Goodbye Tiger …. Timeless classic.
Richard Clapton: Palms/Crown Casino/Melbourne 18/10/2009
1977 seems a long time ago. Thinking about the music of the period, most people come up with ‘Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ or even ‘Never Mind The Bollocks its the Sex Pistols’. It was an era of mixed tastes, some of which have not stood the test of time.
GoodBye Tiger
Here in Australia, Richard Clapton released his fourth album, ‘GoodBye Tiger’ which was immediately embraced as his best so far. It also was one of the few albums to define Australian music and culture at the time. Despite a fair proportion of the album having apparently been written whilst in Europe during winter, Clapton portrayed typical images of Australian summer romances at the beach particularly in songs like “Deep Water” and “Lucky Country”.
It’s now 2009 and for the first time Richard Clapton has decided to play live the entire “GoodBye Tiger” album at special shows in Sydney and Melbourne.
I haven’t seen Richard Clapton live since the 1980s and I was very keen to relive the satisfaction and enjoyment which I remembered fondly. Just like the album, Richard has endured the test of time. The long black locks, black t-shirt and jeans, the nervous but enduring smile are all familiar. So too is the music.
Hitting the stage with “Lucky Country” and following the album’s track listing, Clapton manages to move easily between the slower songs like the title ‘Goodbye Tiger’; the sing along anthem, “Deep Water”, the rarely played hard hitting, “Back on The Edge Again”, before slowing down for the two final tracks, ‘Hiding From The Light’ and ‘Amsterdam’.
After a brief intermission we were treated to the rest of the Richard Clapton experience including all the hits from his vast array of albums. Highlights were ‘Blue Bay Blues’, ‘Stepping Across the Line’, ‘Capricorn Dancer’, ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’ and the finale piece de resistances ‘Girls On The Avenue’ and “I am an Island’. An unexpected final encore of the Stones’ ‘Dead Flowers’ and I’ve walked away a very happy man.
Richard Clapton is not “back”, he’s never been away.
Australia’s timeless classic album, without a doubt: ‘Goodbye Tiger’.