the catch

I can't remember why, over fifteen years ago, I purchased all three Dave McArtney and the Pink Flamingos albums from Alley Tunes at Glenferrie Road Station for probably a dollar each. They were all promo copies, so they had clearly come from The Collection Of Someone In The Record Industry Of The 1970s-80s. I had the dimmest awareness of DMcA but I loved Dragon and Paul Hewson was a member of the PFs for a couple of albums. Alley Tunes was mainly non-rock/pop, more dance oriented, but this was good because it meant they greatly undervalued some of the other junk that got mixed up in their second hand accumulations, and when I say undervalued, I don't mean they weren't aware, I don't know if they were or not, but I'm guessing they didn't care. So thus began a bit of a low-key love affair with the work of Dave McArtney, mainly via the second Pink Flamingoes ('Flamingo's' - ugh) album We Never Close although the first one, a little more transition-y from 70s rock into 80s pop, was a goody too. 

Anyway sometimes I really am this dumb, or picky, or I don't know what you'd call it, but yes I had all three albums. Really, really liked the first one, loved the second one, and never played the third one, above, until yesterday. Now, I have no excuse for this, but somewhere in my mind I feel it had something to do with the notion that it wasn't as good as the others, that it was one of those contractual obligation records; the kindest I can be to myself is that possibly I feared it would be the key to the first two, and would make me realise they actually weren't as good as I thought they were (also it didn't have Paul Hewson on it; he was back with Dragon by that stage). You know where this is leading though, don't you.

Well, look, I've only played side one. But side one, while clearly not a 'band' - it's heavily synthesised, with either basic programmed drums or someone effectively playing drums like a basic drum program, very simple, almost eurodisco in various ways, is really fun. It's definitely of its time but amusingly if it was released now by someone currently young or at very least active (and not, for instance, dead like Dave McArtney) it would be celebrated for its upbeat tunefulness and inventiveness. Hey, maybe side two is absolutely the big one, and turns all the other stuff (including the excellent Hello Sailor - what a band) into dust and turds, so maybe I'll wait another 15 years to check that out. 

McArtney had almost completely nothing to say about this album, by the way. It is mentioned on p. 244 of his memoir Gutter Black as 'my solo album'. The rest of that paragraph is very non-fascinating detail about the licensing details regarding the album, but nothing about its content or creation. The facing page features a big picture of the album cover where it is captioned as 'the third Flamingos album'. I suppose it was the very tail end of McArtney's ambition to get to the big time outside NZ, using Australia as a stepping stone (though unlike Dragon, who he/the PFs might be seen to be following not least by having Hewson as a member, DMcA had already had a bizarre stint in LA with Hello Sailor, so he'd come close to the big time then failed). (That sentence probably doesn't make much sense but on the other hand who in the world will ever read this? No-one! So I think I should spend some time tidying up the spare room and listening to the amazing Joni Mitchell 1967 live record Laura gave me for Christmas). (That said, this is another sad example of my drivelling meander no doubt getting up there as one of the internet's most informative and valid discussions of a particular cultural product some people once slaved over and had great hopes for and put their passion into, and which no-one now cares about at all really, but if anyone does go searching for information on this record, they will find this, so I guess I'll just say: sorry).