While this man's selling Amway to all his friends, she's been chasing cosmic thrills

Thursday music corner: Melbourne acoustic chamber-pop group My Friend The Chocolate Cake were formed in 1989 by two Not Drowning, Waving members, David Bridie and Helen Mountfort. The band released seven albums between 1992 and 2017, and 10 singles. Their second album, 1994's Brood, was the most commercially successful, reaching number 32 in the Australian album charts and winning an Aria award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. All album lyrics were by singer David Bridie and all arrangements were by the band, apart from the single cover version, of Magazine's 1980 single A Song From Under the Floorboards. The ebullient Throwing It Away was the first single released from Brood. My Friend the Chocolate Cake began an indefinite band hiatus in 2018.

My Friend The Chocolate Cake - Throwing It Away (1994)

See also:

Music: Not Drowning, Waving - Willow Tree (1989)

Music: My Friend the Chocolate Cake - I've Got a Plan (1994)

Music: David Bridie - Hotel Radio (2003)

Thistle Hall, Karo Drive

 

She said "Oh I really would like to be free and escape"

Thursday music corner: Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart was born in Renfrewshire in 1945, and issued his first album, Bed-Sitter Images, in 1967. He has released 16 studio albums plus four live albums, and remains best-known today for his 1976 hit single The Year of the Cat, and the album of the same name, which reached number five in the US album charts and number 10 in Australia.

The wistful baroque pop of Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres was the second track on Stewart's debut album, released when he was 22. It was the b-side to the title track, which was the album's only single.

Al Stewart - Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres (1967)

See also:

Music: Al Stewart - The Year of the Cat (1976)

Music: Al Stewart - Soho, Needless To Say (live, 1978)

Music: Al Stewart - Song on the Radio (1979)

If the Huns Came to Melbourne

Now another unlisted Australian film makes an appearance. An ironic touch to this entry is that although If the Huns Came to Melbourne was made in that city, it was premiered at the Wondergraph, Adelaide [in May 1916]. When released in Melbourne it did not obtain a city theatre release, but was shown at the Port Theatre, Port Melbourne.

'Imagine, if you can,' directed the advertisement, 'the nameless horror perpetrated on the helpless Belgians in the name of German Kultur. Think for a moment, of a repetition of the dreadful nightmare in Melbourne. Picture those nearest and dearest to you, at the mercy of the Huns.'

Produced by Arthur Coates, it was left to photographer Arthur Higgins to supply details of this dramatic production. Interiors were filmed in an open air theatre in Albert Park. Enlarged photographic miniatures of important buildings were mutilated, to convey the impression of destruction by shell fire, and tobacco smoke was blown across the ruins to create the illusion of a smouldering aftermath. Then portions of old newsreels were superimposed, showing German soldiers marching, and Red Cross workers rescuing the wounded.

During the actual screening in Melbourne, the destruction of Young and Jackson's Hotel [opposite Flinders St Station] caused a bigger stir than the burning of the Federal Parliament House.

- Eric Reade, Australian Silent Films, Melbourne, 1970, p.92

See also:
Blog: Remnants of the band that didn't play on, 31 January 2025
Blog: Fed Square multicultural festival, 25 March 2017
Blog: The heart of Melbourne, 3 November 2016

Tinakori Rd

 

We shall achieve in time the thing they called divine

Thursday music corner: Spacehog was originally formed by four Leeds musicians in New York, with lead vocals and bass provided by Royston Langdon, who was later married to actor Liv Tyler from 2003 to 2008. The band released three albums between 1995 and 2001, with the first, Resident Alien, being their most successful, reaching number 40 in the UK album charts and number 19 in Canada. Following a five-year hiatus from 2001 to 2006, the band reformed and later in 2013 released their fourth album, As It Is On Earth.

Their most successful single, In The Meantime, reached number 29 in the UK singles charts, and went top 40 in Australia, Canada, Sweden and the US.

Spacehog - In The Meantime (1996)

See also:

Music: Spacehog - Space Is The Place (1996)

Music: Stone Temple Pilots - Lady Picture Show (1996) 

Music: Soulwax - Too Many DJs (1999)