| Tunnel at the End of the Light | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 17 July 2015 | |||
| Studio | Tender Trap Studios | |||
| Length | 43:20 | |||
| Label | Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses, Inertia | |||
| Tex Perkins chronology | ||||
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Tunnel at the End of the Light is a studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses. The album was released in July 2015 and peaked at number 52 on the ARIA Charts.
The Dark Horses are made up of Charlie Owen, Joel Silbersher, Murray Patterson, Stephen Hadley and Gus Agars. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Sydney Morning Herald |    [2] |
| The Guardian | [3] |
| The Bragg | [4] |
Jane Rocca from Sydney Morning Herald said "Tex Perkins trades his signature growl for existential lusting" adding "[it] is dressed in a glorious 1970s reverb and packed with slowed-down riffs. It's held together by a blues enthusiasm and follows 2012's Everyone's Alone." [2]
Everett True from The Guardian said "The album is fine, faultless in a way – languid, regretful and steeped in the lore of the open land, the sound of closing prison gates welcoming in the melancholy title track." [3]
Spencer Scott from The Bragg said "Tunnel at the End of the Light opens with the sounds of an uneasy night in the outback, as a lonesome whistle takes centre stage, rolling through the hills. It instantly takes you back to an old Western, one in which Tex Perkins is more than happy to play the cowboy." adding "Perkins and co. have rustled up another bunch of well-crafted songs." [4]
Leading Edge music described the album as "gently bubbling sonics gurgling underneath spacious rhythms, sweetly simple repetitive guitars, lush backing harmonies and brooding bass lines." [1]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Oh Lucky Me" | 5:19 | |
| 2. | "All Is Quiet" |
| 2:58 |
| 3. | "Tunnel at the End of the Light" |
| 3:45 |
| 4. | "Right Here in Front of You" |
| 5:08 |
| 5. | "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" |
| 4:50 |
| 6. | "Slide on By" |
| 8:12 |
| 7. | "The View South" |
| 3:22 |
| 8. | "Un Sound" |
| 4:35 |
| 9. | "Last Words" |
| 5:11 |
| Charts (2015) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 52 [5] |
| Region | Date | Format | Edition(s) | Label | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | July 2015 |
| Standard | Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses, Inertia | DHR003 |
The Cruel Sea are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney, New South Wales formed in late 1987. Originally an instrumental-only band, they became more popular when fronted by vocalist Tex Perkins in addition to Jim Elliott on drums, Ken Gormly on bass guitar, Dan Rumour on guitar and James Cruickshank on guitar and keyboards. Their popular albums are The Honeymoon Is Over (1993), Three Legged Dog (1995) and Over Easy (1998). Their best-known songs are "Better Get a Lawyer", "Takin' All Day", "The Honeymoon Is Over" and "Reckless Eyeballin'" – an instrumental track from their debut album Down Below that became the theme of Australian TV police drama, Blue Heelers. The band has won eight ARIA Music Awards including five in 1994 for work associated with The Honeymoon Is Over.
Gregory Stephen Perkins, better known by his stage name Tex Perkins, is an Australian singer-songwriter who fronts the Australian rock band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many solo records. In 1997, a portrait of Tex Perkins by artist Bill Leak won the Packing Room award at the Archibald Prize.
Beasts of Bourbon were an Australian alternative rock/blues rock band formed in August 1983, with James Baker on drums, Spencer P. Jones on guitar, Tex Perkins on vocals, Kim Salmon on guitar and Boris Sujdovic on bass guitar. Except for mainstays Jones and Perkins, the line-up changed over time as the group splintered and reformed several times. Their debut album, The Axeman's Jazz, was the best selling Australian alternative rock album of 1984. Their debut single, "Psycho", was a cover version of the Leon Payne original, and was the best selling Australian alternative rock single for that year. The group disbanded by mid-1985 and each member pursued other musical projects.
Anthony Lawrence Cohen was an Australian music record producer and sound engineer. He worked with Nick Cave's groups the Birthday Party, and then the Bad Seeds from 1979 to 2001. In mid-1986 he had followed Cave to London and then onto Berlin, in January 1987, to continue to work on their material. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 Cohen won Producer of the Year for The Cruel Sea's second album, The Honeymoon Is Over. At the 1995 ceremony he won Producer of the Year and Engineer of the Year for the Cruel Sea's Three Legged Dog. Cohen had been a long-term alcohol and drug user, his health deteriorated in the 2010s and he died in 2017 at Dandenong Hospital, aged 60. In November 2017 he was posthumously inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame.
Tex, Don and Charlie are an Australian super group formed by Tex Perkins, Don Walker and Charlie Owen. Their first studio album Sad But True was released in 1993, two others were released in 2005 and 2017.
Jessica Hilda Mauboy is an Australian R&B and pop singer, magician, songwriter, and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of Australian Idol, where she was runner-up and subsequently signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia. After releasing a live album of her Idol performances and briefly being a member of the girl group Young Divas in 2007, Mauboy released her debut studio album, Been Waiting, the following year. It included her first number-one single, "Burn", and became the second highest-selling Australian album of 2009, certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
Melissa Morrison Higgins, known professionally as Missy Higgins, is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, actress and activist. Her Australian number-one albums are The Sound of White (2004), On a Clear Night (2007) and The Ol' Razzle Dazzle (2012), and her singles include "Scar", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". Higgins was nominated for five ARIA Music Awards in 2004 and won 'Best Pop Release' for "Scar". In 2005, she was nominated for seven more awards and won five. Higgins won her seventh ARIA in 2007. Her third album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle, was released in Australia in June 2012. As of August 2014, Higgins' first three studio albums had sold over one million units.
Stolen Apples is the twenty fifth album by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly and was released in July 2007 on EMI Music. The album was Kelly's first solo album since Ways & Means in 2004, and features religious themes throughout. It peaked at No. 8 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Magoo is the professional name of Lachlan Goold, a multi award-winning Australian music producer based in Brisbane, Queensland.
Donald Hugh Walker is an Australian musician and songwriter who wrote many of the hits for Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel. Walker is considered to be one of Australia's best songwriters. In 2012 he was inducted into the Australian Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
Charles Lothian Lloyd "Charlie" Owen is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has been a member of The New Christs (1987–90), Louis Tillett and His Cast of Aspersions (1990), Tex, Don and Charlie, and Beasts of Bourbon. His solo album, Vertigo and Other Phobias, appeared in 1994 on Red Eye/Polydor.
Dr Murray Paterson is an Australian songwriter and musician most notable for his collaborations with Tex Perkins and his own recording project, Headland.
The Eighth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 30 March 1994 at the State Theatre in Sydney. Radio and TV personality Richard Stubbs hosted the ceremony and was assisted by presenters to distribute 26 awards.
The Honeymoon Is Over is the third studio album by Australian indie rock band The Cruel Sea, which was released in May 1993. The album was produced by the band, Tony Cohen and Mick Harvey for Red Eye Records. It peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart and has sold over 140,000 copies. Its lead single, "Black Stick" was released ahead of the album in March 1993 and peaked at No. 25 on the related Singles Chart. The title song, "The Honeymoon Is Over", was released in July 1993 as a single and reached the Top 50. It was followed by a cover of Tony Joe White's 1969 song, "Woman with Soul", in October which peaked at No. 64. The final single from the album, "Seems Twice", was issued in February 1994 and peaked at No. 90.
Oz is the fourth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, and was released by Eleven on 19 September 2014. It is Higgins' first cover album, which is accompanied by a book of the same name that collects a series of essays by Higgins; using each song title as a jumping off point. The album's title refers to each of the artists covered being from Australia, as well as being a reference to the land of Oz as established in The Wizard of Oz.
Sad but True is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Tex, Don and Charlie. It was released in November 1993. It spent 6 weeks in the Australian charts, peaking at number 40. In 2010, it was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.
You Don't Know Lonely is the third studio album by Australian rock band Tex, Don and Charlie. It was released in June 2017 and debuted at number 14 on the Australian charts.
Freedom Ride is the tenth studio album by Australian country music artist Troy Cassar-Daley. The album was released in March 2015 and peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Charts.
Dark Horses is the second solo studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Tex Perkins. The album was released in July 2000 and peaked at number 24 on the ARIA Charts.
Sweet Nothing is the third studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Tex Perkins, and first credited to Tex Perkins' Dark Horses. The album was released in July 2003 and peaked at number 34 on the ARIA Charts.