- Moving Pictures (band)
-
Moving Pictures Origin Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Genres Pop rock Years active 1980 - 1987, 2005 Labels Wheatley, Epic Past members Alex Smith
Garry Frost
Andy Thompson
Charlie Cole
Ian Lees
Paul Freeland
Mark Meyer
Joey Amenta
Kevin BennettMoving Pictures was a rock music band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1980. They are best known for their hit single, "What About Me" and multi-platinum album Days of Innocence, both of which topped the charts in Australia.
Contents
Biography
The group was composed of singer/occasional guitarist Alex Smith, formerly of Bilgola Bop Band and This Side Up; guitarist/keyboardist Garry Frost (The Harps); saxophonist, Andy Thompson (Bilgola Bop Band), Charlie Cole on keyboards/trumpet; bass player, Ian Lees (This Side Up) and Paul Freeland on drums.[1][2]
The band's first performance was July 4, 1980 and they forged a strong reputation as a pub rock act with R&B influences, playing up to 250 shows a year.[3] Their early performances included a mix of original material and covering the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison.[3] In early 1981 Moving Pictures were signed to the Wheatley management team (run by former Masters Apprentices bassist Glenn Wheatley).[3] Their breakthrough on the charts came with "Bustin’ Loose" in October, 1981.[3] The band's live show was all about their rock leanings but, after signing to Wheatley, their debut album, Days of Innocence (released in October, 1981), featured strong ballads that belied that live rock act.[2] The album's biggest single "What About Me", which remained at number one for six weeks in early 1982[4] and won the 'Best Single' award at the 1982 Countdown Awards. It was the second biggest selling single in Australia for 1982 (behind Survivor’s "Eye of the Tiger"). It also reached #29 on the Billboard pop singles chart,[5] spending 26 weeks inside the Billboard Hot 100. "What About Me" managed to make Billboard's year-end Hot 100 list for 1983, at #88[6] - a rare feat for a single with such a low peak position. The song made an unusual comeback in 1989, peaking at #46.[5]
Moving Pictures were then signed to the Elektra distribution label in the America and just as the song started to chart there Elektra collapsed.[5] This was also on the eve of their planned U.S. tour to capitalise on their phenomenal success there. The tour included support slots with REO Speedwagon, Tom Petty and Hall & Oates as well as their own headlining shows.[3] In hindsight this was Moving Pictures only chance and it was shot.[2] Paul Freeland then left the group and was replaced by drummer Mark Meyer (ex-Stylus, Richard Clapton and Mark Gillespie).[1]
Their second album, Matinee, was released in October 1983, which reached number 16 in Australia.[4] The release captured more of the band's live show feel and rock leanings. Of the four singles lifted from the album only "Back To The Streets" was able to crack the Australian Top 40. The band toured Japan before internal frictions saw Garry Frost leave the group in 1984, with Joey Amenta a temporary replacement until Kevin Bennett joined the lineup.[1][5] The group continued to tour domestically and gained a strong, loyal following but it wasn't until 1987 that they released their next album, The Last Picture Show, based on their 'Live Picture Show' tour that took place earlier in May 1987, at the end of that year. Soon after the group disbanded.
Post Moving Pictures
- Alex Smith formed Alex Smith and the Volunteers, which was later known as Alex Smith and DBM, in 1989.[1] The line up included guitarist Ben Little, ex-Pink Slips and Scribble keyboardist Lee Borkman bassist Dave Carter and drummer Mark O'Shea. In 1991 Alex next fronted The Blues Liners and released a single with the group, "This Time Tomorrow", recorded at Alberts Studios.
- Garry Frost left Moving Pictures in 1984 feeling the group had lost direction. He holed himself up in his Mosman home with his wife and started concentrating on his writing and piano playing. He concentrated so much on his piano, in fact, that he developed tendonitis in his wrists. He went onto to form 1927 with Eric Weideman, whom he had seen performing on Hey Hey It's Saturday's 'Red Faces' talent/no talent segment.[1] Whilst with 1927, Garry also worked with Gyan co-writing her 1989 hit "Wait". "Wait" was the first single from Gyan's self titled ARIA award winning, platinum debut album, Gyan. Following the break-up of 1927, Frost is a co-partner in a Sydney post production studio, he continues writing, performing and producing. Some of Garry's most recent work has been with Sydney singer/songwriter Djamel[2] and vocalist Carlie Fairburn.
- Charlie Cole went onto work in Los Angeles then joined the 1927 line up in 1990.[1] Since then he has undertaken recording work in America with members of the Blues Brothers Band, recording in Nashville with Australia singer/songwriter James Blundell and doing session work for many individuals and bands including legendary Aussie singer/songwriter Ed Kuepper. Cole returned to Australia in 1999, and joining The Shuffle Kings in which he plays trumpet, recorder, keyboards and the piano accordion.[2]
- Andy Thompson took up session work during the demise of Moving Pictures, a notable contribution he made was a sax solo on Elton John's 1984 album Breaking Hearts, on the track "Li'l 'Frigerator". He worked with Australian Crawl in 1983 for their album Semantics after a year earlier joining Mark Gillespie following his return from Bangladesh. He also contributed to Jenny Morris' 1987 album Body And Soul.[2] He toured with Cold Chisel and played with Dire Straits on their very successful 'Brothers in Arms' tour.
- Ian Lees went onto to form the blues band Chasin' The Train with fellow former Moving Pictures member Kevin Bennett.[1] Lees then became a session bassist and has played with Mal Eastick and Lee Kernaghan. He has also played for The Wild Colonial Boys, Tommy Emmanuel, Tania Kernaghan, Mondo Rock, Phil Emmanuel, Gina Jeffreys, Matt Taylor, and Kevin Borich. In 1999 he started teaching at Canterbury College (Waterford).[2]
- Mark Meyer also joined Chasin' The Train with Lees and Bennett.[1] He has performed in Wendy Matthews touring band and together with Lees have both been long term rhythm section for James Blundell. Meyer and Lees have also worked with Australian guitarist/singer Lawrie Minson and Lee Kernaghan.[2]
Legacy
"What About Me" returned to the top of the Australian music charts in early 2004, as a virtually identical cover version by Australian Idol runner up Shannon Noll.
In 2000 BMG Australia released a remaster of Days of Innocence, titled Days Of Innocence - The Ultimate Collection, a collection of all the tracks from the entire Days of Innocence album (reproducing its original cover art), with the addition of almost a full album's worth of bonus tracks including a couple non-LP single sides and highlights from the Matinee album including "Never".[7]
In 2005 Moving Pictures reformed, although the only original members in this line-up were Alex Smith and Charlie Cole, who were joined by Dave Carter, for 26 acoustic performances throughout New South Wales and Queensland.[8]
Their song "Never" was used as part of the soundtrack for the 1984 film "Footloose" & 2007 film Hot Rod.[9]
Interestingly, in repeated interviews with the band, they have indicated that due to the bankruptcy of their US record company, and unfortunate timing of the release of the single "Never", Moving Pictures never received any royalties whatsoever for the song, for inclusion in the movie Footloose, or the subsequent highly-selling soundtrack.
Discography
Albums
- Days of Innocence - Wheatley (October, 1981) AUS #1 (1982 in America) US #101
- Matinée - Wheatley (October, 1983) AUS #16
- The Last Picture Show - Wheatley (1987) (feat: "What About Me" and an extended version of "Wings" from Days of Innocence)
- Days Of Innocence - The Ultimate Collection - BMG (March, 2000)
Singles
- "Bustin' Loose"/"Saturday Love" - Wheatley (October, 1981) AUS #43
- "What About Me"/"Round Again" - Wheatley (February, 1982) AUS #1; US #29 (though only peaking at #29, it spent 13 weeks in the Top 40 and 26 weeks on the Hot 100)
- "Winners"/"Pay the Piper" - Wheatley (1982) AUS #12
- "Sweet Cherie"/"Nothing to Do" - Wheatley (1982) AUS #51
- "Back to the Streets"/"Spies" - Wheatley (1983) AUS #37
- "Where they Belong"/"Pleasure and Pain" - Wheatley (1983) AUS #80
- "Back to the Blues and Booze"/"Sisters of Mercy" - Wheatley (1983) AUS #80
- "Never"/"We Share our Love" (Footloose Soundtrack) (1984)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Moving Pictures". Australian Rock Database. Magnus Holmgren. http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/m/movingpictures.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Where are they now?: Moving Pictures". Bmusic.com.au. 2004-02-21. http://www.bmusic.com.au/links/whatsnew/newsletters/archives/newsno107.html#where. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- ^ a b c d e "Moving Pictures lead to the sound of 1927". RetroUniverse. 2008-09-01. http://rqsretrouniverse.blogspot.com/2008/09/moving-pictures-lead-to-sound-of-1927.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
- ^ a b c d Swift, Brendan. "Moving Pictures > Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p469106/biography. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- ^ "The Top 100 Pop Singles of 1983". 80sxchange.com. Retrieved April 7, 2007.
- ^ "Days of Innocence - The Ultimate Collection". Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Days-Innocence-Collection-Moving-Pictures/dp/B000050AMF#moreAboutThisProduct. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- ^ Zuel, Bernard (2005-08-13). "What about them?". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/what-about-them/2005/08/12/1123353486362.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- ^ "Hot Rod - soundtrack". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787475/soundtrack. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
External links
- http://www.abc.net.au/nsw/stories/s1435206.htm (includes live interview with Alex Smith)
- http://www.debbiekruger.com/writer/aprap/songs2.html (info on Garry Frost, third article)
- http://15min.org/articles/2005/august/10/rock_3.html ("reunion")
Categories:- New South Wales musical groups
- Musical groups established in 1978
- Musical groups disestablished in 1987
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