True
Believers
By John Schumann
Columbia
Reviewed by John Williams
When
Phil Ochs released his 1964 album All the News Fit to Sing, he
continued a folk tradition of being the chronicler of popular concerns and
struggle.
So
too the groundbreaking If You Don't Fight You Lose by Redgum was a
milestone for Australian folk music. It emerged at a time when Australians
questioned their part in the great conversation with humanity. Issues like
unemployment, immigration, the environment, the Americanisation of culture and
the rights of women, workers and indigenous Australians were at the core of the
album.
True
Believers is Schumann's third album
since his departure from Redgum (the second being a children's album), and
follows on the impressive Etched in Blue.
The
years have mellowed the cutting, and at times simple, sloganism of the early
Redgum albums. However, the intensity and passion of Schumann's music remain. True
Believers contains 12 tracks which address such issues as the
environmental danger facing Wilpena and the entrepreneurial obscurity of the
1980s.
Schumann
also covers J. Cains' �Working Class Man� and Patterson's �Clancy of the
Overflow�, attacks the stupidity of war and embarks on a whimsical reminiscing
of his school days at �Plympton High�.
Musically,
the CD is impressive. The production is sharp, and Schumann has retained the
folk/rock feel with bright guitar work. The backing vocals are by Renee Geyer
and Craig Walsh. Rob Hirst makes an appearance in �Eyes on Fire�.