Australian Crawl ‘Sirocco’ Turns 40

Australian Crawl’s second album ‘Sirocco’ has turned 40.

The number one charting ‘Sirocco’ came a year after the Crawl debut ‘The Boys Light Up’. It sold around 300,000 copies in Australia earning 4x Platinum status. The album was the number two selling album in Australia in 1981, behind John Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’ but ahead of AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’.

‘Sirocco’ was recorded in Sydney by Peter Dawkins between March and April 1981. Dawkins was already a veteran of Australia’s record indursty after having produced Russell Morris’ ‘Wings Of An Eagle’, John Farnham’s ‘Don’y You Know Its Magic’, Ross Ryan’s ‘I Am Pegasus’, Mi-Sex ‘Computer Games’, Air Supply’s ‘Love and Other Bruises’ and Matt Finish’s ‘Short Note’.

‘Sirocco’ was named after the yacht of Australian actor Errol Flynn, who was also honored on the album’s hit song ‘Errol’. ‘Errol’ reached no 18 on the Australian singles chart.

The first single off the album was ‘Things Don’t Seem’ (no 11, 1981).

The third and final single ‘Oh No Not You Again’ reached no 58 but regardless of the low chart position is still a must play song on classic rock radio.

Australian Crawl only made four albums. The number one ‘Sons of Beaches’ came next in 1982 followed by the final album ‘Between A Rock and a Hard Place’ in 1985.

Founding member Guy McDonough died in 1984. Brad Robinson died in 1996. Australian Crawl performed their final show on 1 February 1986.

Noise11.com