All things Australian Crawl will soon be reissued as the seven album vinyl collection appropriately titled ‘The Album Collection’.
The box set will mark the first time the US edition of Australian Crawl’s ‘Semantics’ will be released in Australia. While ‘Semantics’ was an EP in Australia, the Americans upsized the release to a full album.
The single from ‘Semantics’, ‘Reckless (Don’t Be So)’ topped the Australian chart in November 1983. Other tracks from the EP were The Night, White Limbo and Looking For Cool.
Not long after the release of the EP, Australian Crawl were signed to Geffen Records for the United States. The Semantics release was repackaged for the US market, with the original four tracks from the EP, but augmented with six newly recorded versions of the songs from the band’s earlier albums.
“The Boys Light Up” and “Indisposed” are re-recorded versions of tracks from their debut album The Boys Light Up (1980), while Errol, Lakeside, Things Don’t Seem and Unpublished Critics are re-recorded versions of tracks from their second album Sirocco (1981).
Semantics had been unheard by Australian audiences until now.
‘The Album Collection’ vinyl box set also includes:
The Boys Light Up: The classic debut album released in 1980. The album spent over 100 weeks on the Australian album chart and celebrated accreditation of over 4x platinum; ‘buoyed’ by the singles Beautiful People, Downhearted and the title track.
Sirocco: Released in 1981, Sirocco spent six weeks at #1. It was the second highest selling album in Australia in 1981, occupying over 8 months in the Top 20 chart, boasting the singles Oh No Not You Again, Things Don’t Seem and Errol.
Sons Of Beaches: Released in 1982 again hit #1 on release and stayed there for 5 weeks. Singles from Sons Of Beaches included Daughters Of The Northern Coast, Shut Down and Runaway Girls.
Phalanx: This live album was released in December 1983, gathered from performances at the legendary Bombay Rock venue on the Gold Coast and Sydney Entertainment Centre on the Semantics tour. It hit #4 on the album chart.
Between A Rock & A Hard Place: The final Australian Crawl studio album, issued in 1985 – the album debuted at #11, featuring the singles Trouble Spot Rock and Two Can Play.
The Final Wave: Recorded Live in Melbourne the day after Australia Day 1986, the 14 track album committed to tape forever what would be their final Melbourne show and perfectly encapsulated the energy and joy the band so perfectly displayed. Upon release, the album debuted at #16 on the Australian chart.
Each album preserves the original vinyl packaging format of their original issue and is pressed on 180gram vinyl, mastered for the format by Don Bartley for Benchmark Mastering.
The Australian Crawl ‘The Album Collection’ will be released on 21 October 2016.
