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Reviews The Andrew Durant Memorial Concert DVD Wednesday, May 21, 2008
VAROUS ARTISTS
THE ANDEW DURANT MEMORIAL CONCERT
LIBERATION
Guitarist/songwriter Andrew Durant was born in Adelaide in October 1956 and, after being in several other bands, formed Stars in 1975 with Mal Eastick, Glyn Dowding, Graham Thompson and Mick Pealing. It was a fertile time for Australian music with dozens of bands, including cold Chisel, in the formative stages of their careers.
The punk revolution of 1976 only fuelled this explosion of talent but Stars were closer to the mainstream in their sound than many of the other bands that sprang up at the time. Durant became the prominent songwriter and his work was heavy on melody and reflective lyrics. Though it is 28 years on, the music here has not dated nearly as much as one would have thought – a tribute to Durant’s writing.
After getting a record deal the band moved to Melbourne and released their debut album, Paradise, in 1978. They supported Joe Cocker on his 1977 tour and less than a year later their first album went on to reach No. 11 on the national charts, producing four Top Forty singles, including their biggest hit ‘Look After Yourself/ ‘Red Neck Boogie.’ Support slots on tours by The Beach Boys and Linda Rondstadt continued to help the band’s profile but a second album, Land Of Fortune, in 1979, was had disappointing sales.
At the same time, Durant was diagnosed with bone cancer and, coupled with a gruelling touring schedule, the band members decided to split up. Their final show was on November 5, 1979 and resulted in a live album, 1157 (titled after the number of gigs they had played). Ironically, the band broke up just prior to the start of commercial FM radio. It would have been interesting to see how they might have fared had they been able to stick around a couple of years longer. But that was not to be.
On May 6, 1980, Andrew Durant passed away, aged just 25. A few months later, Mal Eastick organised a tribute concert that was held at on August 19, 1980, at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre. The evening featured the remaining ex-members of Stars, along with guest singers such as Jimmy Barnes, Renee Geyer, Broderick Smith, Richard Clapton and Ian Moss plus musicians Don Walker, Kerryn Tolhurst, Rick Formosa, Glyn Mason and Mick O'Connor and more.
The concert featured Durant's songs and only one cover version, Dylan's ‘Knockin' on Heaven's Door.’ The album reached Number 8 on the charts and proceeds were donated to the Andrew Durant Cancer Research Foundation.
While Stars are now a distant memory on the Australian rock scene for most people the re-release of this concert on DVD highlights a number of things. First, is the strength of Durant’s song writing and the fact that, had he lived, he might have gone on to carve himself a niche in Australia’s Pantheon of great writers.
Of course, some of the music in this concert has become dated given the passage of time but there are enough great songs, including ‘Mighty Rock’ and ‘The Last Of The Riverboats’ to indicate more great things would have come, if not from Stars then from Durant himself.
The other thing that strikes you on seeing this near three-decade old film is that most of the musicians on show are still playing and recording. The talent on the evening was enormous and, I guess, talent will always triumph. In Jimmy Barnes, at the height of his success with Cold Chisel at the time of the concert, we till have one of the nation’s most successful recording and touring artists.
One of the surprises, in retrospect, is the fact that Mick Pealing has not been more successful in his solo career. Apart from his work with The Ideals and, later The Spaniards, Pealing has been much more low-key than this performance would seem to indicate. Here he shares the stage with some of Australia’s great names and holds his own forcefully – not an easy thing to do in the presence of Jimmy Barnes and Renee Geyer!
As one might imagine, the technology available back in 1980 to film such concerts was not as good as it is now and the transfer from video cannot do much about that. This is no Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, nor did it ever pretend to be. The sound, however, has been digitally remastered and is superb. There are also interviews with Mal Eastick, Mick Pealing and Sarah Morgan (who ran the fan club).
A second DVD is included and this chronicles one of Stars gigs at Bombay Rock, one of the pre-eminent rock venues in the late 70s and 80s. It is grainy and shot with one camera but is a fitting souvenir to the band as they plough through originals and a nice cover of JJ Cale’s ‘Cocaine.’
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