The Pleasure of Your Company

Last updated

The Pleasure of Your Company
Pleasure of your Company.jpg
Studio album by
Models
ReleasedOctober 1983
RecordedParadise Studios, Sydney, Australia
March–May 1983
Genre New wave
Label Mushroom
Producer Nick Launay
Models chronology
Local &/or General
(1981)		The Pleasure of Your Company
(1983)		 Out of Mind, Out of Sight
(1985)
Singles from The Pleasure of Your Company
  1. "I Hear Motion"
    Released: 20 September 1983
  2. "No Shoulders, No Head"
    Released: December , 1983
  3. "God Bless America"
    Released: April , 1984

The Pleasure of Your Company is the third studio album by Australian new wave rock band Models, [1] which peaked at No. 12 on the Australian albums chart. [2] It was released in October 1983 on Mushroom Records with Nick Launay producing. [3] The album provided three singles, "I Hear Motion" released in September, which peaked at No. 16. [2] Neither "No Shoulders, No Head" released in December, nor "God Bless America" released in April 1984, peaked into the Australian Top 50 singles chart. [2] The video for "God Bless America", from March 1984, featured backing singers Kate Ceberano and Zan Abeyratne (both members of I'm Talking). [4]

Contents

At the 1983 Countdown Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Australian Album. [5]

Background

Models had formed in Melbourne in 1978 by members from Teenage Radio Stars and JAM, after some line-up changes they were Andrew Duffield on keyboards, Mark Ferrie on bass guitar, Janis Friedenfelds (aka Johnny Crash) on drums and percussion, and Sean Kelly on vocals and lead guitar. [1] [3] In November 1980, Models released their first album, Alphabravocharliedeltaechofoxtrotgolf, on Mushroom Records. [3] It peaked at No. 43 on the Australian albums chart. [2] The album was well received by audiences on the live pub circuit. Early in 1981, Friedenfelds was replaced on drums by Mark Hough (aka Buster Stiggs) from New Zealand band The Swingers. [3] In June, Models released a 10" album, Cut Lunch, which consisted of demo tracks produced by Tony Cohen and Models except "Atlantic Romantic" produced by Split Enz keyboard player Eddie Rayner and Models. [1] [3] After recording Cut Lunch, Models travelled to United Kingdom to record, Local &/or General, with Steve Tayler producing. [1] [3]

During 1982, further line-up changes occurred with Ferrie and Hough leaving early in the year. James Freud (ex-Teenage Radio Stars, James Freud & Berlin) joined the band on bass/vocals, with John Rowell (ex-Curse) on guitar, and Graham Scott (ex-Curse) on drums. [1] [3] Kelly and Freud had been in high school bands which developed into Teenage Radio Stars, [1] Rowell and Scott left in May 1982, with Duffield following. [1] New Zealand drummer, Barton Price (ex-Crocodiles, Sardine v) joined. [1] They recorded a single, "On", produced by veteran rocker Lobby Loyde and released in August. [1] It had no mainstream National singles chart success, [2] but peaked at No. 1 on the independent charts. [1] Gus Till (ex-Beargarden) briefly joined on keyboards until Duffield rejoined the band in December. [1]

The Duffield, Freud, Kelly and Price version of the group released the highly regarded 1983 LP The Pleasure of Your Company, produced by Nick Launay. [1] [3] Its big drum sound and danceability, in particular, reflected Launay's influence, and Freud's more radio-friendly voice made the album more accessible. The album was critically acclaimed and peaked at No. 12 on the Australian albums chart, with the single "I Hear Motion" becoming a national No. 16 hit. [1] [2] Duffield later explained that the song's distinctive keyboard part had been inspired by the riff from the Stevie Wonder classic "Superstition". The band also released two other singles, "God Bless America" and "No Shoulders, No Head", neither charted into the Top 50. [2] The band scored the support slot for David Bowie's 'Serious Moonlight' tour of Australia. Kelly and Duffield were invited to sing backing vocals on the INXS album, The Swing . The video for "God Bless America", from March 1984, featured backing singers Kate Ceberano and Zan Abeyratne (both members of I'm Talking). The music video was shot in 3D. [4] Kelly appeared ready to disband Models and was even rehearsing with a new band. [6] Mushroom Records convinced him to continue with Models and their next single, "Big on Love" produced by Reggie Lucas, peaked at No. 24. [2] [6]

By late 1984, Models relocated to Sydney and Duffield – with his crucial influence on the band's sound – was forced out under acrimonious circumstances to be replaced by Roger Mason (ex- James Freud's Berlin) on keyboards and James Valentine on saxophone. [1] [6] In early 1985, Models started recording material for their next album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight , produced by Mark Opitz, Reggie Lucas and Nick Launay. [1] [3] In October 2010, The Pleasure of Your Company was listed in the top 50 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums . [7]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Andrew Duffield, Sean Kelly, James Freud, Barton Price [8] unless otherwise shown.

The Pleasure of Your Company
No.TitleLength
1."I Hear Motion"5:31
2."Facing the North Pole in August"3:31
3."God Bless America"3:41
4."Watch Your Mouth"3:30
5."No Shoulders, No Head"3:30
6."Holy Creation""4:44
7."79 A.D."4:51
8."Sang the Butcher"3:17
9."Our Atmosphere"3:50
10."A Rainy Day"3:43

Personnel

Models
Additional personnel
Technical personnel

Related Research Articles

Models (band)

Models are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in August 1978. They went into hiatus in 1988. They are often referred to as "The Models". They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts, and began regularly performing again from 2010 onwards. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit, appeared on the Australian singles charts in July 1985. The related album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, peaked at No. 3 on the Australian albums charts after its release in August. Out of Mind, Out of Sight appeared on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with the single, "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", peaking at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. An earlier song from the same album, "Barbados", had peaked at No. 2 on the Australian singles chart.

Wendy Joan Matthews is a Canadian-born Australian singer who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in the 1990s including "Token Angels", "Let's Kiss ", "The Day You Went Away" and "Friday's Child" with Top 20 albums, You've Always Got The Blues, Émigré, Lily, The Witness Tree and her compilation, Stepping Stones. She has won six Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane she provides "extraordinary, crystal-clear vocals [...] a soulfulness that was the mark of a truly gifted singer".

Icehouse is a rock band from Sydney, formed in 1977. Initially known in Australia for their pub-rock style, the band later achieved mainstream success playing new-wave and synthpop 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.

I'm Talking are an Australian funk-pop rock band, which featured vocalists Kate Ceberano and Zan Abeyratne. They formed in 1983 in Melbourne and provided top ten hit singles "Trust Me", "Do You Wanna Be?" and "Holy Word" and a top fifteen album, Bear Witness, before disbanding in 1987. The group reunited in October 2018, and went on a 2019 tour as well as a series of small venue shows.

<i>The Swing</i> (INXS album) 1984 studio album by INXS

The Swing is Australian rock band INXS's fourth studio album, released in April 1984. It peaked at number one on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart for five non-consecutive weeks from early April to mid-May 1984. The lead single "Original Sin" was recorded in New York City with Nile Rodgers and featured Daryl Hall on backing vocals. Overall, the album featured a slightly harder-edged sound than their previous releases.

Big Pig was an Australian funk, rock and pop band that existed from 1985 to 1991. An early line-up was Sherine Abeyratne on lead vocals and percussion ; Tony Antoniades on vocals and harmonica; Neil Baker on drums; Nick Disbray on vocals and percussion; Tim Rosewarne on vocals and keyboards (ex-Bang); Adrian Scaglione on drums; and Oleh Witer on vocals and percussion (ex-Bang). They issued two albums, Bonk and You Lucky People, on the White Records Label imprint of Mushroom Records.

<i>Alphabravocharliedeltaechofoxtrotgolf</i> 1980 studio album by Models

Alphabravocharliedeltaechofoxtrotgolf is the first album by Australian new wave group Models. The title alludes to the first seven letters of the NATO phonetic alphabet. The LP album cover claimed it was produced by no-one, in fact, it was recorded independently by engineer Tony Cohen and the group, prior to signing with Mushroom Records. It was released in November 1980, but no singles were released commercially from the album, although "Two People Per km²" and "Uncontrollable Boy" were on a 12-inch disc released to radio stations, and a music video was made for "Two People Per km²".

Suzanne Marguerite Abeyratne, who performs as Zan or Xan, is an Australian-based singer born in London. Abeyratne was a co-lead vocalist of I'm Talking (1984–87), alongside Kate Ceberano. She provided lead vocals on their single, "Holy Word", which peaked at No. 9 in Australia, and No. 21 in New Zealand. Along with her identical twin sister Sherine, Abeyratne has provided backing vocals for Models, INXS, and U2, and has toured the world with other bands.

James Freud

James Randall Freud was an Australian rock musician-songwriter. He was a member of Models during the 1980s and wrote their two most popular singles, "Barbados" and "Out of Mind, Out of Sight".

<i>Code Blue</i> (album) 1990 studio album by Icehouse

Code Blue is the seventh studio album by the Australian rock/synthpop band Icehouse and was released in November 1990 by Regular Records. Although less commercially successful than their previous studio album, 1987's Man of Colours, Code Blue peaked at #5 on the Australian album charts. Singles from the album were "Touch the Fire" "Big Fun", "Miss Divine", "Anything Is Possible" and "Where the River Meets the Sea", "Miss Divine" peaked at #16 on the Australian singles chart and became their last Top 40 hit. The album was digitally remastered by Icehouse founder Iva Davies and Ryan Scott with three bonus tracks added for the 2002 re-release by Warner Music Australia.

Absent Friends were an Australian band from Sydney. The band was relatively short lived, forming in 1989 and disbanding in 1990. It featured a number of notable Australian musicians including Sean Kelly, Andrew Duffield, James Valentine, Garry Gary Beers (INXS), Geoffrey Stapleton (GANGgajang) and Wendy Matthews.

<i>Bonk</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Big Pig

Bonk is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Big Pig. It was released in May 1988 on White Label Records and peaked at number 5 on The Australian charts. The album was released in America by A&M Records in 1988. "Breakaway" was featured on the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack

<i>Out of Mind, Out of Sight</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Models

Out of Mind, Out of Sight is the fourth studio album by Australian new wave rock band Models, it was their most successful album and peaked at No. 3 on the Australian albums chart. It was released in August 1985 by Mushroom Records with Nick Launay, Reggie Lucas and Mark Opitz producing.

<i>Local and/or General</i> 1981 studio album by Models

Local &/or General is the second studio album by Australian new wave rock band Models, which peaked at #30 on the Australian albums chart. It was released in October 1981 on Mushroom Records with Stephen Tayler producing.

Out of Mind, Out of Sight (song)

"Out Of Mind Out Of Sight" is the title single by Australian new wave rock band Models from their album of the same name. It was released in June 1985 and was their most successful single, which peaked at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The album followed in August on Mushroom Records with Nick Launay, Reggie Lucas and Mark Opitz producing and reached No. 3 on the related albums chart.

Roger Ashley Mason is an Australian keyboardist who has been a member of new wave groups Models, Absent Friends and Icehouse. He was a session and backing musician for United Kingdom's Gary Numan and for various Australian artists. From the early 1990s he has composed music for television and feature films.

<i>Émigré</i> (album) album by Wendy Matthews discography

Émigré is the debut solo studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Wendy Matthews released by rooArt in Australia in November 1990. It was produced by Ricky Fataar and reached No. 11 on the Australian Albums Chart. It yielded three singles: "Token Angels", "Woman's Gotta Have It" and "Let's Kiss ". Matthews won the 'Best Female Artist' award at the ARIA Music Awards of 1991, and "Token Angels" won 'Breakthrough Artist – Single'.

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 the album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, which appeared in August the following year. It peaked at No. 24 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in 1984. 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.

<i>Bear Witness</i> 1986 studio album by Im Talking

Bear Witness is the first studio album by Australian band I'm Talking. The album was released in August 1986 by Regular Records and peaked at No. 14 on the Australian Album Charts.

Andrew Peter Duffield is an Australian musician, producer and teacher. He has been a member, on keyboards, synthesisers or electronics, for various groups, including Whirlywirld, Models and Absent Friends. Duffield has also been a backing musician for other artists both on tours and for studio sessions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Models'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop . Allen & Unwin. ISBN   1-86448-768-2. Archived from the original on 4 June 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992 . St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Holmgren, Magnus; Baird, Paul; Aubrey, Ross; Acosta, Lisa. "The Models". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 12 June 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Australian Rock by Memorable TV L to M". Memorable TV. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  5. ↑ "Australian Music Awards". Ron Jeff. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 Nimmervoll, Ed. "Models". Howlspace. Archived from the original on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  7. ↑ O'Donnell, John; Creswell, Toby; Mathieson, Craig (October 2010). 100 Best Australian Albums . Prahran, Vic: Hardie Grant Books. ISBN   978-1-74066-955-9.
  8. ↑ ""I Hear Motion" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 9 March 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.