Flea Market Vinyl - Hunters & Collectors

Back when I was in college in the '80s, suddenly there were a batch of bands that emerged from Australia and New Zealand and had various degrees of success in the US - INXS, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Hoodoo Gurus, Nick Cave, Paul Kelly, and Hunters & Collectors (who I feel so lucky to have gotten to see play opening for Midnight Oil in 1990). While they never quite broke open outside their native land, "Throw Your Arms Around Me," the song we're playing today seems to be one of those tunes that lives on - thru covers by Pearl Jam, Neil Finn, Crowded House, and others.

Formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour (older brother of Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour), they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk, Influenced by both the krautrock of Can and the post-punk-funk of Talking Heads. The core of Hunters & Collectors was expanded by a horn section, dubbed the Horns of Contempt. Hunters & Collectors had a series of Top 10 albums in Australia, and in 2005 were inducted into the Australian Recording Hall Of Fame, for which they re-united to play this song.

Somewhere along the way my copy of this album disappeared, and I could not find this track when hunting iTunes a few months back (it's out of print in the US), but a few weeks ago I ran across it in a used store and was happy to pay up $3.20 to get back a copy of Hunters & Collector's Human Frailty.