Then there’s the character in Peter The Cabby, who would have an equivalent in any Australian urban setting where there’s more than one or two taxis operating. I’m not saying all cab drivers fit the bill, but he seems awfully familiar.
Speaking of awfully familiar, Side One’s closer, H.M.A.S. Australia, may have morphed slightly in thirty years but there’s still a hell of a lot that rings true. The band may not still be playing American songs from 1973 - it may have turned into gangsta rap or one of its offspring - or the Imperial Waltz/from far across the sea and if the song was brought up to date there’d probably be a reference to dragon dances or Bollywood musicals but there are still many of the same themes lurking in the background today.
And that’s just Side One.
As was so often the case back in the vinyl days, Side Two isn’t quite as strong, but there’s still plenty of apposite comment with contemporary relevance.
About the only track that’s obviously locked in the past is the penultimate Letter to B.J. (i.e. a certain ex-Premier of Queensland) who may no longer be with us, but there are still plenty of authoritarian little bully boys lurking in the woodwork waiting for the opportunity to stick their heads above the parapet when it seems safe to do so.
If You Don’t Fight You Lose, in its own way represented a significant point in Australian music. It’s a pity it’s no longer available through official sources, and while there may be those out there who claim that the country has moved on since those days there are enough themes there that still resonate in the early twenty-first century to keep it relevant.
Oh, and if someone goes to the trouble of releasing an official, authorised or legitimate digital copy, they can definitely put me down for one