East – Cold Chisel

Before Jimmy Barnes became the mythological “working class man” and even before Cold Chisel became the bogan rock staple diet of  Triple M radio (“rocksportandcomedymate”) there was a band prowling across the pubs and clubs (but mainly pubs) of Australia, that offered a new style of voice and a different sensibility than that you could normally expect to see on Countdown on Sunday nights.

In some ways this was the album that led Chisel out of the wilderness and into our collective lounge room. Sure, songs like Khe Sanh and Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) had made an impact a the album Breakfast At Sweethearts had shown Don Walker to a be a superior songwriter but it was East that made Cold Chisel a phenomenon.

East featured songs written by every member of the band with surprisingly the biggest chart hit being My Baby penned by bassist Phil Small and sung by Ian Moss.

There’s four songs on the first side of this album that would all fit into a mix tape of best loved Australian songs – Standing On The Outside, Choir Girl, My Baby and Rising Sun are all instant classics and they are joined on Side 2 by the equally iconic Cheap Wine.

But the depth of East doesn’t stop with those classics of the genre. East also boasts the ambitious and impressive Tomorrow, the brutal Star Hotel and the incorrigible Ita which remains one of the cheekiest songs written in Australian music. It also offers Four Walls which is close to Australia’s best prison ballad.

Mark Opitz does a great job producing this album. He gives the songs room to breath and while they are polished sufficiently to get them on the radio they unmistakably like a band playing. The rawness of songs like Star Hotel and Standing On The Outside and My Turn To Cry remains intact while there is some delicious moments of guitar playing from Ian Moss that further highlight that this was a band who had musical chops coming out of their ears.

Lyrically the album is outstanding, painting a portrait of suburban Australia that was real and not at all stylised. From TAB’s to Newcastles pubs, to beaches to lounge rooms Walker (and to their credit the other writers) all rise to the occasion and describe an existence that was instantly familiar and didn’t seek to pretend.

It’s little wonder that the album struck a chord with the Australian public.