I can’t believe that I have lived my entire life until today not knowing that Martin Phillipps was responsible for the cheeeeezy (in the nicest possible way ...) organ on The Clean’s “Tally Ho”. Crikey, the Dunedin music scene was even more incestuous than I thought.
And in case you need to refresh your memory, here it is:
The Clean, "Tally Ho".
While we’re at it, why don’t we bow our heads in gratitude to the good folks at Orbis Quintus for exposing us to three tracks by the little-known 60s NZ band The Avengers, including “Everybody’s Gonna Wonder”, the only Avengers song known to us, thanks to its being covered (under the title "Everyone's Gonna Wonder" - go figure) by possibly the only supergroup ever to have come from New Zealand, Pop Art Toasters, a one-off project which included Martin Phillipps and David Kilgour (who, believe it or not, was a member of the Chills for a period of a few weeks in 1983, during which time the band neither recorded nor played live).
Right-click here if you need to hear these two pillars of Dunedin society going all 60s on us:
Pop Art Toasters, "Everyone’s Gonna Wonder".
And, for a perhaps more recognisable idea of how well these guys feel that decade, here is their version of The Who’s “Circles”:
Pop Art Toasters, "Circles".
CONSUMER ADVISORY: the two Pop Art Toasters tracks are from their only release, a self-titled five-song CD on Flying Nun. It is believed to be no longer available, which would be a damn shame. As for “Tally Ho”, unless you are one of the lucky few to have the original Flying Nun 7”, your best bet (an excellent bet all round, actually) is the two-CD “Anthology”, which just happens to be a Flying Nun release.
