''Man of Colours'' is the fifth studio album by Australian rock/

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

band Icehouse, released locally on 21 September 1987 on

Regular Records Regular Records was an Australian record label based in Sydney that operated from 1978 until the mid-1990s. Regular Records released music by acts including Mental As Anything, Icehouse (band), Icehouse, and The Cockroaches. The Regular Record ...

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

Cover art

The cover artwork, designed by Iva Davies and Robert Kretschmer, depicts a human figure holding three different coloured flowers. An alternate Limited Black Sleeve release depicted the cover art on a reversed background from Regular Records in Australia but had the same track listing.

Release and reception

The album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian album charts for 11 weeks from 5 October 1987 NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

created their own

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in mid-1988. and has sold over 700,000 copies. " Electric Blue" was their only Australian No. 1 single, the release of the album and its five singles marked the zenith of Icehouse's commercial success, both locally and internationally. Several other songs from the album also charted well. It was the first Australian album to supply five top 30 hit singles " Crazy" (No. 4 in July), "Electric Blue" (co-written by Davies and John Oates of US band Hall & Oates) (No. 1, October), " My Obsession" (No. 12, December), "Man of Colours" (No. 28, February 1988) and "Nothing Too Serious" (No. 29, May 1988). With US chart success for "Crazy", which reached No. 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 10 on its

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

chart, and "Electric Blue" (No. 7 Hot 100, No. 10 Mainstream), the album ''Man of Colours'' reached No. #43 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album won the ARIA Award for Album of the Year and ARIA Award for Highest Selling Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 1988; the associated song "Electric Blue" won 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work' at the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA) Music Awards for its writers Davies and Oates.

Reissues

Different versions of the album have been released, the initial Australian release by Regular Records (see infobox above right) was as a ten track vinyl LP or as a music cassette or as a twelve track CD with two additional mixes of "Crazy". The US / UK release by

had a different track order from the Australian LP, and the track lengths for the two big singles ("Crazy" and "Electric Blue") are longer on this version of the album. The 1997 Japanese CD version released by For Life Records had two different tracks added. In 2002, Warner Music Australia re-released ''Man of Colours'', with Davies and Ryan Scott digitally remastering, including five bonus tracks. In Australia, the album was also offered on three limited edition coloured vinyl pressings, which were the colours of the flowers that the human figure on the cover was holding.

Track listing

Songwriters according to

(APRA). Note: requires user to input song title e.g. CRAZY

Personnel

Icehouse members * Iva Davies – vocals, guitars, Roland D-50,

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* Robert Kretschmer – guitars * Simon Lloyd – reeds,

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, keyboards, programming * Stephen Morgan – bass guitar * Andy Qunta – keyboards, piano, backing vocals * Paul Wheeler –

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

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Additional musicians * Andy Cichon – bass guitar * Stuart Gordon – strings * David Lord – additional keyboards * Glenn Tommey – guitar, percussion * John Oates – backing vocals on "Electric Blue" * Shena Power – backing vocals * Tommy Dassolo – triangle * Karl Chandler – tuba Recording details * Producer – David Lord * Engineer – David Hemming, David Wright ** Assistants – Carrie Motzing, Greg Henderson * Studio – EMI Studios 301 and Trash Studios,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia and Crescent Studios,

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, Somerset * Mixer – David Lord, assisted by Raine Shine @

Crescent Studios David Lord (born 1944) is an English composer and record producer, known for his work with Peter Gabriel, the Korgis and XTC. Career Lord was born in 1944 in Oxford, England and educated at the Royal Academy of Music, under Richard Rodney ...

, except: ** "Crazy", mixed by David Lord, assisted by David Hemming @ E.M.I. Studios 301, Sydney ** "Man of Colours" mixed by Iva Davies, assisted by David Hemming @ Albert Studios, Sydney ** "Electric Blue" and "My Obsession" mixed by Michael Brauer @ Sigma Sound Studios,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States * Mastering: Don Bartley, assisted by David Hemming @ E.M.I. Studios, Sydney * Digital remastering (2002) – Iva Davies, Ryan Scott Art work * Artwork – Iva Davies, Robert Kretschmer * Art direction and layout – Sue Goff * Photography – Hugh Stewart

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man of Colours 1987 albums ARIA Award–winning albums Icehouse (band) albums Chrysalis Records albums