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Rating: Great bunch of misfits, the contingent of kamikaze rock'n'roll that in the Eighties moved from Australia to conquer the world, considering that, despite the above-average talent expressed by bands such as Celibate Rifles, Died Pretty, Stems, and many others, none of them managed to consolidate their fame beyond their native borders.
In reality, those who really risked becoming rock stars were the Hoodoo Gurus, so much so that there was a moment - between «Blow Your Cool» and «Magnum Cum Louder», more or less - when they were being broadcast with decent frequency on Videomusic's video channels, Italy's counterpart to MTV, and on the audio channels of radio stations not necessarily specialized: raise your hand if you've never encountered damn catchy songs like «What's My Scene», «In The Middle Of The Land», «Come Anytime», «Another World», and especially «Generation Gap» (not to mention «Axegrinder»). In a perfect world, songs like these would have all been number ones on the Top Of The Pops chart; but despite Pangloss, this is not the best of all possible worlds, so we have to keep cultivating our own garden.
Not bad, anyway, for a group that, in an old flyer printed in an attempt to recruit a guitarist, cited among its main influences the Ventures, Troggs, New York Dolls, Ramones, Heartbreakers, Cramps, and Fleshtones.
And the beauty is that, despite almost touching Success (with a capital S), the Gurus did not yield to any compromise, maintaining their sound formula unchanged over the years, a mix of rockabilly, surf, garage, punk, and pop, which for simplicity's sake we could label as power-pop. Perhaps precisely for this reason, they didn't manage to take off definitively, but, in hindsight, I think it's better this way.
And probably Dave Faulkner (voice and guitar, innate melodic taste and soul of the band) thinks so too, since for some years now he has resurrected the glorious name, retracing the old paths made of killer melodies combined with guitar riffs, sometimes clanking, sometimes lilting, and powerful rhythms, maybe just with a touch less inspiration compared to the golden years; but knowing he's back in circulation still puts you in a good mood, like when you meet an old forgotten friend.
Dated 1984, «Stoneage Romeos» is the debut album by the Hoodoo Gurus, and in my opinion, the best of the lot, stringing together an impressive series of (future) classics: starting with «I Want You Back», which deludes us into thinking the times of Flamin' Groovies, Real Kids, Nerves, Beat, Plimsouls and company are back, a sensation reaffirmed even more strongly shortly thereafter in «Tojo»; then moving on to the Cramps-like tribalism of «Leilani» (a song dating back to when the band was still called Le Hoodoo Gurus), «Dig It Up», and «In The Echo Chamber»; encountering the whimsical and delicate pop of «My Girl» (a love song dedicated to a little dog), the equally whimsical but tougher, almost Rolling Stones-like, «I Was A Kamikaze Pilot» and the one tinged with psychedelia «Zanzibar»; up to the culmination of amphetamine-laden surf-punk-a-billy numbers like «(Let's All) Turn On», with a bass riff you should memorize, and «Death Ship», with a Radio Birdman style softened by a chorus many would kill for.
And almost without realizing it, I've practically mentioned them all, the songs from «Stoneage Romeos» (the excellent «Arthur» was left out, so here it is here), but it was really worth it.
Just as it's absolutely worth taking home at least the first four albums of the Gurus, starting with «Stoneage Romeos» and up to «Magnum Cum Louder», not omitting «Mars Needs Guitars» and «Blow Your Cool»; or at least remedy with a valuable anthology, such as «Electric Soup».
PS: I highly recommend the 2005 CD reissue of «Stoneage Romeos», including that authentic, devastating garage-punk masterpiece known as «Be My Guru», one of the very rare tracks from the Eighties capable of rivaling, in fury and wildness, the early productions of the Lime Spiders.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 I Want You Back (03:12)
I can still recall the time
She said she was always mine
Then she left ( as people do ),
And forgets what we've been through
(Does this sound familiar to you ?)
It's not that she's gone away
It's the things I hear she has got to say
About me - and about my friends
When we've got no defence.
That's her: I'll never believe her again.
She might have deceived all my friends
I know they will see in the end
What it all means when she says (yeah!)
I want you back (She says)
But what's worse: she thinks it's true
But that's just her (she always was a little bit confused!)
She's not worth the time I had to lose
02 Tojo (03:22)
Tracy, Tracy was angry
A bad mood, a bad mood
I told her that it's an ill wind
Blows no good, blows no good
Then she told me
Tojo never made it
Tojo never made it to Darwin
Tojo never made it
Tojo never made it to Drwin
I said, Tracy, won't you listen, this is Christmas
Don't you go, don't you go
She said, David, believe me, I wouldn't miss this for the world
I've got to blow, I've got to blow
She said again
Tojo never made it
Tojo never made it to Darwin
Tojo never made it
Tojo never made it to Darwin
Now she's gone, gone, gone
Just like the wind
I just sigh, I just sigh
But I'm dreaming that I'm gleaming
In her eye, in her eye
But I'll always hear
Tojo never made it
Tojo never made it to Darwin
Tojo never made it
Tojo never made it to Darwin
Tojo never made it to Darwin
She said never made it to Darwin
Never made it to Darwin
That year, Santa never came
03 Leilani (05:36)
Somewhere on a South Pacific island
Sits a young man staring at the surf
His native girlfriend died a death quite violent
A tribal sacrifice made to the Earth
She was brown, her hair was black, her eyes were blue
A chief's daughter, Leilani was her name
She and her young man made a handsome two
But lava tore them both apart again.
He'd say, Leilani, don't go to the volcano
He'd say, please don't go to the volcano
They were saving for a little hut
He collected sea shells every day
Every night they'd share a cigarette
But the ancient, angry gods got in the way
He'd say, Leilani, don't go to the volcano
He would plead, please don't go, I'll miss you so
Katoomba hey! Macumbah ho! Umgawah!
Katoomba hey! Macumbah ho! Umgawah!
Katoomba hey! Macumbah ho! Umgawah!
Hey! Ho! Hey-eh!
Hey! Ho! Hey-eh! Ah
Leilani crula-bula-ulladulla-wok-a-tai
Aba-laba-laba Hut! Aba-laba-laba Hut!
Leilani nevageta-huta-tera-cota-tile
Aba-laba-laba Hut! Aba-laba-laba Hut!
Umgawah!!!
Hey! Ho! Hey-eh!
Hey! Ho! Hey-eh!
Hey! Ho! Hey-eh!
Ah Ah
Still the young man sits there on the beach
He's staring misty-eyed out into space
He's thinking about his girlfriend, of late deceased
At least her death had purpose, his life is a waste
Hey, his life is a waste
Please don't go, I love you, I love you, I love you so
05 Dig It Up (03:35)
My girlfriend lives in the ground.
My friends ask why she's not around,
She won't come home.
I'm so alone (you'll never know!).
You can't bury love,
You've gotta dig it up.
Yeah, you've gotta live it up.
I take her flowers each day.
I place them over her grave.
I want her back
Because I look so bad, so bad in black
(Like a maniac)
You can't bury love,
You've gotta dig it up,
Yeah, you've gotta live it up.
Please, darling, come home to me.
Well, I'll make you so happy, you will see!
I'll paint your room
In pink and blue
(I'll even choose the colour scheme for you!).
You can't take away my love
I'll never give it up!
Yeah, I'm gonna dig it up.
(Don't!)
(Don't! I Don't want to know!)
My girlfriend lives in the ground.
My friends, you ask me why she's six feet down,
I can't tell you why Œcos if I even try
I'd fall down flat on my face
And I'd cry, "you can't take away my love"
I'm gonna dig it up!
I'm gonna live it up, yeah,
I'm gonna dig it up, dig it up.
I'm never gonna stop
With that loving cup.
Gotta fill it up.
07 Death Ship (02:37)
I am the captain of a ghostly crew,
Sail the seven seas with nothing to do.
The girl that I thought was untrue
Really loved me.Boo,hoo,hoo.
Near hidden reefs we appear in the gloom
Luring mariners to their doom.
As we`re condemned,we condemn others too.
Who would love me? who? would you?
I`m asking you.
I`m on the Death Ship,
I sail the seas alone.
Death Ship - I can call no port home.
Lost souls cry to Hell in the wind
Let us in,Let us in!
I`m on the Death Ship,
I sail the seas alone.
Death Ship - I can call no port home.
Lost souls cry to Hell in the wind
Let us in,Let us in,Let us in!
I need somebody who will die for me
To free me of this misery.
I need someone who will cry for me
Really Love me.Really.
09 Zanzibar (03:25)
Did we ever meet in Zanzibar,
Two Caucasians at the town bazaar?
Are you who you say you are?
Did you offer me a Dutch cigar?
You must have thought you were so bourgeois.
Are you who you say your are?
After all these years,you haven`t changed at all
But I can`t say you look the same.
Summer days are hot in zanzibar
And at night the sky is filled with stars.
Listen.You can hear guitars.
Native people,skins as black as tar,
Wear bright-coloured robes in Zanzibar.
They`ve never even heard of ska!
On a tour of limestone caves
Did we see where traders kept their slaves?
Was that how we spent the day?
After all these years,you haven`t changed at all
But I can`t say you look the same.
I have never been to Zanzibar
I have always thought it was too far
You`re not who you say you are.
10 I Was a Kamikaze Pilot (03:10)
I was a,was a kamikaze pilot
They gave me a plane - I couldn`t fly it home.
Taught how to take off,I don`t know how to land.
They say it doesn`t matter and I just cannot understand.
I was a kamikaze pilot,
They gave me a plane - I couldn`t fly it home.
Left my happy homeland in a Zero,
I got engine trouble so I couldn`t be a hero
(Do you think I care?).
Now I`ll keep my two feet on the ground
`Cos when you`re in the clouds
Everybody tries to shoot you down
I was a kamikaze pilot,
They gave me a plane - I couldn`t fly it home
On an island there ain`t too much to do
Look after number one `cos I think I can see
Lee Marvin chasin`after you.
I was a kamikaze pilot
They gave me a plane - I couldn`t fly it home.
Cherry blossoms falling down.
11 My Girl (02:39)
Once a girl took my love until I couldn't give anymore,
Then I tried to pretend not to see what I couldn't ignore.
My girl don't love me at all
Anymore.
I took her to the dance and then I didn't see her all night.
Then a friend said he saw her with some other boy just outside.
When I went out she was alone.
She said, "I would like to go home"
I asked her, "Who were you with?"
She said, "No-one."
I could tell that she lied
(And a voice said inside)
My girl don't love me at all
Anymore.
Not at all.
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