Search - John Farnham :: I Remember When I Was Young: Songs from The Great Australian Songbook [Import]

Great classic!

Aussie abroad | Sedona, Arizona United States | 02/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great selection of music by John Farnham. The album wonderfully showcases his voice and the arangements are excellent. Yes, the originals are also great songs but I really like John's laid-back style for this album. In fact, I think a couple of his versions are better than the originals, while others are different but equally good. All my friends here in America, who have heard this album are impressed with it. It's currently my favourite."

A nice present for your mum, perhaps, or for die-hard fans

dfle3 | Australia | 01/04/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

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As another reviewer also stated, I too bought this album with positive expectation. It was selling quite cheap so it seemed a good buy. Farnham is a terrific singer [vaguely in the Robert Plant mold] who transcended his 1000% sugar debut song from the 60's "Sadie, the cleaning lady". I bought Farnham's compilation "One Voice: Greatest Hits" and HIGHLY recommend it [some terrific Australian pop songs in that, mainly from the 80's, his comeback years]. ANYWAY, this cd had some very minor glitches and gave me a legitimate excuse to get an exchange-the only time I've done that for a cd, apart from Metallica's "Kill 'em all" cd, and gee, I wish I'd found my receipt for Metallica's "And justice for all" cd, so I could have done the same for that too! [Well spotted if you think liking Farnham and Metallica maked for odd taste in music.]



So, why is this album worth only one star [if that]? Mainly because of the treatment the songs get. The reason I think mums of a certain generation may enjoy this album is that Farnham can sing, and he chooses a range of songs from Australian artists that I rate from great to good to yuh. Unfortunately, the songs get the mellow, chill-out, jazzy treatment which just doesn't work for me. If you like that sort of stuff, then, obviously, this album will be more toward the five star end of the spectrum for you. For me, it's just bland, and no track is more welcome than the original versions.



One song that SHOULD have made this album was "Touch of paradise" which Farnham previously covered [a Ross Wilson song from Mondo Rock, I think, or, maybe, his Daddy Cool days]. Having heard Farnham's version first, it struck me immediately as a great song and it still remains the definitive version of the song, despite having heard the Mondo Rock version...and Ross Wilson is one of the great pop/rock/soul vocalists in the world from his Mondo days. Farnham's version was terrifically sung with a superior musical arrangement to the Mondo version. NOTHING on this album approaches that. Sure, one or two songs are listenable and have repeat listen value, but they just don't match the original versions of the songs.



Worse than that, Farnham actually DIMINISHES the memory of the originals. For instance, "I remember when I was young" was a TERRIFIC Australian rock song. Farnham absolutely sucks the life out of this song and makes you realise that without the original arrangement, the lyrics are quite mediocre. I heard a bit of a song from a tribute album to Australia's all time great band Midnight Oil ["Scream in blue", I think]...The Superjesus' version of "Short memory". In a way, that sort of sucked the life out of the original, but yet it was a good alternative arrangement of the original. Farnham's versions can't even do that.



Something that I found interesting in the arrangment of one song was for "Reckless", I think. Farnham's version gives it a bit of a Procul Harem treatment-Whiter Shade Of Pale territory, with a Hammond organ, perhaps.



In short, if you like middle of the road music and you don't know the original versions of these songs, I bet you could quite like this album. But I don't...which means that any further such compilations will be easily ignored by me [Farnham is threatening to release more of these compilations].







*** Other Australian cds I've reviewed at this site:



Skyhooks: The collection



INXS: "Kick" and "Listen like thieves" and "Anthology"



Midnight Oil: "10,...,1" and "Diesel and dust" and others



The Saints: Know your product-the best of



Johnny O'Keefe: Birth of Australian rock'n'roll



Alex Lloyd: Amazing-The best of



Rogue Traders: Here comes the drums

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