The Good China

Last updated
The Good China
Icecreamchina.jpg
Studio album by
Released21 May 2007
RecordedJanuary—March 2007
StudioSing Sing Studios, Melbourne
Genre Rock
Length42:07
Label Dust Devil Music
Producer Jimi Maroudas and East Van Parks
Icecream Hands chronology
You Can Ride My Bike: The Best of the Icecream Hands
(2004)
The Good China
(2007)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Herald Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Sunday Herald Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Age Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Courier-Mail Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Australian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The Good China is the fifth and final studio album by Australian rock band Icecream Hands. It was released in 2007. The credits on the liner notes included a fictional producer, East Van Parks. Guitarist Charles Jenkins explained: "We were jealous of bands being able to afford big-name producers so we were forced to invent our own. We were driving near Albury and saw this van park, Easts, so East Van Parks it became. It's been really enjoyable having this fictional character as our producer. Sometimes when we reach a crossroads, we say, 'What would East do here?' " [6]

Contents

Jenkins, until then the band's main songwriter, stepped back on the album, writing or contributing to just five of the album's 11 songs. "This is more (bassist Douglas Lee Robinson's) record," he told The Age. "He really forced it through. I enjoyed making this record, because I could lie on the couch in the studio, and didn't have to be there every day. These days other people are writing the songs, so they have more of a say." Guitarist Marcus Goodwin noted that Jenkins had taken "a bit of a back seat" because the two solo albums he had released since the previous Icecream Hands album had given him more of an outlet for his own material. "He feels the band has been together a long time, we're all songwriters in our own way and he has opened it up a bit more," he said.

One of Jenkins' songs, the acoustic ballad "My Mother Was a Dancer", concludes the album. Jenkins said he was attempting to write a country song for his publishing company but was unable to get the track working musically in that form. "I thought it could be a quiet folk song that could end China. Doug got hold of it and put the Beach Boys on it. I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted, but it ended up working beautifully." [7] [8]

Jenkins said "In the Back Seat of a Stolen Car" had its beginnings when the song's co-writer, John Harley, offered up the opening line: "Last night I cried myself to sleep in the back seat of a stolen car." Jenkins said: "I don't know if other writers do this, but it helps me write the song when I imagine someone else singing it. Because of that line I had a Lucinda Williams-type voice singing it. As I was writing it John gave me the line that brought it home, 'Last night I jumped through a stained-glass window in my wedding gown'. Then it made sense, I knew why she was in the back seat of the stolen car." [6]

Track listing

  1. "Come Along" (Douglas Lee Robertson, Marcus Goodwin) — 3:51
  2. "In the Back Seat of a Stolen Car" (Charles Jenkins, John Harley) — 4:26
  3. "Holding On" (Goodwin) — 3:40
  4. "Say That You Want Me Some More" (Jenkins) — 2:01
  5. "Anyway" (Robertson) — 3:28
  6. "Launceston" (Jenkins) — 5:17
  7. "Everything You Are" (Derek G. Smiley, Douglas Lee Robertson) — 3:37
  8. "Weak at the Knees" (Jenkins) — 4:19
  9. "This is What I Want" (Goodwin) — 3:31
  10. "Everyone's Waiting" (Robertson) — 4:23
  11. "My Mother Was a Dancer" (Jenkins) — 3:27

Personnel

Additional personnel

Related Research Articles

The Band Rock band from Toronto

The Band was a Canadian-American rock group formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1967. Originally the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins and later Bob Dylan, the group released its debut album, Music from Big Pink, in 1968 to critical acclaim. Described by music critic Bruce Eder as "one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics ... as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones". The Band combined elements of Americana, folk, rock, jazz, country, and R&B, influencing subsequent musicians such as the Eagles, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, the Flaming Lips, and Wilco.

Van Morrison Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician

Sir George Ivan Morrison is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer. His professional career began as a teenager in the late 1950s, playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Van Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B and rock band, Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began in 1967, under the pop-hit orientated guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl". After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Though this album gradually garnered high praise, it was initially a poor seller.

Thin Lizzy Irish hard rock band

Thin Lizzy are a hard rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist and lead vocalist Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott led the group throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums, writing most of the material. The singles "Whiskey in the Jar", "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Waiting for an Alibi" were international hits. After Lynott's death in 1986, various incarnations of the band emerged over the years based initially around guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes, though Sykes left the band in 2009. Gorham later continued with a new line-up including Downey.

David Lee Roth American musician best known as the lead singer of Van Halen

David Lee Roth is an American Rock musician, singer, songwriter, actor, author, artist, and former radio personality. He is best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, and as the lead singer of hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996, and again from 2006 to their disbandment in 2020. He was also known as a successful solo artist, releasing numerous RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum albums. After more than two decades apart, Roth re-joined Van Halen in 2006 for a North American tour that became the highest-grossing in the band's history and one of the highest-grossing of that year. In 2012, Roth and Van Halen released the comeback album A Different Kind of Truth. In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.

<i>Smiley Smile</i> 1967 studio album by the Beach Boys

Smiley Smile is the 12th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 18, 1967. It reached number 9 on UK record charts, but sold poorly in the US, peaking at number 41—the band's lowest chart placement to that point. Critics and fans generally received the album and its lead single, "Heroes and Villains", with confusion and disappointment. "Good Vibrations" and "Gettin' Hungry" were also released as singles, but the former was issued a year earlier, while the latter was not credited to the band.

Mike and the Mechanics

Mike and the Mechanics is an English rock supergroup formed in Dover in 1985 as a side project of Mike Rutherford, the bassist/guitarist in Genesis. The band is known for hit singles "Silent Running", "All I Need Is a Miracle", "Taken In", "The Living Years", "Word of Mouth" and "Over My Shoulder".

<i>Wild Honey</i> (album) 1967 studio album by the Beach Boys

Wild Honey is the 13th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released December 18, 1967 on Capitol Records. It was the group's first foray into soul music and was heavily influenced by the R&B of Motown and Stax Records. The album was the band's worst-selling at that point, charting at number 24 in the US. Lead single "Wild Honey" peaked at number 31, while its follow-up "Darlin'" reached number 11. In the UK, the album peaked at number seven.

White Heart, also listed as Whiteheart, was an American contemporary Christian music pop-rock band which formed in 1982. White Heart's discography includes thirteen albums, the most recent of which was released in 1997. Original members Billy Smiley and Mark Gersmehl worked with a continually-changing cast of band-mates. In 1985, former roadie Rick Florian became the lead singer.

Willy DeVille

Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary music, including Jack Nitzsche, Doc Pomus, Dr. John, Mark Knopfler, Allen Toussaint, and Eddie Bo. Latin rhythms, blues riffs, doo-wop, Cajun music, strains of French cabaret, and echoes of early-1960s uptown soul can be heard in DeVille's work.

<i>The Basement Tapes</i> 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and the Band

The Basement Tapes is an album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records and is Dylan's 16th studio album. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed by the Band, and were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, in the lapse between the recording and subsequent release of Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding, during sessions that began at Dylan's house in Woodstock, New York, then moved to the basement of Big Pink. While most of these had appeared on bootleg albums, The Basement Tapes marked their first official release. The remaining eight songs, all previously unavailable, feature the Band without Dylan and were recorded between 1967 and 1975.

Root! was an Australian rock band from Melbourne formed in 2005. Their music combines alt-country, blues and indie rock with elements of spoken word, satire, social commentary and post-modernism. They have gained attention through a band member being a former member of Melbourne band TISM.

Icecream Hands were a power pop band formed in Melbourne, Victoria in 1992 as Chuck Skatt and His Icecream Hands with Charles "Chuck Skatt" Jenkins as lead singer-songwriter and rhythm guitarist, Arturo "Arch" Larizza on bass guitar, his brother Dom "Benedictine III" Larizza on lead guitar and Derek Smiley on drums. They shortened the name and released a self-titled extended play on Rubber Records in 1992. After a year Douglas Lee Robertson had replaced Arch on bass guitar.

Charles Jenkins (musician)

Charles Jenkins is a musician based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is a member of Icecream Hands, has released eight solo albums and is a member of Charles Jenkins and the Zhivagos.

Hanging on the Telephone 1978 single by Blondie

"Hanging on the Telephone" is a song written by Jack Lee. The song was first performed by his short-lived US West Coast power pop band The Nerves; later in 1978, it was recorded and released as a single by the American rock band Blondie.

"Irresistible" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley. It was released three times as a single; the first being in 1985 as a non-album single under his band's name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. In 1986, the track was remixed and re-issued as a new solo single. Later in 1992, Harley released the 1986 version as a single again, after it appeared on his 1992 solo album Yes You Can. "Irresistible" was written by Harley and produced by English producer Mickie Most.

<i>Weekend</i> (Underground Lovers album) 2013 studio album by Underground Lovers

Weekend is the seventh studio album by Australian indie rock/electronic band Underground Lovers, the band's first after a 12-year hiatus. It followed a reunion for Sydney and Melbourne performances at the 2009 Homebake festival and the release of their 2011 retrospective album, Wonderful Things. A Rubber Records media release said: "This led to sporadic carefully selected shows and the realisation that the band still had something to say."

When Im with You (Steve Harley song)

"When I'm with You" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released as a non-album single in 1989. It was written and produced by Harley, ex-Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan and drummer Stuart Elliott.

<i>Broken UFO</i> 2002 studio album by Icecream Hands

Broken UFO is the fourth album by Australian rock band Icecream Hands. It was released in 2002. A single, "Rain Hail Shine", was nominated for the 2002 ARIA Music Awards in the "best independent release" section.

<i>You Can Ride My Bike: The Best of the Icecream Hands</i> 2004 compilation album by Icecream Hands

You Can Ride My Bike is a compilation album by Australian rock band Icecream Hands. It was released in 2004. The album was released as both a single disc—with all but one of the tracks taken from the band's first four albums—and a double disc containing b-sides and outtakes.

<i>Sweeter Than the Radio</i> 1999 studio album by Icecream Hands

Sweeter Than the Radio is the third album by Australian rock band Icecream Hands. It was released in 1999 and was nominated for the Best Adult Contemporary Album section of the ARIA Music Awards in 2000.

References

  1. Shane O'Donohue, Herald Sun, 31 May 2007.
  2. Graeme Hammond, Sunday Herald Sun, 10 June 2007.
  3. Jo Roberts, The Age, 22 June 2007.
  4. Noel Mengel, The Courier-Mail, 17 May 2007.
  5. Iain Shedden, The Australian, 7 July 2007.
  6. 1 2 Noel Mengel, "Voices in the head and a legendary producer," The Courier-Mail, 28 June 2007, pg 58.
  7. Andrew Murfett, "Hands back on deck," The Age, 15 June 2007.
  8. Cameron Adams, "A timeless harmony," The Daily Telegraph, 16 July 2007, pg 71.