Week 3 of 52 albums a week for a year
Bushrangers Need Bush by The Willie Wagtails
This week I listened to an album recommended to me by my mate Alex called Bushrangers Need Bush by The Willie Wagtails. I think the name is fantastic, the music however was challenging to my ears.
Bushrangers Need Bush makes me think of a horny bushranger. Likewise a willie wagtail is a type of bird found in Australia, so you kind of know what you're getting into.
This music is very folky, very traditional, and very Australian, 3 things that I do not seek out and actively avoid when listening to music. I know, it's not a good attitude to have towards music, but some things just grate on my ears. They describe their music as 'ocker jazz songs with trumpet, fiddle, and banjo' so that might give you an idea of what it sounds like.
I like music that is interesting and creates new sounds and textures. This music, at least on the first listen, was a blur of fiddles and horns, twangy, nasal singing and a snare drum backbeat that reminds me of pop punk.
I detest pop punk. My first thought was 'this is like listening to stripped back pop punk' and no, that doesn’t make it better.
I had intended to listen to this album during week 1 of this challenge. On the 3rd of January 2025, I put this album on and went for a walk with the intention of starting my first listen of five. I turned it off during the song Good Old Green and Gold it was so terrible. I still maintain that this is the worst song on the album, and the world would probably have been a better place had it never been recorded, despite the title of the album being said in a throwaway line in this song. Just hearing the first 5 seconds of it now has me groaning, and I am glad I never, ever have to listen to that song again if I don't want to.*
But I digress.
I mentioned at the start of this challenge that I feel an album needs to be listened to at least 5 times to really give it a chance. So despite not wanting to go back to this album, I trusted that my friend wouldn't have recommenced me something terrible and started listening to this album last week.
When I got through the album once fully, I thought you know, it's not all bad. Even from the start there were some tracks that stood out, notably VCA Dropout and Keys Wallet Phone, mainly for the lyrics but still, it had grabbed me. As time went on and I listened to it more, I noticed there were other songs that had good moments too. I found myself being eager to go for my daily walk so I could put on the first song, Geoffrey. For those people who may not remember Geoffrey Rush, he's an Australian actor who has become quite famous internationally, and this song is a bit of silly fun. It's boring to my ears musically, but I like Jhana Allan's vocals and lyrics on this song.
Dynamically, it's not until the 4th song Stars! that there are some interesting sounds, and I think it's what really drew me to what would become my favourite song The Stairs. If you're only going to listen to one song off this album, this is the one. It's the most interesting, at least to my ears, and combines the best parts of the album into one song. I mean it starts off with supercalifragilistic existential CRISIS! It's a great song and something I'll come back to.
The album as a whole has an old timey swing feel to it, bordering on something close to stripped back ska music (keep in mind that I do not listen to this genre so I may be way off here, but hearing horns and that snare back beat makes me think ska). I can imagine that people probably enjoyed dancing to this music, but so much of it just does not hit for me. Almost every song has a moment I like, wrapped up in a sound I don't.
A song like Not Gonna Mow My Lawn is a great example. The first 2 minutes of this song I can tolerate thanks to the lyrics. I don't like it, but I can get through it. Then there's an intense build up that sounds great to my ears and I really enjoy, but it's let down by the sound it jumps back into. With that bloody annoying snare back beat and the erratic horn, it sounds like what I’d imagine to be the mind of a teenager with ADHD. So do I dislike a song that has a moment in the middle I really like if overall most of the song I don't like? To me, it's like a shit version of In Absentia by The Mars Volta. The first 4 or 5 minutes of that song could be described as a difficult listen. But it has the pay off at the end when the production picks up, and it makes it one of my favourite songs on the album.
Going back to Bushrangers Need Bush, I think the lyrics are the biggest strength of this album. Jhana has a few songs and Jack Quigley, Daniel Tedford, and Jerimiah Rose also have lyrics credited to them on songs I enjoyed. That being said, there's something about hearing the phrase 'old Melbourne town' that I just don't like. It reminds me of The Smith Street Band for some reason. I can't even remember if that's a phrase they sing, I don't know their music that well, but I do remember going to a Smith Street Band gig once. It wasn't my thing so I only went to one. It's the way The Smith Street Band deliver the vocals and sing that I don't like, and it also reminds me of The Willy Wagtails. It's the 'ocker' sound that some people seem to love, but it's just not for me.
I'll be honest though, after giving the album 5 listens, I've come around to actually liking bits of it. It's a lesson in trying something new and giving things a chance. This album is a great example of why I think some music needs to be listened to a few times to really know it before an opinion is made. I almost wish I had of had the chance to see it performed live when they released it (the album is from 2015 and the band appears to have gone their separate ways since then).
Sometimes the magic of a band isn't in the recorded album but in the live performance. I can imagine being pissed in a pub with a crowd of people singing these songs, and enjoying a sense of camaraderie and community even if I don't generally like this type of music. I might dislike a lot about the album, but it's much how when growing up I disliked Brittney Spears and the Spice Girls, but when it's playing at a nightclub I'll find myself singing along to it and dancing like a fuckwit.
All in all, of the 12 songs on this album, I'd say I like 4 songs. But as I mentioned, every song has some good moments, so can I really say I only like 4, when I'd happily listen to another few songs?
I guess I'd give it 2 fingers out of 5, with a come hither motion to bump it up to 2.5 seeing as I'd listen to half of the album at a push.
Here's the list so far:
*I put this asterisk in the Good Old Green and Gold paragraph because while I can choose to never listen to that terrible song again, I cannot choose what my brain decides to play in my head. I found myself waiking up this morning slightly hungover with this song stuck in my head. I repeat what I said earlier, the world would have been a better place without this song being recorded.