Ring Around The Moon - 2007
[Revenge Records] |
For a track by track synopsis of the latest album, click a link below.
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1.Learning to Roll
Driving home from Stanthorpe, my local town, towards the property, there's a stretch of road that after 3pm in the afternoon, heads straight into the sun. It's impossible to see anything, and you have to be very careful to keep to the left. I had a minor epiphany a few years ago, which bought all those thoughts together and created the song . heading back to a time of less complication, and more basic honesty. James Gillard the bass player on this album actually coined the phrase years ago, by way of some advice to me while I was trying to play the strings off my guitar during rehearsal. He said 'Mate, anyone can rock, it's rolling that takes practice' . thanks Jim, great philosophy!
2. Four Feet Tall (J.Blundell)
Around the same time as 'Learning to Roll', a few things were snapping into focus. I'd just completed my fifteenth year living in Sydney, a feat that I had never considered to be a possibility as a young Queenslander. Home, 'Mt Malakoff' just off the Springdale Rd in South Eastern Queensland, has always had an immense magnetism, and on an all-too-infrequent trip back, the sights, sounds and smells that made my childhood so unique and privileged, flooded back in acute detail. It's all too easy to leave a past behind, only to regret later the haste in which you abandoned it.
3. Drive On (J.Blundell)
The older I get, the more I love JC's music ... the art of understatement, and deceptively simple philosophies. I have been fortunate to be ambassador for the Vietnam Veteran's Association of Australia for the past 2 years, and upon hearing this song during the selection process, felt that recording 'Drive On' was a fitting way to acknowledge the joy and education I have received from my association with the Vets and their families. All amazing people with wonderful life attitudes born out of desperate experiences. It's been my privilege to work with you, and anytime I can help, just get in touch.
4. Ring Around the Moon (J.Blundell)
A classic case of the 'slow burn' when it comes to writing a song. Eight years ago, on a night brilliantly lit by a full moon, I was standing by my border collie 'Ned's grave, on a bald hill in Bullock Paddock, just up behind the homestead. It was there I witnessed the most impressive 'moon halo' or in the vernacular 'ring around the moon' I have ever seen. To people in the bush, that phenomenon always heralds a period of change, usually rain, but not always. In this case, for our family, it was the harbinger of a particularly trying period of time. My mother succumbed to Alzheimer's, it basically stopped raining, commodities plummeted, my brother suffered some serious health issues, and by and large, we were typical of a lot of families whose history and business practises were tied up in an industry under siege on all sides. I am an optimist, and have always believed that nothing stays bad forever; it's one of the ingrained values that keep people going in the sticks in the face of virtual disaster. 'Ring Around the Moon' is an affirmation on behalf of everybody in the same situation that change will indeed take place, but at the end of a long and desperate period of time, the quicker it gets here, the better it is for all.
5. Nature's Gentleman (J.Blundell)
Ernie Charles Collins was born in Drake, NSW in 1928 (or thereabouts). He attended school until grade four, then was taken out of the education system, and began work for his father in a traditional shaft gold mine. Underground, up to his knees in water, with a miner's lamp and pick for company. Right from an early age, he displayed a keen sense of individuality, which led him to look for something better in life. A jack-of-all-trades, and master of most, he could fix any piece of machinery with bits and pieces he found lying around, he could communicate with any horse thrust at him, and he loved and still loves his wife Kay with a single-minded devotion. My brother and I were totally blessed to be partly raised by the two of them, and I still miss his company although we haven't worked together in 23 years.
6. Lets All Get Together (Party) (D.Walker)
This is a Don Walker song. The original demo was a great Latin fusion feel, and under Graham Thompson's skilful hand, we wound up somewhere down around Louisiana. There's a charm to Don's words that I loved straight away, and once the story unravels, I think most of us will have had an experience not too dissimilar. a long crazy night, with a good outcome, albeit not the one you saw coming.
7. Too Old to Die Young (J.Blundell)
There is a theme of introspection through the songs, and I believe it's important to maintain a sense of humour when dealing with life's ups and downs. I've always love Billy Joel's song 'Only the Good Die Young', and Jim Morrison's quote: 'Live hard, die young, and leave a good looking corpse' whilst romantic to the extreme, always seemed to defeat the purpose of accumulating wisdom, and enjoying the serenity of growing older with the perspective that process affords.
Life is funny in the final analysis, and I've definitely reached a stage where it's pretty much all good, even the bad bits. I was struggling with the last verse until I picked up the paper one morning to discover that John Singleton, who I know and like immensely, had just negotiated a 70 million dollar divorce settlement. I think that's a great way to tell someone that even though you still love them, you don't love them enough to live with them for the rest of your life . it's a kind way to soothe a hurt heart.
8.The Sound of Your Smile (J.Blundell)
An unashamed love song. I don't write them often, as I think there are too many written every day that treat the most important of emotions in a cavalier manner. Love has the power to heal anything, and, if adhered to, creates a unique and mysterious bond between humans. I've also learned that love can be squandered and extinguished by unkind treatment towards on another. Co-dependency is bad, but a mutual and respectful union between like minded souls who acknowledge each other's individuality is one of the strongest forces in existence, and worth shifting the world on its axis for.
9.Beautiful Day in New York (J.Blundell)
I was in New York years ago when word came from home that my best mate had raised the wind to by the block of dirt adjoining our place. He and I had always had a friendly but genuine rivalry as to who would buy and restore 'Pikedale' the property that stood between our respective homes (the place was the inspiration for an earlier tune 'Age of Grace'). The fact that he'd managed to get there first made me realise that I had indeed been absent from home for close on 10 years at that stage of the game. Homesickness set in, and the song was born. Through the melancholy though, I took stock of the fact that I was standing on the other side of the world, pursuing my passion and being paid to do so . so the self pity didn't last long, and the value of viewing my upbringing from a vastly different perspective finished the job.
10. Moderation (J.Blundell/R.P.Bryett)
My two must trusted and longest lasting male friends on the planet are twins. Roger and Robert Bryett. Both men have immense personal integrity, are absolutely fearless, and blessed with the best bullshit detectors in the business. Roger served with distinction in the Australian Defence Force, and Robert has always been the closest thing to the archetypal individual that I have ever known. We met at 9 years of age on a football field in Toowoomba, where they contrived to get their big mate 'Clarkey' to sit on my little mate 'Doug' to put him out of action, as he was doing too much damage to the Gold Park Rangers defence. An all in brawl ensued, and a great friendship was born .
Robert was down visiting me on the Mid-North Coast of NSW a few years ago, and I had briefed my two boys that the man they were about to meet was not only my best friend, but one of the wildest individuals they were ever likely to come across. Robert's response to that statement was "Ease up mate; I'm a man of moderation except for my extremes!" I thanked him on the spot for that imminently quotable quote, and told him if I ever wrote a song around it, he would be the subject, and I'd give him a writing credit. So here it is my friend, a long time coming, but pretty much my favourite song on the album.
11. The Poet and the Queen (J.Blundell)
Referring to an earlier comment that life has reached a point where it's all good, I omitted that fact that that place is only reached by a high degree of trial and error. I've always lived passionately, and that brings its fair share of bumps and bruises. The peace of a harmonious relationship is definitely one of the gifts afforded to the human spirit. Looking for love seems to be pointless, as in my experience, the love worth having finds you when your back is turned, and your eyes are closed. Even then, the key ingredient is to NEVER take one another for granted, just rejoice in the fact that you've joined up with someone headed the same way.
12. Higher Than Heaven (J.Blundell)
The back of the family property in South Eastern Queensland borders the Sundown National Park, through which the Severn River flows. Steep, inhospitable, and in many places virtually inaccessible, the Severn is one of the watercourses I love most on the planet. The blindingly originally named Top and Bottom Falls were our main fishing and swimming holes growing up. It's an absolutely timeless piece of wilderness, and on a hot summers day, it literally hums with ancient energy. I very rarely get home without taking anyone who is interested down there to wash away the accumulated weight of existence between visits.
13.This is the Truth (D.Walker)
Don Walker again, and lets' face it, a pretty hard line to follow as the first statement of a song. As usual, he does it impeccably. It's a pleasure to perform a song from another writer's pen that you wish you had written yourself. The only reason that this is not a lengthier explanation, is that there is nothing to explain . it's all in the words and music.
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