Thunder From Down Under

For whatever reason Icehouse never enjoyed the worldwide success that fellow Aussies INXS enjoyed which is a shame because Icehouse were and still are a kick arse band! I discovered Iva Davies and company in 1982 when  "Hey Little Girl" became a top 20 hit in England,quite how previous singles "Can't Help Myself""We Can Get Together"Walls""Icehouse""Love In Motion" and "Great Southern Land" had failed to chart was and still is beyond me,interestingly "Icehouse" was a minor hit here in the US reaching #28 in the Billboard 100 and remains one of my all time favourite songs,written about a half way house for psychiatric and drug rehab patients which  Iva had lived  opposite,the subsequent video was directed by Russell Mulcahy who would go onto direct the classic "Wild Boys" video for Duran Duran and several other other their hits,he also directed the classic Ultravox "Vienna" video.{watch this space for a blog entry on Russell Mulcahy directed videos!!}

I was lucky enough to catch Icehouse live,they played The Lyceum in either 82 or 83 I can still remember Iva Davies placing a lit cigarette in the neck of his guitar b4 introducing the song "Icehouse" as "a song about vanity and bow ties" I had no idea what that meant then and still don't now but it's amazing that of all the ad libs singers have utter in over thirty years of concert going that one still resonates w/ me!

It would e another five years b4 Icehouse had UK success w/ "Crazy" but here in the US "No Promises" had been a hit in 85 and "Cross The Border" a year later,meanwhile  both "Crazy" and "Electric Blue"went top 10 in 87 but ths would prove to be the final hurrah for them in America and while "My Obsession" would get to #5 in the Australian charts this too marked the end of mainstream chart success although "Touch The Fire" reached #13 in 89 and "Miss Divine" reached #16 a year later.

An album of remixes "Code Blue" 93 an album of covers "Berlin Tapes"Icehouse in the public eye at least,"Berlin" contained the Bowie classic "Heroes" that I had first heard in 83 as a bside to the single "Uniform" and if memory serves helped Icehouse land some opening dates on the european leg of Bowie's "Serious Moonlight" tour.
Iva's solo cd 1999's "The Ghost Of Time" saw the title track wind up on the soundtrack of the Russell Crowe's "Master And Commander" film score in 03 while Icehouse were inducted into the ARIA{Australian Recording Industry Association} Hall Of Fame in 06 two years later Davies would be a guest on the Seven Network tv show"Battle Of The Choirs" and Icehouse performed "Great Southern Land" on the finale and a year later performed at famed Sydney cricket ground as part of the Sound Relief benefit concert for the victims of the Victorian Bushfire Crisis.

In 2011 to mark the bands 30th anniversary{although technically b4 Icehouse in 81 they were called Flowers in 77 through 81}they released "White Heat 30 Hits" which I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone looking to discover Icehouse,I'd also suggest splurging a little extra for the 3 disc version which contains a dvd of their singles but beware unless you have an all region dvd player it won't play,unless you want to watch it on your pc,personally my pc monitor is only 17' and my tv is 46' so I bought an all region dvd player!!
While the 30th anniversary lead to some live shows in their native Australia as yet no word on a US tour....we can only hope I guess!