Shane’s Music Challenge: HUNTERS & COLLECTORS – 1990 – Collected Works

Shane | 21 March 2014 | Reply

Shane’s Music Challenge: HUNTERS & COLLECTORS – 1990 – Collected Works
8/10

This compilation of Hunters & Collectors dates to 1990, after the band’s seventh studio album. They would release 3 more before disbanding late in the 90’s, including their arguably most famous song, Holy Grail.

Notable for condensing the band’s earlier output into one disc, it doesn’t shirk away from their very early, percussive art-rock works, which were considerably different to their mid period hits such as Do You See What I See? And The River Runs Dry.

I’m pretty certain this was released in different countries with different track listings – I recall seeing it in England or America with a radically reworked list of songs, but don’t quote me on that.

With the band reformed for a run around the country, it seemed apt to recap their career, and in addition to being diverse, it was pretty spectacular plotting the evolution of the band as songwriters and Mark Seymour as a lyricist.

From earliest hit Talking To A Stranger (remember the video clip where he sang with a rubber band around his head, squashing his nose to appear more primitive, much like the music?), through the mighty The Slab and Say Goodbye, into their more melodic rock material such as Throw Your Arms Around Me (“I will kiss you in four places”) and Blind Eye, Hunnaz never disappointed.

I recall being dragged along to a gig they played at The Old Melbourne Pub in Perth sometime in the 80’s, swearing black & blue that I didn’t know any of their songs. My friends insisted we go, and I remember it being so full (most probably very over capacity) and sweat literally dripping from the ceiling. Glassies were pushing six packs of beers into the fridge from the back almost as fast as bar staff were pulling ‘em out and selling them. And despite me not listening to mainstream radio at that time, and not consciously knowing the band’s music, I sung almost every word of every song all night long. Show’s how pervasive they were that I had picked so much up without realising it. It was one of the great gigs of that era, for me.