How fucking wonderful was Sydney, Australia's Buffalo? Their utterly ruling proto-metal-throw-down dude rock, their ham-fisted, hairy-chested macho delivery, their unabashed misogyny all make for rock rulingness, but Buffalo pushed it so far that they bordered on cartoonish. "Buffalo Only Want You For Your Body" was the band's third album. After experiments in psych (Dead Forever) and more jammy, blues-based hard rocking (Volcanic Rock), it was on this album that Buffalo found their forte in muscle-bound biker rock and roll. Sadly, this would be Buffalo's last album of any merit, even though the band continued on in some form or another for many years after. So here's the deal, in 1974 Buffalo was one of the best, most potent group of pussy hungry rockers on earth and this is evidenced in "Buffalo Only Want You For Your Body." The album opens with "I'm a skirt lifter, not a shirt raiser," as if right off the bat Dave Tice wants you to know that he digs the hole, NOT the pole, so if you were planning on trying anything, think twice, mate. And it only gets better from there. Again I urge you to not take my word for it, let Buffalo tell you how it is.http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CWX3N9ER
more o this shhit pls.
ReplyDeletemelynda
i totally would have thought these dudes were gay if not for the "skirt raiser not shirt lifter song" thanks fro the awesome albums dude!
ReplyDeleteHiya Aesop,
ReplyDeleteJust came across this little gem & as someone from Sydney, Oz I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry... and I haven't listened to it yet. I've long held the view that very little of value came out of the Australian music scene in the early/mid 70's and your review has done nothing to dispel this. Your description of the lyrics got me to thinking of... well 2 things actually... the 1st is.... is this the first in the long line of Mentors/Spinal Tap type mysoginist piss-take type stuff? (Never been able to work out how serious Mentors were by the way.) Can you think of anything earlier? The 2nd and more obscure reference is a brilliant little movie called The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. A 1972 production by director Bruce Berisford and starring a virtual who's who of black comedy from Aus & England at the time including Barry Humphries, Spike Milligan & Peter Cook. It's full of homophobic references, etc that shows all Aussies as being poofter-bashing, drink till you drop yobbos and all English as being cross-dressing nancy boys (not that far from the truth when you think about it). 2 years before the Buffalo album. I'm sure you can see where this is heading... is this Buffalo lp an elaborate act or are they really as fucking stupid as you imply? Well after further investigation, it turns out that Buffalo contained none other that Pete Wells of Rose Tattoo fame. A group of what was called sharpies here - heavily tattood (& this was early 70's remember) bikers and other perveyors of the mullet haircut. Shortly after Wells quit Buffalo they broke up. Hmmm
seAoxen, I hear your concerns, but am a bit confused. Are you concerned that bands like Buffalo perpetuate a myth that Australians are misogynists? Stay tuned for my post on the band GASH, the radically feminist punk band from Melbourne that told it like it is and very effectively and intelligently addressed the exact issues that concern you. Rock is menat to be fun, and at the time of Buffalo, there was alot of sexism, not just from Australia but everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAesop, if I'm coming over a bit prim, must be my English blood... I'm not concerned, but I'm sure you'll agree - there's fun & then there's just plain stupid. Now not having actually listened to the record in question yet, I'm not passing judgement & its really not something keeping me awake at night - I'm just fucking around. I don't care what the Aussie stereotype is, to be honest. Have heard GASH although I don't think I ever saw them play but I know they were label/mates with the likes of Depression. Speaking of Melbourne - ever heard of a band called Beanflipper? An excellent band from the mid/late 90's & one of my all-time favs. Band I was in at the time played with them in Sydney & Melbourne a few times and based on what you post here I think you'd like them. Mike from AGNS played one song on his all-Aus show. I'll stick something on Rapidshare for you if you interested. I'm a big Beanflipper fan. Interestingly (to me at least)I always thought the name was a reference to veganism or something (they were kinda crusty) but I found a reference in a slang dictionary the other day & its a term used for girls who masturbate alot.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you seem to have something interesting to say (an opinion at least) about your posts & it prompts me to try my hand at attempting to writing something interesting back. I had a laugh at your last note & it wasn't the response I was expecting but then I guess I really didn't have any expectations.
thanks for the post. I've heard Volcanic Rock, but not yet this one
ReplyDeleteAwsome. It begs the question "to tame a land" or "dune messiah"? Or are there any other Dune metal songs out there? Too bad Frank Herbert hated rock.
ReplyDeleteThe band SubArachnoid Space had a limited EP based on Dune.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah. I've seen Subarchnoid live, but never delved into their recorded material. I'll have to check that out.
ReplyDeleteLinks dead.....
ReplyDelete