Mark Seymour – Westgate
Westgate (cover)
Relationships blur with the social political in Mark’s fourth and most accomplished solo album.
Released In: [Australia / NZ].
Release Date: 2 June 2007.
Australian Chart Position: #128 (ARIA).
Availability: Moderately common. Available new in CD and digital form.
Value: A$15-A$30.
Legend:
Commercial single.
Promotional single.
Version: Liberation Records Australian CD album.
Album length: 49 minutes, 42 seconds.
ReplayGain loudness: -9.08dB (2007).
- Westgate
- Tobruk Pin
- Jerusalem
- Love Is A Heavy Load
- Walk Through Fire
- The Year Of The Dog
- Hell Broke Free
- 18 Again
- Master Of Spin
- Feel The Lord
- Mississauga
- The Light On The Hill
Digital versions of Westgate sold over the Internet also include:
Official blurb 1:
Seymour has recently completed his fifth solo album “Westgate”. Produced by Cameron McKenzie, “Westgate” follows a very simple formula. Make sounds you’d like to hear, as opposed to what others expect. It is stark and simple. It is a dark evocation of the suffering and dignity of ordinary people. It is, as Seymour likes to put it, a “eulogy to the greatness of ordinary people.”
In his own words he says, “On this album I have gone in search of ordinary greatness; greatness without bombast, the kind of greatness that conservative politicians can’t touch. These are stories of working people who have suffered and triumphed quietly. Perhaps, as the world teeters on the precipice of disaster, there is still hope, for we only have to scratch the surface of history to discover that the best of human nature lies in the forgotten tragedies and hidden triumphs, where ordinary people have found dignity and redemption in their own lives. These are the stories that define us. Human beings have unlimited potential. No challenge is too great.”
Official blurb 2:
“There’s nothing pretty about ‘Westgate’. The issues are simple, the sounds equally so. We’ve stripped the songs down to their basic form. Bass, drums, guitar and the vocals up loud so you can understand every word because the words are crucial.
I’ve tried to come to grips with life as I feel it now, in a world riven with violence and corruption. Australia has been swept up in a tide of global brutality and a stark honest sound seemed the most appropriate way to present these dark tales of suffering and triumph.
In 2001 the Americans took a hit and took us, this brave little nation of warrior battlers on a journey into the heart of darkness. There was national outcry of course but to no avail. Politics won the day. The great tragedy of Iraq was unleashed and Australia lost the last vestige of its political innocence. We should’ve known better than to tug the forelock of a nation that can’t even control its own weaponry.
Yet there is greatness in us. We have the wisdom. The past is testament to that. There have been times when we have stood tall. We have a lot to be proud of: our strength of character, our belief in a fair go and a fair fight. But we should also be able to add to that list, our independence, so that one day we can declare to the world that we will fight no more the wars of the bigot and the fool.
On this album I have gone in search of ordinary greatness; greatness without bombast, the kind of greatness that conservative politicians can’t touch. These are stories of working people who have suffered and triumphed quietly.
Perhaps, as the world teeters on the precipice of disaster, there is still hope, for we only have to scratch the surface of history to discover that the best of human nature lies in the forgotten tragedies and hidden triumphs, where ordinary people have found dignity and redemption in their own lives. These are the stories that define us. Human beings have unlimited potential. No challenge is too great.”
Mark Seymour, May 2007
Produced and mixed by Cameron McKenzie
Guest singer: Lisa Miller on “Hell Broke Free”
Guest Poet: Geoff Goodfellow on “Tobruk Pin”
Scott Aplin: Keyboards 1,3,4,5,6,10
Tony Floyd: Drums all tracks except 7,8
Steve Hadley: Bass on tracks 3,5,6,7,8
Pip Healey: Fiddle on 9
Dave Larkin: lead guitar on 4
Jake Mason: keyboards 7,8
Cameron McKenzie: Guitars
Nick Higgins: Lap Steel 7,8
Mark Seymour: The usual in a frosted glass
Nick Seymour: bass tracks 1,2,4,10,11
Kit Warhurst: Drums on 7,8
Chris Wilson: Harp on 1,5,6
Recorded at Eastern Bloc Studios Hawthorn
Extra tracking in The Dog House by Cameron McKenzie. (He’s still in there.)
Ben Tolliday: first engineer on initial band tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,10,11
Assistant Engineer: Ben Loveridge
Live Sound: Robert Miles
Artwork: Jo Vautier
Photography: Wendy Joy Morrissey
Cover shot: Anthony Geernaert
Crane shot: Ben Loveridge
Mastered by Don Bartley at Benchmark Mastering Sydney
I’d like to thank Melbourne Workers Theatre, the Victorian Trades Hall, The C.F.M.E.U., Donna Jackson, Geoff Goodfellow, Martin Kingham for the funny hat, Maton Guitars, Jim Dyson for the pick-ups, Robert Miles for the inspiration, Chris Bekker for his live brilliance, The Smout Foundation of Mississauga, Canada
& of course my beautiful girls, Jo, Eva and Hannah. It’s all for you.
This recording is dedicated to the Republic of Australia
“No matter how comfortable we are, whether barefoot on golden beaches, or day dreaming over pictorials in New Idea, we only have to scratch the surface of history to discover that the best of human nature lies in the forgotten tragedies and hidden triumphs, where ordinary working people have struggled and found dignity and redemption in their own lives. These are the stories that define us. Human beings have unlimited potential. No challenge is too great.”
Management: Michael Roberts and Petula Bier for Loud & Clear Management Pty Ltd. PO Box 276 Albert Park 3206 Vic Australia. Fax: 61 3 9537 1371 Email: loud@zip.com.au
Liberation Music
(P) & (C) 2007 Mark Seymour
Under exclusive license to Liberation Music for Australia & New Zealand
www.markseymour.com.au
