Back around 1992, I bought a pile of cassettes from a cutout rack somewhere. One was The Stone Roses, by a Manchester band of the same name that produced this breakthrough album before becoming entangled in legal problems. Even though the album was released in 1989, SR sounded to me like a jumble of Dave Clark Five, Kinks and Doors with a bit of the wall of sound thing going on.

I Wanna Be Adored

She Bangs the Drums

Another album was Goodbye Jumbo by World Party, which seemed inspired by the Beatles, ELO and George Harrison to me. I also read that founder Karl Wallinger cites influences such as Dylan, Beach Boys, Junior Walker, Neil Young and Prince. Prince - of course.

Put the Message in the Box

Ship of Fools

Private Revolution

The third album was the soundtrack to a 1991 film called Dingo. The film starred Colin Friels and Miles Davis, as a trumpet player much like himself, and featured music by Davis and Michel Legrand. Davis died later in 1991, and according to the liner notes Legrand had another musician standing by in case Davis could not perform. But the notes go on to say that Davis, "found his chops" and did play his own music. Essentially jazz legend Billy Cross accidentally stops over in a back country Australian town, gives an impromptu concert and influences young John Anderson to take up the trumpet. A grown Anderson hunts rogue dingo and mixes their plaintive howling sound into his freeform playing, hence the title. 

Poona Flats concert

Paris Jam Session

The cassette included bits of dialogue and sound effects before and after each track, so I eventually developed my own idea of what the film was about. But this year I finally treated myself to the DVD. The music was obviously the high point, but the back story was interesting as far as it went. They could have developed some of the themes a bit more, and several of the conflicts evaporated when Anderson returned from Paris, but we enjoyed it.