| I Was a Mail Order Bridegroom | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Label | Hot | |||
| Producer | Ed Kuepper & Phil Punch | |||
| Ed Kuepper chronology | ||||
| ||||
I Was a Mail Order Bridegroom is the tenth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1995 and released on the Hot label initially as a mail order only release. [1]
The Allmusic review by Ned Raggett awarded the album 4 stars and states "I Was a Mail Order Bridegroom is one of Ed Kuepper's finest releases, his equivalent of an MTV Unplugged appearance but many times better than the usually dull efforts that implies... Perhaps the best thing about this album is that every song sounds like the best thing Kuepper has ever done while it's playing — high praise, perhaps, but it's the easiest way to capture the disc's lovely, entrancing spirit". [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA Charts) [3] | 99 |
The Saints are an Australian punk rock band originating in Brisbane in 1973. The band was founded by Chris Bailey, Ivor Hay (drummer), and Ed Kuepper (guitarist-songwriter). Contemporaneously with American punk rock band the Ramones, the Saints were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and "buzz saw" guitar that characterised early punk rock. With their debut single, "(I'm) Stranded", in September 1976, they became the first "punk" band outside the US to release a record, ahead of better-known acts including the Sex Pistols and the Clash. They are one of the first and most influential groups of the genre.
18 til I Die is the seventh studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. Released on 4 June 1996, by A&M Records, the album became a commercial success peaking at No. 1 in the United Kingdom and No. 2 in his home country Canada. It was recorded on different locations which included Jamaica and France. 18 til I Die featured the number one song "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?", which had been released as a single and on the soundtrack to the film Don Juan DeMarco over a year prior, and 4 other singles: "The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You", "Let's Make a Night to Remember", "Star", and "18 til I Die"; the album track "I'll Always Be Right There" was also released to radio in the United States. After the release of the album in June, to promote the album, Adams toured around North America and Europe. Perhaps the most memorable of these concerts was playing to more than 70,000 people at Wembley Stadium in July 1996. The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
Edmund "Ed" Kuepper is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints (1973–78), the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (1979–85) and the grunge-like The Aints!. He has also recorded over a dozen albums as a solo artist using a variety of backing bands. His highest charting solo album, Honey Steel's Gold, appeared in November 1991 and reached No. 28 on the ARIA Albums Chart. His other top 50 albums are Black Ticket Day, Serene Machine and Character Assassination. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1993 he won Best Independent Release for Black Ticket Day and won the same category in 1994 for Serene Machine.
Laughing Clowns, sometimes written as The Laughing Clowns, is a post-punk band formed in Sydney in 1979. In five years, the band released three LPs, three EPs, and various singles and compilations. Laughing Clowns' sound is free jazz, bluegrass and krautrock influenced. The band formed to accommodate Ed Kuepper's growing interest in expanding brass-driven elements he had brought to The Saints' third album, Prehistoric Sounds, and by adopting flattened fifth notes in a rock and roll setting while using a modern jazz styled band line-up.
Chisel is a compilation album by Australian pub rocker band Cold Chisel, released in September 1991. It features a selection of their best songs from previous albums, including live versions of the tracks "Merry-Go-Round", "Star Hotel" and "Goodbye ". The track "Misfits" was previously a B-side and was removed from later re-issues of this album. A limited edition release of this album included the long-deleted 1978 live EP "You're Thirteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine".
Eternally Yours is the second album released by the Australian music group The Saints in 1978. For their follow up album the band chose a bigger, more R&B-driven sound, including the addition of a horn section.
Prehistoric Sounds is the third album by the Australian punk rock group The Saints, released in 1978 via Harvest. This was the final album to feature founding lead guitarist, Ed Kuepper, who left the band shortly after its release. In October 2010, the album was listed in the top 50 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums with their debut, (I'm) Stranded, at No. 20.
"(I'm) Stranded" is the first song released by pioneering Australian punk rock band The Saints. Issued in September 1976, it has been cited as "one of the iconic singles of the era", and pre-dated vinyl debuts by contemporary punk acts such as the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Clash. In 2001, it was voted among the Top 30 Australian Songs of all time by APRA.
Electrical Storm is the debut solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper featuring Nick Fisher and Louis Tillett recorded in 1985 and released on the Hot label. The album was Kuepper's first release following the breakup of Laughing Clowns, the band he formed after leaving The Saints.
Everybody's Got To is the third solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1988 and released on the Hot label. The album was re-released in 2005 with four bonus tracks from Kuepper's Happy as Hell EP.
Today Wonder is the fourth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1990 and released on the Hot label. The album was re-released in 2002 with eight bonus tracks recorded for a Dutch radio station.
Honey Steel's Gold is the fifth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1991 and released on the Hot label. The album was re-released in 2000 with six bonus tracks, four from Kuepper's No Wonder EP, and early recordings of "The Way I Made You Feel" and "Everything I've Got Belongs To You".
Black Ticket Day is the sixth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1992 and released on the Hot label.
Serene Machine is the seventh solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1993 and released on the Hot label. It received an ARIA Award for 'Best Independent Release' at the ARIA Music Awards of 1994.
Character Assassination is the eighth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1994 and released on the Hot label. Early pressings of the album were released with an additional disc Death to the Howdy-Doody Brigade containing the undubbed master versions of all songs but one from Character Assassination and one new song.
A King in the Kindness Room is the ninth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1995 and released on the Hot label.
Frontierland is the twelfth solo album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 1996 and released on the Hot label.
Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog is an album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper recorded in 2007 and released on the Hot label. Described as a loose concept album based around Jean Lee, the last female hanged in Australia, the album was released in a single CD and as a double CD limited edition with outtakes and demo recordings. It was Kuepper's first album in seven years.
Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist Ed Kuepper co-founded and recorded with the punk band The Saints, the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns and the grunge-like The Aints. He has also recorded 17 commercially-released solo albums with a variety of backing bands as well as another 14 limited-release albums of live and broadcast performances.
The Return of the Mail-Order Bridegroom is a covers album by Australian guitarist and songwriter Ed Kuepper released in 2014. Recorded in three days and featuring Kuepper alone with no overdubbing, it contains reworked acoustic versions of songs by his former bands The Saints and Laughing Clowns, as well as new versions of his solo material and songs popularised by artists including Jimi Hendrix and The Walker Brothers. Apart from "No Regrets," all of the songs were selected from those he had played during a 2013 "Solo and By Request" Australian tour.