose of anti-biotics which forced him to curtail his consumption of alcohol… unlike the rest of the team who blasted their way through the incubation period in the usual way… to that critical point where the performance was finely tuned and the bodies match-hardened against most forms of disease.
By the time the recording stated the virus had long since abandoned ship.
Recorded by Ern Rose and Matt Thomas in the Metropilis Mobile.
Pub shows mixed at platinum studio’s, Melbourne.
Pub shows mixed by Kalju Tonuma, assisted by Adam Rhodes.
Continental Cafe shows mixed at Gotham audio, Melbourne.
Continental Cafe shows mixed by Tony Cohen, assisted by Aaron Humphries.
Mastered at Studio’s 301, Sydney by Steve Smart.
Produced by Hunters & Collectors.
Executive producer Robert Miles.
Management: Michael Roberts and Sarah Pearson for Loud and Clear Management p/l
P.O. Box 276, Albert Park, Victoria 3206, Australia. Fax 61 3 9537 1371
Hunters & Collectors
John Archer – electric bass, p.a., backing vocals.
Doug Falconer – drums, percussion, backing vocals.
Jack Howard – trumpet, keyboards, backing vocals.
Robert Miles – sound, design.
Barry Palmer – lead guitar.
Mark Seymour – lead vocal, lyrics, guitar.
Jeremy Smith – guitar, french horn, keyboards, backing vocals.
Michael Waters – trombone, keyboads.
H&C Crew
Rod Matheson – monitor engineer.
Mark Hill, Simon Gregg, Billy Hibben, Andrew Chapman, Craig Bird – stage.
Rob Miles (B2), Mick Lagler – p.a. rigging.
Cameron McKaige – lighting director.
Mick Davis – lighting rigger.
Photography – Isamu Sawa for ‘them’.
Lyrics by Mark Seymour, music by Hunters and Collectors (Human Frailty / Mushroom Music).
except: ‘The Most Unoriginal Sin’ by John Hiatt (BMG Music).
‘Stuck On You’ by Ian Rilen / Stephanie Falconer (EMI Music).
This album was recorded live across Australia on the ‘live demons’ tour in April and May 1995.
Disc one was recorded over three nights at the Continental Cafe in Melbourne, a small club venue.
Disc two was recorded at various large pub and concert venues with full scale production.
Special thanks to the tribe: Stephanie, Lillian, Jodie, Meaghan, Declan, Gideon, Stephanie, Amanda, Spencer, Sylvia, Alex, Laura, Greta, Jo, Eva, Lee, Lachlan, Sophia, Louis, Bazz and Cashel.
and also to: Mario, Mario, Bernard and Marilen from the Continental and all you punters who showed up.
