Sirocco (album)

1981 studio album by Australian Crawl

Sirocco

Studio album by

Australian Crawl

Released| July 1981
Recorded| March–April 1981
Studio| EMI Studios 301
Genre| Pop rock
Length| 46:07
Label| EMI Australia
Producer| Peter Dawkins
Australian Crawl chronology
| The Boys Light Up
(1980)  | Sirocco
(1981)  | Sons of Beaches
(1982)

|
|

Singles from  Sirocco

1. "Things Don't Seem"
Released: May 1981
2. "Errol"
Released: September 1981
3. "Oh No Not You Again"
Released: November 1981

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Allmusic| [1]

Sirocco is the second album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It was released in July 1981 and on 3 August, it topped the Australian charts where it remained for six weeks, the band's first of two albums to hit #1.[2] It was released a year after their successful debut The Boys Light Up which had reached No. 4.[2]

The album was recorded in March–April 1981 in Sydney and produced by Peter Dawkins (Air Supply, Billy Thorpe, Dragon, John Farnham).[3]

> "I was approached by Australian Crawl, who were about to do their second album, Sirocco. They’d been tortured to death by David Briggs, or at least by his studio style, and needed a change. We got along incredibly well, it was all so comfortable. They played me twenty new songs, I gave them a list of the eleven I liked and we just said let’s go."[4]

Sirocco spent eight months in the Top 20[2] and was their most successful album.[5] 1981 Australian End of Year Album Charts has Sirocco at No. 2 behind Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and ahead of AC/DC's Back in Black making it the best charting album by an Australian act.[2][6]

The album was named after Australian born actor Errol Flynn's yacht and included the second single from the album, a lyrical biography, called "Errol".[5][7] Sirocco was the Crawl's first US and European release.

Drummer Bill McDonough's younger brother Guy McDonough (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar) had joined as their sixth member.[8] Guy had already co-written tracks for their first album and now wrote or co-wrote five of Sirocco's eleven tracks, including all three singles, also providing lead vocals on "Errol", "Oh No Not You Again", and "Resort Girls".[7] "Errol" was voted their third most popular song by listeners of Triple M in 2007.[9] The other single from the album was "Things Don't Seem" which reached No. 11[7] and was their fifth most popular song in the 2007 poll.[9]

Sean Higgins was a bandmate with the McDonough brothers in an earlier band, The Flatheads,[8] and had co-written "Downhearted" for Boys Light Up; Higgins co-wrote "Things Don't Seem" for Sirocco. At about this time guitarist Brad Robinson was married to actress Kerry Armstrong, later an Australian Film Institute Award winner,[10] and they co-wrote "Easy on Your Own", which was also the B-side to "Errol".

At the 1981 Countdown Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Australian Album.[11]

## Track listing

[edit]

1. "Things Don't Seem" (Guy McDonough, Sean Higgins) – 3:57
2. "Unpublished Critics" (James Reyne, Paul Williams) – 5:14
3. "Love (Beats Me Up)" (Reyne) – 4:35
4. "Oh No Not You Again" (G McDonough) – 5:08
5. "Lakeside" (Reyne) – 4:49
6. "Trusting You" (William "Bill" McDonough, G McDonough) – 3:09
7. "Errol" (Reyne, G McDonough) – 3:30
8. "Can I Be Sure" (Simon Binks) – 3:37
9. "Easy on Your Own" (Binks, Brad Robinson, Kerry Armstrong) – 3:48
10. "Love Boys" (W McDonough) – 3:41
11. "Resort Girls" (G McDonough) – 4:36

Songwriting credits from Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[12]

## Personnel

[edit]

Adapted from AllMusic.[13]

* James Reyne – lead vocals, piano
* Simon Binks – lead guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar
* Guy McDonough – co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar
* Bill McDonough – drums, percussion
* Paul Williams – bass guitar
* Brad Robinson – rhythm guitar
* Engineer – Dave Marett
* Photography – Jamie Morgan
* Producer – Peter Dawkins[3]

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

Chart (1981)  | Peak
position

|

Australian (Kent Music Report)  | 1

### Year-end charts

[edit]

Chart (1981)  | Peak
position

|

Australia (Kent Music Report)[14] | 2

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ a b c d Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
3. ^ a b "Peter Dawkins Fact File". ABCTV (Australian Story). 27 February 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
4. ^ "Stories". Peter Dawkins Official website. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
5. ^ a b St. John, Ed (1986). "The Final Wave liner notes". Axel Husfeldt. Archived from the original on 29 July 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
6. ^ Angus Cameron, ed. (1986). The Second Australian Almanac. Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0-207-15232-2.
7. ^ a b c McFarlane, Ian (1999). Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop (doc). Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-768-2. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
8. ^ a b Holmgren, Magnus; Warnqvist, Stefan; Draper, Oliver; McDonough, Bill. "Australian Crawl". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
9. ^ a b "Triple M's Essential 2007 Countdown". Triple M. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
10. ^ Kerry Armstrong at IMDb
11. ^ "Australian Music Awards". Ron Jeff. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
12. ^ "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
13. ^ "AllMusic credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
14. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 433\. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

* v
* t
* e

Australian Crawl

* Simon Binks
* David Reyne
* James Reyne
* Brad Robinson
* Paul Williams
* Bill McDonough
* Guy McDonough
* Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup
* John Watson
* Mark Greig
* Harry Brus

Studio albums|

* The Boys Light Up
* Sirocco
* Sons of Beaches
* Between a Rock and a Hard Place

EPs|

* Semantics

Live|

* Phalanx
* The Final Wave

Compilations|

* Crawl File
* Lost & Found
* More Wharf: Their Greatest Hits
* The Definitive Collection
* The Greatest Hits
* Reckless: 1979–1995

Singles|

* "Beautiful People"
* "The Boys Light Up"
* "Downhearted"
* "Things Don't Seem"
* "Errol"
* "Oh No Not You Again"
* "Shut Down"
* "Reckless (Don't Be So)"
* "Louie Louie"
* "Two Can Play"

Related articles|

* Discography
* Company of Strangers
* Chantoozies

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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