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Born out of time (1996)
This is a compilation. So you can look at the band's line-up history.
Tracks list
- Circus of Sour (from Distemper, 1989)
- No next time (B-Side of "Born Out of Time", 1984)
- Sun God (B-Side of "Like A Curse", 1984)
- Coming apart (from Distemper, 1989)
- Born out of time (A-Side of a 7" Single, 1984)
- No way on earth (from Distemper, 1989)
- I Swear (from the "Dropping like flies" double 7", 1987)
- Love's underground (from Distemper, 1989)
- Burning of Rome (from Distemper, 1989)
- Like a curse (A-Side of a 7" Single, 1984)
- Afterburn (from Distemper, 1989)
- Another sin (from Distemper, 1989)
All tracks remastered by Rob Younger at EMI studios, Sydney.
Label references
- Citadel ???
- Lance Rock Records (Canada) LRR020
Jacket's liner notes by Rob
This compilation surveys the New Christs' output in its near-entirety.
The astute Ozrock collector will no doubt notice the
glaring absence of the initial '81 waxing, "Face A New God" b/w "Waiting World"; it was reissued in '91 on Pink Flamingo and is still
in circulation. Omitted for even more obvious reasons was the
recent Pedestal 10" EP: Lance Rock would like for you to go out
and purchase the damn thing!
Younger reports that the remastering process for this CD
has made the material sound "heaps better," and while the
sequencing jumps around a bit, timeline-wise, "the thread, really, for
me, as the singer and lyricist, is in the attitude. We haven't done it
chronologically, but I don't think that interferes with the flow of the
compilation. It's been made a bit more like a party record, actually.
When I took the cassette home and stuck it in the player and
cranked it up, I just really enjoyed listening to it. I was feeling guilty,
actually, for getting into it!"
Circus of Sour
"A lot of people had said they really dig that song, and we used to
get a lot of requests for it live. I liked the riff in it. It's got a pretty naff kind of chorus, but it's got a bit of punch to it. That immediacy is good for an opener, I guess."
No Next Time
"It was the first song I ever wrote any music to. I had a band going
called The Other Side. I said, shit, we gotta start writing songs,
we're just playing these obscure '60s American stuff! Then I
dragged it along to the first rehearsal of the New Christs when we
formed to support Iggy Pop. A lot of that shit -- 'Like A Curse,' 'Born
out Of Time,' 'No Way On Earth,' was written without a band, and
we started to play them on the Iggy Pop tour."
Sun God
"That was originally conceived as a kind of surf thing, a gentler
track, more in the 'Pipeline' vein. But we stomped it to death! Those
ghostly harmonies were to give it a bit of otherwordly feel. That solo
in there is just fucking wild, the one that Chris does. I really like it for
that solo."
Coming apart
"We keep playing this; it's one of the faster songs in our set... I only
had 7 or 8 originals before we went in to do Distemter ,
so I had to write, and I was just sitting around in the kitchen and I wanted
something fast -- I think I may have been listening to The Wipers a
bit, because it's got that same linear feel, a real pulse, no real stops
or shiR in it, just the same from start to finish. So it was written sort
of with that thing in mind; the words and music couldn't have taken
more than ten or 15 minutes, and I was really happy because I got
something in no time at all. That day I got 'Burning Of Rome' and
'There's No Time' and they turned out really well. When that
happened I really thought I was actually getting somewhere: 'Gee, I
can write a song now!' Which is not the case as soon as you start
thinking like that! You just disappear up your ass then!"
Born Out of Time
"There was no band and no prospects, not really doing anything,
just messing around at Clyde Bramley's place. On his bass, actually.
That Fleetwood Mac song, 'Tusk,' was on the radio, and I was just
playing along with the riff in it, I thought for that band at that period
- not, I should add, the early lineup that did some pretty cool things
like 'Green Manalishi' and 'Rattlesnake Shake'-- was the only
interesting piece of music they ever did, So I picked out this
bassline out of that then went home and pulled out an acoustic.
[The middle part that goes 'Shut up! Shut up! ] was from a live in the
studio guide track. Kent was waffling on with this guitar shit and I
didn't like itl The guys thought that was really good, but I said,
'That's not gonna fucking be in there!' I've warmed to it since,
though... It was kind of buried in the mix, and when we re-EQ'd it for
this compilation we brought it out more."
No Way on Earth
"It's pretty much a mutated 12-bar blues thing. Just a pile of noise,
really, but I like it okay. It was written for the Iggy Pop tour, and I just
remembered it for the album. That's a pretty live track, actually. I got
a bit drunk, and they'd already done the backing track and they just
said the guide track was shit, go in there and do one. So I just did
that one straight ofl the top. And they all seemed really happy with
it."
I Swear
"'l Swear' rocks out, yeah. The other tracks, 'Dead Girl,' I liked
Charlie's solo at the end. The song I thought was a bit corny,
though. 'Dropping Like Flies' wasn't bad. 'You'll Never Catch My
Wave' was okay too, but impossibly cornball lyrically. I just wanted
songs on [the compilation] that I could live with; I've made so many
records I just didn't like and I was tired of that. So that song poked
through. It's probably not even that great a recording of that song.
It's worked brilliantly live. We did it early on, the first session we did
with that drummer we had for awhile. I've come up with words since
then that have superceded the ones on there, and they work kind of
better now live. I'm always fucking with my words, ttying to force
the damn things to mean something, or sound cooler. Unfortunate
character weakness on my part I suppose."
Love's underground
"It's melodic for something I've done. That was just something
Charlie had some chords at a rehearsal, just frigging around and not
putting them forward as a song. And I said, that's good, play that, it
should have something here. We just talked about it for a minute, then we started playing it up. In 20 minutes we had the whole thing, music and words were all there... I like the phrase 'love's underground.' It conjures up a few things, and can be taken in diRerent ways, which is why the apostrophe is there. Sometimes you hide behind ambiguity because you can't write something focused; sometimes it serves you really well for other reasons. Most of the shit I've written is kind of hard to pin down, rather vague at times.
When I try and write something really pointed it doesn't work out, so just recognizing that limitation, I work and turn it into an advantage of some sort... Deniz, I was always in awe of him beGause he was knocking out these songs. He'd just be going, 'lt's a word salad, it doesn't mean anything!' Some things would, but usually it was just confined to one or two lines. The next two lines aren't related to that thing at all. And my stuff comes out like that, without much calculation either. The way you sing it, and the musical setting -- the context --can mean a lot even if it doesn't read too well on paper."
Burning of Rome
"A bit of a purgative in a way. There was a bad, violent situation I had with somebody, and I wanted to remind myself what an asshole one can be. It means a lot to me, and I really hate it when I've entrusted the set list to someone else and they leave it out... We'd got Louis [Tillet] in for the session. He pounded that one out pretty good. We tried to get him to join the band at one point but it seemed ridiculous that someone who sings as brilliantly as him was gonna just sit around in our band playing piano."
Like a Curse
"One of those songs for the original New Christs. It's never changed much from the day it was written. Just a Kinksy riff sped up a fraction, a sort of inverted 'All Day And All Of The Night' thing. Gave it a rockabilly kind of chorus but forgot to mix in these spooky background vocals we'd dreamed up on the spot. We were pretty high at this session -- I know I was! I rather like this one a lot. The guitars are really compact and clean, and Chris' middle-Eastern guitar solo is all-time, let's face it, it's true genius.
Afterburn
"Charlle had the riff. I think he always wanted to play It a bit slower, but the recorded version was fast. We were just jamming on it, really. I didn't have any words lined up, so the lyrics are a bit repetitive. I just remember this person at the time, there was a slight psychological condition at play. This person was fixated on me. I was feeling smothered by this person's proximity. Whenever I think about that song I think about that, so that's all that shit about 'don't mother me, don't try.' I just sang it off the top of my head."
Another Sin
"Nick's playing is really great. Those skipplng kinds of fiIls on the chorus and shit. Something about the tone and the way he plays it is really effective. I had to write some words in a hurry for this album, so the images are really jumbled up. But something about the words when I hear them, I go, 'Shit, that's good! That's the sort of thing I might recognize in someone else's and really appreciate it.' I really think 'Another Sin' rocks out to the last, a good final chord, and I think I even sing, 'That's all!' Seemed like a good tag for the compilation."
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