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Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance is the debut album by the Australian band TISM. The album peaked at No. 48 on the ARIA Charts in October 1988.[1]
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021) |
| Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 26 September 1988 | |||
| Recorded |
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 69:48 | |||
| Label | Elvis | |||
| Producer | TISM | |||
| TISM chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance | ||||
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The vinyl version has a different vocal mix on the track, "Saturday Night Palsy", including an alternate line of lyrics, with the line "I want to shoot heroin through the eye" replaced by "I want to shove a red-hot poker through the eye" on the CD.
The title is derived from the band's first album-length recording, which was recorded in December 1982, shortly after the group's formation.
In March 2022, LP and CD reissues were announced, with the CD containing a bonus album with 40 minutes of unreleased content. A cassette reissue, featuring the bonus content and the LP version of the cover art on cassette for the first time, had been released that February. The CD was released that May, with the LP following in August due to delays involving the cover art.
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- "40 Years – Then Death" was released in September 1987 as the album's lead single. The song details an early-twenties male's despondent view of his remaining sex life: 40 more years of "living" then "death".[citation needed] In 2024, the song was rewritten with new lyrics and retitled "14 Years - Then Death".
- "The Ballad of John Bonham's Coke Roadie" was released in May 1988. The song deals with the assistant to Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, whose job was to procure cocaine for the musician. Throughout the song the musician compares his life to that of an ordinary person whose life is racked with misery and spousal unfaithfulness, contrasted with that of the roadie, whose only concern is the acquisition of cocaine.[citation needed]
- "I'm Interested in Apathy" was released in September 1988 as the album's third single. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989, the song won ARIA Award for Best Independent Release.[2]
- "Saturday Night Palsy" was released in January 1989 as the fourth single. The song focuses on a man who has the inability to decide on matters, particularly, in which manner to harm himself. The song continues through with various opposing scenarios offered by the man, but at the end nothing has been resolved.[citation needed] A music video was directed by Peter Bain-Hog and featured a handsome man spending his day getting ready to go out dancing. Eventually he finds himself outside of a TISM concert and denied entry, at the end of the video, he is so dejected by the experience that he commits suicide by hanging himself in a nearby alley.[3] TISM performed the song Australian variety TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday.[3]
- "Martin Scorsese Is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow" was released in June 1989 as the album's fifth and final single. The song deals with the dark and often depressing nature of Scorsese's subjects and the way that a normally happy or perky person would also be quite depressed after watching one of his films.[citation needed]
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The Age's Shaun Carney, in September 1988, described Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance as "a fine piece of work. Clever clever [sic] they might be on occasions, but if a few more bands applied even half the humor, social observation and melodic intervention that TISM seems to simply toss off, the world would be a, um, groovier place."[5]
Jonathan Lewis of AllMusic rated the album as four-and-a-half stars out of five, he explained "Completely tasteless and musically mediocre, the album was nonetheless fresh, witty, and extremely funny. The album is more or less standard guitar rock, but it is the song lyrics that make this album great."[4]
In December 2004 FasterLouder's Kathryn Kernohan felt the group had "always written simple, direct pop songs... [their] basic structure has remained the same – danceable guitar and keyboard lines coupled with catchy choruses. The band’s ability to write a ridiculously good pop song is second-to-none and this is no better exemplified than in Great Truckin’ Songs opening tracks."[6] She noticed that "The second record of the double-vinyl set (it's not as much fun on CD, is it?) contains various odds and ends, including snippets of a Triple R interview in which the band rode into the studio on lawnmowers."[6]
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| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I'm Interested in Apathy" | 2:55 |
| 2. | "Saturday Night Palsy" | 3:21 |
| 3. | "The Mystery of the Artist Explained" | 3:09 |
| 4. | "If You're Creative, Get Stuffed" | 3:01 |
| 5. | "40 Years – Then Death" | 4:18 |
| 6. | "Anarchy Means Crossing When It Says "Don't Walk"" | 1:31 |
| 7. | "The Ballad of John Bonham's Coke Roadie" | 2:37 |
| 8. | "Choose Bad Smack" | 3:00 |
| 9. | "The Fosters Car Park Boogie" | 2:37 |
| 10. | "Martin Scorsese Is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow" | 3:01 |
| 11. | "I Drive a Truck" | 2:12 |
| 12. | "Defecate on My Face" | 4:42 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Kill Americans" | 2:16 |
| 14. | "Volare" | 0:58 |
| 15. | "The Penis Is Mightier than the Sword" | 2:17 |
| 16. | "Slave to the Economist" | 0:52 |
| 17. | "I Shit Me" | 2:47 |
| 18. | "Doug Parkinson Sings Christie Allen" | 0:55 |
| 19. | "Gimme Gimme Nervous Breakdown" | 2:31 |
| 20. | "The Ballad of the Semitic Nazi" | 0:39 |
| 21. | "And the Ass Said to the Angel: "Wanna Play Kick-to-Kick"?" | 3:59 |
| 22. | "The Mordialloc Road Duplicator" | 3:41 |
| 23. | "Jack Elliot's Turf Whinge" | 1:12 |
| 24. | "Ezra Pound-Axe King" | 1:35 |
| 25. | "Johnny to B. or Not to B. Goode" | 0:26 |
| 26. | "Morrison Hostel" | 7:48 |
| 27. | Untitled (titled on online releases as "The Ted Commandments") | 1:08 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 28. | "The Back Upon Which Jezza Jumped" (demo tape version) | 4:18 |
| 29. | "Get Thee in My Behind, Satan" (live at the Corner Hotel, 30 May 1988) | 3:14 |
| 30. | "Babies Bite Back" (ditto) | 3:16 |
| 31. | "(I Think I've Got) Mick Jagger Worked Out" (ditto) | 3:03 |
| 32. | "ExistentialTISM" | 3:38 |
| 33. | "Opium Is the Religion of the Masses" | 5:34 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 28. | "The List of People Who TISM Think Are Fucked in the Head" | |
| 29. | "Saturday Night Palsy" (original album version) | |
| 30. | "The "B" Attitudes" (live diatribe) | |
| 31. | "All You Don't Know and All You Don't Need to Know" (previously unreleased studio recording) | |
| 32. | "Ezra Pound – Axe King" (demo version) | |
| 33. | "Jack Elliot's Turf Whinge" (different excerpt from the full recording to the one on the album) | |
| 34. | "Get Thee in My Behind, Satan" (live at the Corner Hotel, 30 May 1988) | |
| 35. | "(I Can't Get No) Ariel Sharon" (excerpt; lyrics were previously published to TISM's old website) | |
| 36. | "A Tale of Two Faeces" (previously released on Collected Recordings 1986–1993) | |
| 37. | "Martin Scorsese is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow" (live) | |
| 38. | "I Drive a Truck" (demo) | |
| 39. | "Morrison Hostel" (recorded live at the Prince of Wales, 26 September 2002; previously unreleased) | |
| 40. | "Johnny to B. or Not to B. Goode" (full version; previously unreleased) | |
| 41. | "Defecate on My Face" (live) |
The bonus tracks on the 2022 release are broken up with documentary-style narration and radio advertisements for concerts.
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- Ron Hitler-Barassi (Peter Minack) – lead vocals
- Leek Van Vlalen (Sean Kelly) – guitar, backing vocals
- Eugene de la Hot Croix Bun (Eugene Cester) – keyboards, lead vocals, backing vocals
- Jon St. Peenis (Mark Fessey) – saxophone, backing vocals
- Les Miserables (Andrew Miglietti) – backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Fosters Car Park Boogie"
- Jock Cheese (John Holt) – bass, backing vocals
- Humphrey B. Flaubert (Damian Cowell) – lead vocals, drum programming, drums, backing vocals
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| Region | Date | Format(s) | Edition | Label | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 26 September 1988 | Standard | Elvis / Musicland | ER1206 / MUS CD 2001 / MUS LP 2001 | |
| 1991 | Re-issue | Shock | SHOCK CD 0011 | ||
| 2001 | CD | Genre B.Goode / Festival Mushroom Records | TISM003 | ||
| October 2009 | Digital download | Genre B.Goode | — |
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