''Circus Animals'' is the fourth studio album by Australian band
Cold Chisel
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 (at the ...
, released on 8 March 1982. It was recorded and mixed at Paradise Studios and
EMI Studios 301, Sydney (Sep-Dec 1981). It reached
number one on the Australian charts, remaining in the charts for 40 weeks, and also topped the
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
charts.
The working title for the album was "Tunnel Cunts".
At the
1982 Countdown Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Australian Album.
Album details
Many of the album's songs were written as a direct reaction to the pop success of the band's previous LP ''
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
'' and feature unusual, experimental arrangements. Singer Barnes said, "the whole band, particularly Don, decided to revolt against the pop formula when we made ''Circus Animals''."
Walker said, "There was no way of improving what we'd done on ''East'', so we had to think of new things to try." Elsewhere, he added, "If we’d taken those same set of lessons and applied them to the same sort of record it would’ve got more slick and lost the spontaneity. The only way to remain fresh is to smash all those rules, go back and start something else. Maybe bring that to fruition or maybe you’ll fail." Barnes noted, "It's not way out, not ridiculously experimental. It's all been done before, just not by us."
The "new sound" was described as, "made up of greater rhythmic diversity, looser song structures, that
ereless constricting for live performances"
Critics noticed that the, "intricate drum patterns imposed a heavy bottom-end groove."
Walker said, "Steve and I were doing a lot of experimenting in the studio with rhythms based on toms- just big tom sounds repeated over and over again. So that turned up on "Taipan", "Numbers Fall" and "Wild Colonial Boy"."
In the lead up to the recording, the band was playing concerts in pubs and clubs in regional centres such as
Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...
and
Newcastle. Band members were encouraged to improvise and change song structures. Barnes said, "It was a really loose free-form thing. We were developing and changing the songs every night to suit the atmosphere we were in."
Walker noted, "A song like "Taipan" you can do just about anything you like and it won't fall apart."
Producer Opitz said of the band's reaction to ''East'', "Don came to me six months later and said, “I never want to have another commercial album again.” Which I thought was really funny, because what the fuck? Don said he didn’t want to do another commercial album, but thank God for Steve Prestwich." Walker said, "With Steve demoing such melodic songs - it didn't matter what we did to them, they were going to be extremely melodic, accessible songs - I felt no pressure to write commercial. I didn't try to write singles, tight arrangements or anything. I had a bit of an indulge."
Barnes added, "Immediately we had success, Don went dark."
Lyrically, Walker said, "In the space of 18 months with bits of pieces of tape and stray lines there were maybe three or four things I was writing about. Obviously there's something which has been obsessing me about taking chances or not, although I didn't realise it at the time it was worrying me."
The first single "
You Got Nothing I Want" was written by singer
Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon "Jimmy" Barnes (née Swan; born 28 April 1956) is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-s ...
about the lack of interest shown in them by their
American label rep during the band's 1981 US tour. "Bow River" was a song by
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
ist
Ian Moss
Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) 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 ...
, written about a
sheep station
A sheep station is a large property (station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sou ...
in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...
where his brother Peter had once worked. The song was included as the B-side to one of the album's singles but proved so popular that it was often played on radio in its own right. "
When the War Is Over" was written by
drummer
Steve Prestwich
Steven William Prestwich (5 March 195416 January 2011) 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 fo ...
and has been covered numerous times by
Little River Band
Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums r ...
,
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...
,
Uriah Heep Uriah Heep may refer to:
* Uriah Heep (character), a character in the Charles Dickens novel ''David Copperfield''
*Uriah Heep (band), a British rock band active since 1969
*''Uriah Heep Live
''Uriah Heep Live'' is a double live album by Britis ...
,
Cosima De Vito
Cosima De Vito (born 1 November 1976), also known as Cosima, is an Australian pop and R&B singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia, she is best known for her cover of the classic Australian hit " When the War Is Over" (20 ...
and
Something for Kate
Something for Kate are an Australian alternative rock band, which formed in 1994 with Paul Dempsey on lead vocals and guitar, and Clint Hyndman on drums. They were joined in 1998 by Stephanie Ashworth on bass guitar and backing vocals. The gr ...
. "Letter to Alan" was dedicated to a former member of the band's road crew, Alan Dallow, who died in a truck accident.
Mark Opitz later said, "We were doing a mountain of
coke during the ''Circus Animals'' sessions. We would do monster lines of coke and then the band members would go in to do their parts. I remember one time my head turned into a helicopter and I was about to lift off and go through the control room roof."
The album cover was shot by
Peter Levy. Barnes said, "This caravan we towed out to
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains ...
for the photo shoot and when we finished, we left it there. It was about 40 degrees, it was brutal." Don Walker said of the location, "I wanted something that was Australian and couldn't be mistaken for anywhere else. A wide flat space with a caravan on it."
Five of the album's ten songs were later covered for the 2007 tribute album ''
Standing on the Outside'': "You Got Nothing I Want" (
Alex Lloyd), "Bow River" (
Troy Cassar-Daley), "Forever Now" (
Pete Murray), "Houndog" (
You Am I
You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted ...
) and "When the War is Over" (Something for Kate).
On Friday 22 July 2011, all of Cold Chisel's albums were re-released as remastered 'Collector's Editions'. They became available for iTunes download for the very first time. The album re-entered the Australian charts for one week, at number 46.
Reception
''Circus Animals'' was listed at No. 4 in the book, ''
100 Best Australian Albums
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
'', in October 2010.
In 2011, it was voted the 75th greatest Australian album by industry pundits at
Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...
. ''Juice'' magazine rated it the 17th greatest album of all time.
Adrian Zupp gave the album a rating of four and a half out of five at
allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
. He described it as, "A ten-song stew of the band's signature guitar-and-piano-driven ballads and rockers
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mech ...
further confirmed Chisel's depth and breadth as a creative unit." He went on to describe the highlights as, ""Houndog", a gripping, grueling riff-fest road song; the strip-club, tom-tom beat of the slinky "Numbers Fall"; the bent-halo ballad "When the War Is Over"; and the coup de grâce, the coke-frenzy-rock of the mini-epic "Letter To Alan"."
Critic
Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell (born 21 May 1955) is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of ''Rolling Stone'' (Australia) and a founding editor of ''Juice''.
In 1986, he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book, ''Too Muc ...
described ''Circus Animals'' as, "a really extraordinary piece of work, as though
John Steinbeck,
Henry Lawson
Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...
,
Manning Clarke and
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...
formed a band." He went on to single out "Wild Colonial Boy", "because it so brilliantly encapsulated the Australian experience," and "Houndog", "because it has a completely mad structure but it too goes to the heart of the Australian wanderlust." Roadrunner claimed the band, "revel in their Australianness, and seem to capture a lot of the hard edge of this country."
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...
also gave a positive review, saying, "I regarded Cold Chisel as over-rated when they first hit the scene with a splash, but they have established themselves as a consistent, powerful outfit, with strong instrumentals, vocals and writing. All these qualities have come together on ''Circus Animals'', for the first time."
Given an "A" rating in Canada's
Windsor Star
The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays.
History
The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...
, the reviewer noted, "This is heavy metal at its painful best. Jim Barnes screams like other hard rockers, but never for shallow effect, he has real emotive strength. Guitarist Ian Moss shifts into overdrive with the grace of an
Indy
Indy may refer to:
Computing and technology
*Indy (software), used for Internet access to music
*Internet Direct, or "Indy", a software library
* SGI Indy, a computer workstation
Periodicals
*''The Indy'', shorthand for newspapers that include ...
professional and Walker's insightful lyrics give the music weight."
Rip It Up said, "Barnes has no peers in the shouting stakes, yet tempers this with delicacy when required. On any assessment, ''Circus Animals'' is a triumph."
Reviewed in
Rolling Stone Australia
''Rolling Stone'' Australia is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
at the time of its release, ''Circus Animals'' was described as, "a deeply flawed masterpiece, brilliant not so much in spite of the flaws but because of them." The reviewer went on to say, "from the hot, barren coastal highway to the sloping indifference of
Kings Cross, these are Australian blues." Particular mention was made of the song "Wild Colonial Boy", which is said to be, "the most overtly political statement from an Australian rock artist in years."
Track listing
All songs written by
Don Walker, except as noted.
Side One
#"
You Got Nothing I Want" (
Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon "Jimmy" Barnes (née Swan; born 28 April 1956) is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-s ...
) - 3:16
#"
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These ...
" (
Ian Moss
Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) 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 ...
) - 4:23
#"
Forever Now" (
Steve Prestwich
Steven William Prestwich (5 March 195416 January 2011) 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 fo ...
) - 4:26
#"Taipan" - 3:55
#"Houndog" - 5:04
Side Two
#"Wild Colonial Boy" - 4:52
#"No Good for You" (Moss) - 3:16
#"Numbers Fall" - 4:46
#"
When the War Is Over" (Prestwich) - 4:25
#"Letter to Alan" - 5:57
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
*
List of number-one albums in Australia during the 1980s#1982
*
List of number-one albums from the 1980s (New Zealand)
*
List of Top 25 albums for 1982 in Australia
Personnel
*
Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon "Jimmy" Barnes (née Swan; born 28 April 1956) is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-s ...
-
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...
, backing vocals
*
Ian Moss
Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) 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 ...
-
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
, backing vocals, lead vocals (tracks 2, 5 and 9)
*
Don Walker -
organ,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...
, backing vocals
*
Steve Prestwich
Steven William Prestwich (5 March 195416 January 2011) 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 fo ...
-
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
, backing vocals
*
Phil Small
Phillip James Small (born 2 August 1954) is an Australian musician and songwriter, who is the bass guitarist for the pub rock band Cold Chisel.McFarlane . Retrieved 17 February 2010.Spencer et al, (2007Small, Phil entry. Retrieved 17 February ...
-
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gu ...
, backing vocals
Footnotes
{{Authority control
1982 albums
Cold Chisel albums
Elektra Records albums
Albums produced by Mark Opitz