Icehouse are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1977 as Flowers. Initially known in their homeland for their pub rock style, the band later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synth-pop music and attained Top 10 singles chart success locally and in both Europe and the U.S. The mainstay of both Flowers and Icehouse has been Iva Davies supplying additional musicians as required. The name "Icehouse", adopted in 1981, comes from an old, cold flat Davies lived in and the strange building across the road populated by itinerant people.
Primitive Man, the second studio album by Australian rock band Icehouse, was released on 20 September 1982. In January 1982, Icehouse founder Iva Davies started recording Primitive Man essentially as a solo project. It was co-produced with Keith Forsey, who later worked with Simple Minds and Billy Idol. Forsey supplied additional percussion; Davies supplied vocals, lead guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and programmed the Linn drum machine. Released as an Icehouse album, Primitive Man reached number 3 on the National album charts and provided their international breakthrough single, "Hey Little Girl", which peaked at number 7 in Australia, number 2 in Switzerland, number 5 in Germany, the top 20 in UK, Sweden and Netherlands, and number 31 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Another single "Great Southern Land" made the Australian top 5; it was later featured in the 1988 Yahoo Serious film Young Einstein, and remains their most popular song according to listeners of Triple M in 2007. To promote Primitive Man on tour, Davies re-assembled Icehouse with Michael Hoste (keyboards) and John Lloyd (drums), and new members: Bob Kretschmer, Guy Pratt and Andy Qunta.
"Great Southern Land" is a song by Australian rock band Icehouse. It was released on 9 August 1982 as the lead single from their second studio album Primitive Man. It peaked at No. 5 on the Australian Singles Chart, it was later featured in the 1988 Yahoo Serious film Young Einstein, and remains their most popular songs according to listeners of Triple M in 2007.
Deckchairs Overboard were an Australian pop music band based in Sydney which formed in 1982 and disbanded in 1985. The early line-up featured Ken Campbell on vocals, guitar, and drums; John Clifforth on vocals, guitar, and keyboards; Paul Hester on drums ; and Cathy McQuade on bass guitar and vocals. Most of the group's initial members had been in the Melbourne group The Cheks (1980–1982) with the exception of McQuade, who had been a member of The Ears.
Sidewalk is the third studio album by Australian rock band Icehouse, released on 26 June 1984 by Chrysalis Records and Regular Records. It peaked at No. 8 on the National albums chart. Founding member Iva Davies used the Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer on this more sombre and reflective album. This is the first studio album that bassist Guy Pratt worked on as a member of the band. Pratt would later become a session musician, and go on to work with artists such as Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Madonna and Michael Jackson.
Measure for Measure is the fourth studio album by the Australian rock/synth-pop band Icehouse, released on 21 April 1986 in Australia by Regular Records and in the United States by Chrysalis Records. It was one of the first three albums to be recorded entirely digitally.
Great Southern Land is the first compilation album by Australian rock/synthpop band Icehouse, released by Chrysalis Records / Regular Records in October 1989. It peaked at No. 2 on the Australian albums charts, and contained two new singles "Touch the Fire", which peaked at No. 13 on the singles chart, and "Jimmy Dean", which peaked at No. 47. Several different versions of this album exist; the Regular Records release for Australian / New Zealand markets was as a 16 track double vinyl LP, twin music cassette or CD; Chrysalis Records US versions were as 10 track LP / music cassette or 11 track CD release with a different track order; Chrysalis Records UK versions had 12 tracks ; and a video version of 15 tracks was released in VHS PAL format.
Code Blue is the sixth studio album by the Australian rock/synthpop band Icehouse and was released in November 1990 by Regular Records. Code Blue peaked at #7 on the Australian album charts.
Masterfile is the second compilation album by the Australian rock band, Icehouse. The album covers material from the band's first album Icehouse (1980) to Measure for Measure (1986). It also has a re-recorded version of the band's 1981 single, "Love In Motion", with Christina Amphlett of Divinyls.
"Hey Little Girl" is a single released by Australian band Icehouse, the second single from the band's 1982 album, Primitive Man. The album and single were co-produced by band member and the track's writer, Iva Davies, and Keith Forsey. It was released in November 1982 on Regular Records in 7" vinyl single and 12" vinyl single formats. UK and Europe releases by Chrysalis Records were also on 7" and 12" formats, but with different track listings. The single was then released in the US in 1983 on the same formats. On "Hey Little Girl", Iva Davies uses the Linn drum machine—the first for an Australian recording. It peaked at No. 7 on the Australian singles chart and No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 5 in Germany, Top 20 in UK, Sweden and Netherlands, and No. 31 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
Big Wheel is the seventh and final studio album by the Australian rock synthpop band, Icehouse, released on 25 October 1993 in Australia by dIVA Records – founder Iva Davies' own label – and Massive Records. It was recorded at Davies' home in Whale Beach during 1993 with Davies on vocals, guitar, bass guitar and keyboards, David Chapman on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals, and Paul Wheeler on drums, percussion and backing vocals. Big Wheel peaked at #44 and was their first studio album not to reach the Top Ten on the Australian album charts. The album was digitally remastered by Davies and Ryan Scott with five bonus tracks added for the 2002 re-release by Warner Music Australia.
Man of Colours is the fifth studio album by Australian rock/synthpop band Icehouse, released locally on 21 September 1987 on Regular Records / Chrysalis Records.
"We Can Get Together" is the second single released by the Australian rock band Flowers, later known as Icehouse. It was released in September 1980, on the independent label Regular Records from their first album, Icehouse, two weeks before the album itself was released. It peaked at #16 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Charts.
Spin One is a four-track EP released by Australian rock/synthpop band Icehouse in June 1993. It was issued by Massive Records. Three tracks, "Shakin' the Cage", "Dedicated to Glam" and "MLK", are also on the double CD remix album, Full Circle, released in December 1994. "Byrralku Dhangudha" is an edited version of "The Great Southern Mix" with guest appearance by aboriginal performers, keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic) and avant-garde guitarist Buckethead, and was produced by Bill Laswell.
"Can't Help Myself" is the first single released by the Australian synthpop/rock band Flowers, later known as Icehouse. It was released in May 1980 as a 7" vinyl single on independent label, Regular Records, five months ahead of debut album Icehouse. A 10" vinyl single was released in July and had a cover depicting individual images of band members diagonally across the band's name and the single's title. It peaked at #10 on the Australian Singles Charts.
"Walls" is the third single released by the Australian rock band Flowers, later known as Icehouse. It was released in January 1981, on independent label Regular Records from their debut album, Icehouse, it peaked at #20 on the Australian Kent Music Reoport Singles Charts. It was also released in New Zealand, with a different cover, which was the last release before the band was renamed as Icehouse.
"Love in Motion" is the first new material released by the Australian rock synthpop band Icehouse as a 7" vinyl single-only in October 1981 on Regular Records for the Australian market. The band had been known as Flowers until 27 June 1981 after which they changed their name to Icehouse, they had signed to Chrysalis Records and most of Flowers' material was released under the new name into Europe, UK and US markets. "Love in Motion" peaked at #10 on the Australian singles charts. The B-side, "Goodnight, Mr. Matthews" was included on the 1982 album Primitive Man with "Love in Motion" included on the Chrysalis Records US / European versions of the album, the UK 1983 version of the album was re-titled Love in Motion.
The Monitors were an Australian pop band of the early 1980s. They were primarily a studio group which involved a collaboration between Terry McCarthy on vocals and keyboards, and Mark Moffatt on guitar, bass guitar and keyboards. They used various guest vocalists. Their debut single, "Singin' in the '80s", was released in 1980 and reached No. 16 on the Kent Music Report singles chart.
Big on Love is a song by Australian new wave rock band Models. It was released as a single on 18 November 1984, well ahead of its parent album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, which was issued in August 1985. It peaked at No. 24 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in December 1984, remaining at that position for two weeks. It was produced for Mushroom Records by Reggie Lucas, and was co-written by Sean Kelly, the group's lead guitarist and lead vocalist, and Lucas. For the single, Models line up was Kelly, James Freud on backing vocals and bass guitar, Andrew Duffield on keyboards, and Barton Price on drums.
It's a Long Way There (Greatest Hits) is the first compilation album by the Australian group Little River Band, released in Australia and New Zealand in September 1978. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart and No. 12 in New Zealand. The album sold over 200,000 copies in Australia. Retitled It's a Long Way There (1975–1979) it was re-issued in Germany for the European market in 1979.
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