No Plans | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 6 April 2012 | |||
Recorded | Studios 301, Sydney | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 51:51 | |||
Label | Warner | |||
Producer | Kevin Shirley | |||
Cold Chisel chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
The Australian | [1] |
Sunday Herald Sun | [2] |
Sun Herald | [3] |
Herald Sun | [4] |
theMusic.com.au | positive [5] |
No Plans is the seventh studio album by Australian rock band Cold Chisel. It was released on 6 April 2012 and was the band's first studio album in 14 years. It features the final recorded performances by drummer Steve Prestwich, who died of a brain tumour in January 2011. [6] The album peaked at number 2 on the Australian charts. [7]
Work on the album began after the band reunited for a one-off gig in front of 50,000 people at a V8 Supercars event in Sydney in 2009. Singer Jimmy Barnes explained: "Even before the show, in the rehearsal period we all had a really great time and we thought maybe we should carry it on a bit. So we went into my studio at my house and did some writing and recording, without having any plans of doing anything with it." [8]
With the death of Prestwich in January 2011, Charley Drayton became Cold Chisel's new drummer, with the band saying they wanted to continue with the plans they had made with Prestwich. [9]
The album's closing song, "I Got Things To Do", was written by Prestwich and presented to the band in the early sessions for Barnes to sing. Barnes said: "I think somewhere in the demo process Steve put down his own version for his own benefit or archives, or it was to show me the melodies or something like that and we didn't think about it." The masters of the recordings were given to producer Kevin Shirley to mix in the United States and he produced a version with Prestwich performing lead vocals. "Don (Walker)'s listening to this mix and it sounded really good and he thought, 'Oh yeah, Jimmy will start singing in a second', and the sound of Steve's voice came out and it was one of those hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck standing up moments and we all got very emotional," Barnes said. "We thought, 'Well, that's the version we should put out'." [8]
The album's cover art, by Sydney photographer Steve Baccon, is a homage to expatriate Australian landscape artist Jeffrey Smart, being similar to his Cahill Expressway.
Reviewed at the time of release, TheMusic said, "the opener shows they are still a vital rock'n'roll band, while first single "Everybody" follows with a far more laidback gait, but is powerful in its own way; Barnes' vocal tackling Don Walker's biting lyrics with the right amount of venom. Of course it can't be long before a classy Chisel love song and "All For You" is no slouch in that department." [5]
The Australian claimed, "the album's first notes consist of a Barnes vocal intro of such serrated intensity that the listener is left in no doubt, as Walker drily observed, that it's a new record by that band." Walker's song-writing that, "evokes so much with such apparent economy," was particularly praised. [10]
The Sydney Morning Herald also noted the opening, "with Barnes screaming about smoking cigarettes and being a primate," but said, "However, it is musically that No Plans really excels. Cold Chisel plays direct, hard blues with a surprising amount of groove." [11]
All songs written by Don Walker, except as noted.
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [15] | Gold | 35,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes on lead vocals and, in 1975, Phil Small became their bass guitarist. The group disbanded in late 1983 but subsequently reformed several times. Musicologist Ian McFarlane wrote that they became "one of Australia's best-loved groups" as well as "one of the best live bands", fusing "a combination of rockabilly, hard rock and rough-house soul'n'blues that was defiantly Australian in outlook."
Ian Richard Moss is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded on all five studio albums, three of which reached number one on the national Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In August 1989 he released his debut solo album, Matchbook, which peaked at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was preceded by his debut single, "Tucker's Daughter", which reached number two on the related ARIA Singles Chart in March. The track was co-written by Moss with Don Walker, also from Cold Chisel. Moss had another top ten hit with "Telephone Booth" in June 1989.
"Khe Sanh" is the debut single by Australian rock band Cold Chisel, released in May 1978 as a 45 rpm single, and named after the district capital of Hướng Hóa District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam. Written by pianist Don Walker, "Khe Sanh" concerns an Australian Vietnam veteran dealing with his return to civilian life. According to Toby Creswell's liner notes for the band's 1991 compilation album Chisel, the song is also a story of restless youth.
"Flame Trees" is a song by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel from their 1984 album Twentieth Century. One of their best known songs, it was written by drummer Steve Prestwich and keyboardist Don Walker. On its release it reached No. 26 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It resurfaced in August 2011 due to download sales, peaking at No. 54 on the ARIA chart.
Steven William Prestwich was an English-born Australian drummer, guitarist, singer and songwriter. After relocating from Liverpool, Prestwich was the founding and long-term drummer for the band Cold Chisel, which formed in Adelaide in 1973. He wrote the Cold Chisel songs "When the War Is Over", "Flame Trees" and "Forever Now". Prestwich also had a short spell with the Little River Band in the 1980s. He released two solo albums in the 2000s.
The Last Wave of Summer is the sixth studio album by Australian pub rock band, Cold Chisel. It was released in October 1998 and reached number-one on The Australian ARIA Charts. It was the band's first studio album in 14 years.
Cold Chisel is the debut album of Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel. Released in April 1978, it spent 23 weeks in the Australian charts, peaking at number 38.
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 "Bow River", "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.
"When the War Is Over" is song by Australian band Cold Chisel from their 1982 album Circus Animals. The song was written by drummer Steve Prestwich and issued as the third single from the album, peaking at number 25 on the national singles chart, and also resurfaced in August 2011 due to download sales.
You're Thirteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine is a live EP by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel, recorded at the Regent Theatre in Sydney in October 1978 and released in November 1978.
East is the third studio album by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel, released in June 1980. The album peaked at No. 2 and spent 63 weeks on the national chart. It was the biggest-selling Australian album release of the year. It was the only Cold Chisel album to chart in America, reaching 171 on the Billboard 200. It also reached number 32 on the New Zealand charts.
Circus Animals is the fourth studio album by Australian band Cold Chisel, released on 8 March 1982. It was recorded and mixed at Paradise Studios and EMI Studios 301, Sydney, between September and December 1981. It reached number one on the Australian charts, remaining in the charts for 40 weeks, and also topped the New Zealand charts. The working title for the album was "Tunnel Cunts".
Swingshift is a live album released by Australian band Cold Chisel in 1981. It was their first album to reach No. 1 on the Australian chart, debuting there in its first week. It peaked at number 9 in New Zealand. A press release said the title referred to, "the midnight to dawn shift that the staff in asylums dread: the hours when the crazies go crazy."
Twentieth Century is the fifth and final studio album by Australian band Cold Chisel until the group reformed in 1998. The album was written and recorded over various sessions during the period of the band's break-up and during breaks in their final tour. It was released in early 1984 and peaked at No. 1 on the Australian albums chart, their third consecutive album to do so. It charted for a total of 46 weeks.
Flesh and Wood is the seventh album by Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes, which was issued in December 1993. It was recorded by Barnes and Don Gehman co-producing and used only acoustic instruments. On eight of its fifteen tracks, Barnes duets with various artists: Diesel, Archie Roach, Joe Cocker, Ross Wilson, Tommy Emmanuel, Don Walker, Deborah Conway, and the Badloves. It reached No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Last Stand is a documentary film of the final concert appearances by Australian rock band, Cold Chisel, prior to their first disbandment. It was filmed on 13 and 15 December 1983 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and released to cinemas in July 1984. It featured the group performing two of the four final concerts of their national Last Stand Tour, from 12 to 15 December 1983. It is interspersed with short interviews from members of the band, their managers, audience members and Midnight Oil front man, Peter Garrett. A DVD version featuring extra footage was issued in October 2005.
The Barking Spiders Live: 1983 is a live album by Australian rock band Cold Chisel. It was recorded during the final performances of their Last Stand tour in 1983, at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The name of the album derives from a name the band used occasionally when playing warm-up shows before tours. Don Walker states a "barking spider" is "Scottish slang for a fart."
"Choirgirl" is a song by Australian rock band Cold Chisel, released as the lead single from their third studio album East (1980) in November 1979. A ballad written by Don Walker with an R&B-influenced melody, the song marked the first time the band had recorded with producer Mark Opitz. It peaked at No. 14 in Australia on the Kent Music Report.
Ringside is a live album released by Cold Chisel in 2003. Recorded over 4 nights in June 2003, it peaked at number 27 in 2003 and peaked at number 16 following its vinyl release on 12 November 2021.
The Perfect Crime is the eighth studio album by Australian rock band Cold Chisel. It was released on 2 October 2015. It was the first album not to feature a contribution from drummer Steve Prestwich, who died of a brain tumour in January 2011. The album peaked at number 2 on the Australian charts and number 7 in New Zealand.