An all-star cast of musicians has been gathered to pay tribute to influential Australian band Hunters & Collectors.
The 15-track collection, titled Crucible – The Songs Of Hunters & Collectors features a who’s who of contemporary Australian music performing new renditions of Hunters & Collectors’ classic back catalogue, as well as a number of unique collaborations.
Paul Kelly teams up with Emma Donovan and Indigenous MC Jimblah to tackle ‘True Tears Of Joy’, while Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Neil Finn for ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ (a common cover for the pair in their own bands) and ‘This Morning’ pairs Matt Corby with Missy Higgins.
Something For Kate have recorded ‘The River Runs Dry’, The Rubens have paid tribute with ‘Holy Grail’, while the rest of the album features the likes of The Living End, Birds Of Tokyo, Alpine, Husky, Cloud Control, Husky, and more on the 15-track compilation.
Closing the album is an exclusive remix from mash-up maestros The Avalanches, offering the ‘Planets Collide Remix’ of Hunters & Collectors’ ‘Talking To A Stranger’. “I have to say, it is deeply rewarding for me as a writer to know [that] the songs of Hunters & Collectors have reached the cream of Australia’s talent.” – Mark Seymoure
It was this track that first spoiled Mushroom’s ‘mystery album’ reveal, when confusion over the Mushroom Group touting ‘new material’ from The Avalanches caused the band’s label, Modular, to issue a statement to confirm the long idle group were “100% still signed to Modular,” while noting that their contribution to the then-mystery album was “not new” but a remix – outing the Avalanches as part of the Mushroom Group’s tribute album.
Mark Seymour, who fronted Hunters & Collectors from their formation in Melbourne in 1981 through to their final days in 1998, noted his enthusiasm over the new tribute album. “I have to say, it is deeply rewarding for me as a writer to know that beyond the years and all the hard work that was done in the crucible of the Australian suburbs, the songs of Hunters & Collectors have reached the cream of Australia’s talent, great singers and bands young and older… who have stepped up to record the best of what we delivered in those pubs so many years ago,” he said. “I am honoured by the respect they have shown.”
A&R Executive John O’Donnell, who spent 18 months curating Crucible, said the process had “been an exhilarating journey of reinvention and rediscovery.”
“From the more obscure corners of the band’s catalogue such as ‘Alligator Engine’, ‘The Slab (Betty’s Worry)’, ‘Dog’ through to the classics like ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, ‘Holy Grail’ and ‘When the River Runs Dry’, established artists like Eddie Vedder & Neil Finn, Paul Kelly, The Living End and Something For Kate have paid respect while newer acts like The Rubens, Alpine, Matt Corby and Abbe May have gone digging for their own truths in these amazing songs,” says O’Donnell.
The compilation, which will bundle the 15 new reinterpretations along with the 15 original Hunters & Collectors recordings, will be released on Friday 27th September through Liberation Music. You can view the artwork and tracklisting below.
Tracklisting
1. Birds of Tokyo – Talking to a Stranger
2. Eddie Vedder & Neil Finn – Throw Your Arms Around Me
3. Matt Corby & Missy Higgins – This Morning
4. Oh Mercy – The Slab (Betty’s Worry)
5. Alpine – Hear No Evil
6. The Living End – Say Goodbye
7. Paul Kelly & Emma Donovan (featuring Jimblah) – True Tears of Joy
8. The Rubens – Holy Grail
9. Husky – Blind Eye
10. Something For Kate – When the River Runs Dry
11. The Panics – Alligator Engine
12. Abbe May – Dog
13. British India – Do You See What I See?
14. Cloud Control – Still Hanging ‘Round
15. The Avalanches – Stalking to a Stranger (Planets Collide Remix)
