Field Of Glass by The Triffids was released as a 12" extended play in 1985.[1] All three tracks were generally recorded live at BBC Studio 5, Maida Vale, London. The EP was produced by Mark Radcliffe,[1] engineered by Mike Robinson, engineered by Owen Davies and remixed by Nick Cook at Townhouse 3.[2]
The first two songs, "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Monkey On My Back", deal directly with David McComb’s drug abuse [citation needed] and are infused with bitterness and desperation. The song which gave its name to the EP tells the tale of a loner who has some unrequited love issues with a rich girl who’s just finished school. He pleads with her to ride with him on a baking hot summer's night and she goes along. Driven mad by the intolerable heat and by her rejection he murders her. This song was originally two songs - "Field of Glass" and "Pleasure Slide".
McComb later said, "When we got to London I think we sort of felt we had to make a kind of statement. We recorded the Field of Glass EP just when we got there, which is still I guess the most aggressive and violent record that we had done. It gave us heaps of confidence."[3]
"Evil" Graham Lee noted the EP was, "a psychodrama from beginning to end, with a ferocious, partly improvised maelstrom of a sound to match the tortured, twisted and sometimes very funny lyrics. Nothing The Triffids had done to this point could have prepared listeners for the onslaught of Field Of Glass."[4]
The Triffids were an Australian alternative rock and pop band, formed in Perth in Western Australia in May 1978 with David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist. They achieved some success in Australia, but greater success in the UK and Scandinavia in the 1980s before disbanding in 1989. Their best-known songs include "Wide Open Road" and "Bury Me Deep in Love". SBS television featured their 1986 album, Born Sandy Devotional, on the Great Australian Albums series in 2007, and in 2010 it ranked 5th in the book The 100 Best Australian Albums by Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell.
David Richard McComb was an Australian musician. He was the singer-songwriter and guitarist of the Australian bands, The Triffids (1976–89) and The Blackeyed Susans (1989–93). He also had a solo career including leading David McComb and The Red Ponies. Over his career McComb had bouts of alcoholism, and amphetamine and heroin abuse. He developed cardiomyopathy and in 1996 underwent a heart transplant. David McComb died on 2 February 1999 "due to heroin toxicity and mild acute rejection of his 1996 heart transplant", according to the coroner. In May 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, named "Wide Open Road" by The Triffids – written by McComb – as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. On 1 July 2008 The Triffids were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame with McComb's contribution acknowledged by a tribute performance.
Martyn Paul Casey is an English-born Australian rock bass guitarist. He has been a member of the Triffids, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. Casey plays either his Fender Precision Bass or Fender Jazz Bass.
For the American band with a similar name, see Blackeyed Susan.
Born Sandy Devotional is an album by The Triffids, released in March 1986. The songs were written by David McComb.
In The Pines is an album by The Triffids, released in August 1986, which reached No. 69 on the Australian Album Charts.
Calenture is the fourth studio album by Australian rock group The Triffids, it was released in November 1987 and saw them explore themes of insanity, deception and rootlessness—the title refers to a fever suffered by sailors during long hot voyages. It reached No. 32 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In November 1987, it reached No. 24 on the Swedish Albums Chart, in May 1988 it peaked at No. 25 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. The album spawned three singles, "Bury Me Deep in Love" (1987), "Trick of the Light" and "Holy Water". The latter track was recorded with American producer Craig Leon.
Love In Bright Landscapes is an anthology by Australian folk rock group, The Triffids, which was released in 1986. The original LP had ten tracks compiled from their album, EP and single releases in the period from 1983 to 1985, during which time the group were resident in Perth, Sydney and London. Three additional tracks from the same sources were included on the later CD version of the album.
Treeless Plain is the debut album by The Triffids, released in November, 1983. The album was recorded at Emerald City Studios, Sydney, Australia in twelve midnight to dawn sessions, during August through to September 1983. It was the band's first release after signing with Hot Records.
Stockholm is a live recording by Australian folk rock group, The Triffids, released in July 1990 and is the final official recording by the band. All tracks were recorded live in Stockholm in 1989 for Swedish National Radio, The Bommen Show. The album was produced by Lars Aldman, engineered by Michael Bergek, and mixed at Planet Sound Studios, Perth on 15, 16 and 17 September 1989 by James Hewgill and David McComb.
Lawson Square Infirmary was a 12" extended play released in November 1984 by the Triffids and James Paterson under the collaborative project of the same name. In 2008 all six tracks from the EP were included on the compilation Beautiful Waste and Other Songs.
Raining Pleasure is a record released in 1984 by the Australian folk rock group The Triffids as a 12" vinyl EP. It reached No. 95 on the Australian Charts. Its seven tracks were co-produced by the group with Nick Mainsbridge who also supplied trumpet.
Peel Sessions was recorded by Australian folk rock group The Triffids for The John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1. The three tracks were first transmitted on 14 May 1985. The 12" EP of the recordings was not released until 1987. The EP was issued in a "Special Metallic Finish Limited Edition" sleeve.
Alan MacDonald is an Australian musician and lawyer, best known as the drummer of the 1980s band The Triffids, where he performed under his nickname 'Alsy'.
"Beautiful Waste" is a single released by Australian folk rock group, The Triffids in February 1984. It was not included on any of the band's studio albums nor extended plays, it was first compiled on Australian Melodrama (1994). The B-side, "Property Is Condemned", was included on the 1984 EP Raining Pleasure. A film clip was made for "Beautiful Waste". Its name was adapted for a 2008 posthumous compilation of mid-1980s non-album tracks, Beautiful Waste and Other Songs.
Jillian Margaret Birt is an Australian rock musician and architect. Birt was the keyboardist and vocalist of the alternative rock and pop band, The Triffids from 1983 to 1989. In 2008, The Triffids were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame.
Spanish Blue is the second single released by Australian folk rock group, The Triffids in 1982. The single was produced by Les Karski for the White Label Records imprint of Mushroom Records, owned by Michael Gudinski. The single was initially released independently by No Records but was re-released in October 1982 following the band's signing with White Label Records.
They'd recorded "Spanish Blue" when the spectre of the Gudinski organisation loomed, and they were summoned to the Mushroom/White Citadel. Gudinski liked "Spanish Blue". 'It was just that he wanted us to re-write it, and re-mix it,' McComb laughs. 'We ended up putting it out ourselves immediately they started dilly dallying because we said we wouldn't re-mix it. We thought that we couldn't just wait for people to decide what they wanted to do.'
"Stand Up" is the debut single released by Australian folk rock group, The Triffids in July 1981. The production by Peter Simpson for the Shake Some Action label was the prize for the band winning a song competition in late 1980. The competition was sponsored by the Western Australian Institute of Technology Student Guild’s radio show on 6NR.
Beautiful Waste and Other Songs is a compilation album by The Triffids, released in 2008. The album brings together a number of Triffids EPs and singles that have never been previously released on CD.
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