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The first problem faced by anyone writing their first review, like me, is that the most beautiful and best-known albums (the two categories often do not coincide) have already been reviewed, and quite well too (personal tastes aside), by others.
To give meaning to my participation in this "idea" of free reviews, represented by DeBaser, I decided to focus on albums unknown to most, which you can find online (my reference site is Amazon, but there are many others) practically as a gift, and which you can add to your online orders with the certainty of receiving almost for free a work that is certainly worth listening to.
Boom Crash Opera was formed in 1985 in Melbourne, Australia, and they are among the main exponents of the typical Australian sound that achieved good worldwide success in the '90s (see Hoodoo Gurus above all). Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan (guitar and bass) are the authors of all the songs. The frontman singer is called Dale Ryder, and he is worth listening to because he has a broad and pleasant voice. The group is completed by Peter Maslen and Greg O'Connor. In 1992, Ian Tillen will replace Richard Pleasance, who embarked on a successful solo career in Australia, which would later make him one of the most appreciated authors of TV themes in the following decade. The departure of Pleasance will obviously mark the end of the band's most fresh and creative period.
Seven albums were released between 1987 and 1997, which isn't few (in my opinion, almost all bands should break up after the fourth album). The most successful album and the only one easily traceable (apart from Greatest Hits) is the second from 1990, "These are Crazy Times", which in Australia, driven by the extraordinary success of the single "Onion Skin" (opening track), stayed in the Top Ten for many weeks.
The first element that stands out is the musicians' chemistry and the well-blended sounds, you can tell the band has five years of concerts behind them. The album opens excellently with three very good tracks in a row, but at least seven out of the ten tracks in the album are examples of excellent guitar rock, and three fillers are calmly permissible (but were the barely 40-minute LPs better, or the 60-minute CDs with at least half an album to throw away?). Besides the already mentioned "Onion Skin", I recommend "Dancing In The Storm" (the video is also circulating on YouTube, maybe watch it so you get your own idea), a ballad that somewhat reminds of the early Big Country.
In short, don't expect anything extraordinarily new, but I guarantee this is a very pleasant album, and, within the Australian rock scene, also "historic" because it contributed to affirming a style that would later have many followers even in the States. Boom Crash Opera is a classic live-band that outside their national borders achieved less success than they deserved.
On Amazon, you find it at $1.38, just over 1 euro... enjoy listening.
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