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Pseudo Echo's first album Autumnal Park was an Ultravox-influenced album that yielded the Australian singles "Listening" (produced by Peter Dawkins), "Stranger in Me", "Dancing Till Midnight", and "A Beat for You".
Their climb to success in the summer of 1984 was rapid, and they quickly became the second biggest band in Australia after INXS.
"His Eyes", a track from their first album, received exposure overseas as it was used in the movie Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.
There was a lineup change before their second album with Tony Lugton being replaced by James Leigh (real surname: Dingli) after a dispute between Lugton and Canham over money, and another lineup change during the making of the second album with Argiro being replaced by James's brother Vince.
Lugton went on to join synth rock band Talk That Walk.
Brian Canham joined as guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on Fairy penguins, which peaked at #10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.Their second album, Love an Adventure (1986), was also a success with several singles from that album topping the Australian charts including the title track, "Don't Go", "Try", and "Living in a Dream".
The album was re-released the following year to include their remake of the Lipps, Inc. song "Funkytown", which brought the group their biggest international success, reaching No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA and No. 8 in the UK in July, 1987, as well as spending seven weeks at #1 in Australia from December 1986.
The overseas release of Love an Adventure featured a somewhat different track listing which included re-mixed versions of 3 singles from Autumnal Park: "Listening", "A Beat for You", and "Destination Unknown".
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| Pseudo Echo 1985 |
Once again, the overseas version of Love an Adventure was re-released to include the re-make of "Funkytown", replacing "Don't Go" in the original track list.
In 1987, the band re-released "Listening" for the movie North Shore starring Nia Peeples.
Their third album, Race (1989), went further in the direction of pop rock and metal.
The album featured the Australian singles "Fooled Again", "Over Tomorrow", "Eye of the Storm", and "Don't You Forget".
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The album stopped at #32 on the ARIA chart and it seemed that the band's move to a more rock/metal genre had alienated a good portion of their established fanbase.Pseudo Echo disbanded shortly after touring for Race in 1990.
The band reunited in 1999 to produce the EP Funkytown Y2K: RMX, which included 6 new remixes of "Funkytown".
A year later, they released the double-CD Teleporter (2000), which featured 4 all-new tracks, 5 re-mixed tracks, and a live performance in Melbourne.
The live performance featured all the tracks from Autumnal Park except for "From the Shore", along with a few tracks from Love an Adventure and a performance of the rare B-side "In Their Time".
Since reuniting in 1999, the band has been touring constantly in Australia, and were previously seen touring with the "Idols of the 80s" in 2005.
In April 2010 they played two sold out shows in Adelaide, South Australia, and they continue to tour nationwide, as indicated in the review listed below [extract from wikipedia]
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PSEUDO ECHO, ECHO, ECHO
[Interview by Matilda Heggie. Pearl Magazine Issue #31, Sept 2014]
Looking back in to Australia's musical past, we may not have produced the number of super stars as the US or the UK, but we certainly have our own trailblazers.
Bands like Pseudo Echo, who looked at popular pub rock scene and challenged it with synths, a crimping iron and a makeup brush. So, was the prospect of wielding a keytar in front of rock-loving pub crowds ever daunting for the lads?
"There were definitely moments where we had to have integrity and stand our ground" reflects front-man Brian Canham. "catching our big break meant Pseudo Echo was the opening act for many big pub rock bands of the time. These bands had a brawny, real 'aussie type' crowd. So we'd come out with our makeup on, done-up hair and outlandish clothing and it would be quite full on because we'd have these guys eye-balling us thinking 'what's going on?"
.Lucky for Pseudo Echo, the opportunity to dance with a dame seemed enough to break down barriers and have even the surliest of men busting a move or two at their live shows.
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"The girls would get into it and start dancing and by the end of it everyone would be dancing," laughs Canham. "It always ended happy and I think it became a lure for guys to go to a Pseudo Echo gig really."
Pseudo Echo's biggest break came about after Molly Meldrum saw the new wave youths play live in Melbourne and invited them to appear on Countdown.
"Meeting Molly was incredible. We'd actually met him a few years prior to even having a band and later down the track when he came to see Pseudo Echo he remembered us as the guys that he'd met. He was surprised because I was a sort of shy introverted kid, yet as a young band we were quite professional. So he kind of took us under his wing and did what he could to help us on our way."
And on their merry way they went, with the band finding a ready-made audience among teenagers who fawned on their every move. Canham explains the 80s as a bit of a golden-era for musicians, suggesting that many bands found "exposure and success that they might not have enjoyed in another era.
"The 80s was very open-minded. It was all about the big pop stars, the sensationalism of it all. You're on the screen, in magazines, newspapers etc.. .the 90s saw the end of it though as it brought about the anti-hero."
The latter part of the 90s also saw a major stylistic shift in Pseudo Echo's sound, which can be partly attributed to a change in band members. The line-up has changed a few times over the years, yet Brian Canham has always been at the fore. Now with what he deems as the ultimate Pseudo Echo formation, Canham has penned and produced the band's first album In 15 years.
'Ultraviolet' was released in April this year, thanks to a successful Pledge Music crowd funding campaign. Both the success of the campaign and the album's reception-has been a testament to the band's dedicated fab base. "A lot of fans have said that we've stayed true to the Autumnal Park stuff with our sound and I think we have done that without being stagnant.Touring the album for the past few months has brought both die-hard fans and new fans out of the woodwork, with Canham describing his audience as basically every band's dream.
"We connect with our audience on such a level that when we release something they nearly always like it. If I put my heart and soul into it, and am not swayed - like we were sometimes in the past by record companies or management - that seems to be the right formula. When you have that kind of relationship with your audience the pressure doesn't come from them, it comes from yourself. So I need to ask, is this really me? Is this really the best I can do this song or album? That's why it took me so long to release this album to be honest"
Pseudo Echo will be playing all their old hits and a mix of tracks from Ultraviolet when they take the stage at the Chelsea Heights Hotel (Melbourne) on Friday October 3, 2014. For more information about Pseudo Echo, their latest release and up and coming gigs, see their Facebook page
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I first saw Pseudo Echo in the early 80's at 'Kramers' in Preston, when they were the support act for The Little Heroes, and was where I met my beautiful wife !
This recording (MP3/320kps) is really a great representation of the band in its heyday. I'm positive that fans of the Pseudo's will love this....the recording actually predates their release of Funky Town.
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Track listing
01 Intro-Stranger In Me
02 I Ask You Why03 Lies Are Nothing
04 Tell Me
05 Try
06 I Will Be You
07 Girl
08 Lonely Without You
09 Listening
10 Don't Go
11 Living In A Dream
12 A Beat For You
13 Love An Adventure
14 Destination Unknown
15 Funky Town
16 Let's Get Together
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Band Members:
Brian Canham (Lead Vocals, Guitar)
Pierre Gigliotti (Bass, Vocals)
Vince Leigh (Drums, Vocals)
James Leigh (Keyboards, Vocals)
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Pseudo Echo Link (157Mb)
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Great recording. Another great Aussie band that didn't get the success they deserved.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this. Great band. Loved them, still do. Wasn't happy about their change in direction with album 3. Perhaps an album too early with the arrival of grunge. Shame. Very talented.
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