Since the Beatles showed up with a built-in songwriting team, bands have always had those members who practised the mysterious art of creating and arranging compositions rather than relying on outside professionals to do that for them. Of course, even those great songsmiths liked to take a break and release an album of music that inspired them to pick up the quill and ink in the first place – Bowie's “Pinups”, Patti Smith's “12”, John Lennon's “Rock n Roll” (maybe more for contractual obligations, but still...)
Now we can add Australian songwriter John Kennedy's “Raining Treasure” to that mix.
Welcome to episode 158 of Love That Album.
John's been making great records since the 1980s with his bands like John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong and JFK and the Cuban Crisis. His music has always had an Americana flavour to it, and he writes wonderful tales of life in Sydney. His 2017 album JFK and the Midlife Crisis was a concept album about a middle aged musician recalling his times younger days in Sydney working in the indie music scene and where he now sees himself.
In 2019, this led to the idea of recording an album of covers from fellow travellers in Australian independent music of the 70s and 80s, “Raining Treasure – Australian Indie Gold Covers Vol.1”.In 2022, John and his band The '68 Comeback Special have released a second volume, “Raining Treasure – More Australian Indie Gold Covers Vol.2” with their interpretations of songs from The Scientists, Weddings Parties Anything, Radio Birdman, and (in an extension of the definition of “independent”) The Angels (aka Angel City in the US). These are not carbon copies of their originals – the gents put deep thought into the arrangements of these songs, and the results in some cases show a greater musical alignment with the lyrics.
I met up with John Kennedy and Peter Timmerman from the band to discuss these great albums. Tales are also told of the oppressiveness of Queensland under the Bjelke-Petersen government, John's “Sex Pistols” moment meeting the Go Betweens, and whether it's appropriate for an audience to chant during a cover of THAT Angels song. If you're a fan of Kennedy, you won't want to miss this. If you're unfamiliar with his work, you're in for a treat.
You can stream the Raining Treasure albums from the usual places OR get a physical copies of the CDs from https://www.thegroovemerchants.com/Product/106392?fbclid=IwAR0x6jxrn6V3nds5OV4EcVGER_pkmkSQrG6KqBUplMqxLWP4JKDY2-wREP4
If you want to do a compare and contrast with the originals, I've created a YouTube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUPF49t_p_U&list=PLvosm3nd-62VG0NoFR3x8jhoMgPBkcm51
Download this episode of LTA from your podcast app of choice. The wider back catalogue of episodes can also be found at http://lovethatalbumpodcast.blogspot.com
Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
You can send me feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum
If you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
Proudly Pantheon.
You can download episode 158 from here.
