Love That Album Episode 40 - Richard Clapton - The Great Escape

It was 1982 - the Australian popular music landscape had a number of iconic albums released: Men at Work's "Business As Usual", Midnight Oil's "10, 9, 8...", Goanna's "Spirit of Place", Cold Chisel's "Circus Animals" and Richard Clapton's "The Great Escape". Richard was already revered as one of Australia's greatest songwriters recording music that was identifiably Australian combining a bit of surf music, hippie ideals and lyrics that would not have been out of place on early Bruce Springsteen records.In 1982, he wanted to try something a little different. Looking at what his peers were doing, he developed a tougher sound for The Great Escape utilising the skills of  the great Mark Opitz (Cold Chisel, Angels) as producer. For episode 40 of Love That Album, Michael Pursche of Sitting In a Bar In Adelaide podcast and I discuss this album, some of what went on before that, and a discussion Richard made on a certain teen TV pop music show with its "professional" host. The album starts off frantic and ends off with Richard at peace with his environment. In between, there's a song that is (in my opinion) one of the greatest, if not THE greatest pop song written in this country. The musicians on board include a who's who of the day, including members of INXS who Richard had previously produced. Eric Reanimator returns to discuss the music of cowpunk outfit, The Divine Horsemen in his segment An Album I Love. Download the show either from http://lovethatalbum.blogspot.com or search for "love that album" in the iTunes store. The podcast can also be listened to via Stitcher Radio. Download the app from stitcher.com, and listen to any episode streaming over your Android or Apple device after searching for “love that album”. Send me any feedback at [email protected] (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum and start a discussion on the best TV appearances by a rock act.

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