GANGgajang

GANGgajang

AMERICAN MONEY / ROOF ONLY LEAKS WHEN IT'S RAINING MERCURY AUS 888749.7
1987 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

BIGGER THEY ARE / GIVER OF LIFE TRUE TONE AUS 884592.7
1985 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

DREAM AT NIGHT / C. Allen: TUNKLEYS LEAVE HOME TRUE TONE AUS 884113.7
1985 2 TRKS no pic sleeve

GANGAGAIN MERCURY AUS 832586.2
1987 11 TRKS 2^nd album

GANGgajang TRUE TONE AUS 826349.2
1985 10 TRKS

GANGgajang TRUE TONE AUS 826349.1
1985 10 TRKS 1^st album

GIVER OF LIFE TRUE TONE AUS 880937.7
1985 6 TRK EP; with pic sleeve, 7"x2

GSL (GIMME SOME LOVIN') / NOISY TALKING MERCURY AUS 880351.7
1984 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

HOUSE OF CARDS / FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM TRUE TONE AUS 880664.7
1985 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

HUNDREDS OF LANGUAGES ROO ART AUS 4509-93981.2
1993 3 TRK CD Single CD5

INITIATION MERCURY AUS 888197.1
1986 3 TRKS with pic sleeve

INITIATION / SOUNDS OF THEN (INSTRUMENTAL) MERCURY AUS 888197.7
1986 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

LINGO ROO ART AUS 4509-95653.2
1994 13 TRKS 3^rd album

OCEANS AND DESERTS SHOCK AUS GANG 02
2002 11 TRKS 4^th album

SOUNDS OF THEN / HOUSE OF CARDS (LIVE) TRUE TONE AUS 884267.7
1985 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

TALK TO ME ROO ART AUS 4509-95545.2 1994 4 TRK CD Single CD5

TREE OF LOVE / LUCK OF THE IRISH MERCURY AUS 888985.7
1987 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

Mark Callahan ( = ‘Cal’ )

SAILORS AND MERMAIDS MERCURY AUS 836400.2
1988 10 TRKS

The Riptides

HEARTS AND FLOWERS / SANDARAMA REGULAR AUS RRSP 716
1982 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

ONLY TIME / RIPTIDE / SHAKE IT REGULAR AUS K 8341
1981 3 TRKS with pic sleeve

RIPTIDES REGULAR AUS L 38445
1983 11 TRKS Mark Callaghan

WAVE ROCK BLUEDISC AUS 510224.2
1991 11 TRKS Mark Callaghan

My first exposure to GANGgajang was seeing a videotape from Australia that was the group playing essentially the whole first album live on a show called “Rock Arena”. The quality of the video wasn’t perfect, but I sure could hear the songs, the sound. I even remember making an audio cassette of the songs, to play in the car! It’s true, I “Johnny Appleseeded” this band to a number of my friends. We got the first LP first, and then – when I got to Australia in ’87, I got a CD of it.

Of note is that there were apparently many more songs available to them for inclusion on their debut album – but somebody was a “smart editor” and the ten tracks that appear on the debut GANGgajang album are uniformly great songs. To their credit, most of the “non-LP B-Sides” are also really good songs.

During the 80’s, it seemed like Australia was operating in a vacuum to me. It was nearly impossible to get the Aussie music press in the U.S. – and it was impossible to see “Countdown”…or “Rock Arena” etc. I was lucky – I was working for an importer, and I asked people at the exporter (in Australia) to kindly tape and send me some music shows from Aussie TV. yes, I was prepared – I had a PAL VHS VCR and a PAL TV. That was – and is – highly unusual, for non-professional, casual “music fans”.

I just played the first album in the car yesterday – sounded great. I love those songs, and respect the careful style of Mark ‘Cal’ Callahan, the singer. Drummer Graham “Buzz” Bidstrup had been in The Angels – but that didn’t mean a heck of a lot to me at that time – these days, I am a huge Angels fan. Doc Neeson, yeah! But I do not hear “Take A Long Line” or “Marseille” in the work of GANGgajang.

Myself and my friends had to work a bit to get the 2^nd album – as, at that time, there wasn’t really a good reliable Aussie CD mail-order place – thank heaven for Red Eye Records in Sydney – that’s how I got the 3^rd and 4^th albums! But – the law of diminishing returns – 2^nd album isn’t as good as the 1^st album etc. Really, the 3^rd and 4^th albums are a different kettle of fish. There was over a decade between the first two, and the second two albums. They’re all good – but the debut album is the best.

Other factors at work: If GANGgajang ever played live in L.A., I was out of the country, ‘cause I never heard of it – nor could get it confirmed that they’d played a ‘vanity gig’ (i.e. no tickets sold to the public) as an ‘opening act’ for a (now forgotten) surfer film, in L.A. Cal’s solo album wasn’t anything special, but at nearly 20 years old – I bet I haven’t played it more than a handful of times!

So – catch the wave, Australia! Make a 2CD Deluxe edition of the debut GANGgajang album, and add all those great B-Sides from the multitude of titles available – the “Giver of Life” EP is amazing!

Thanks for the music, boys. I owe you all a round of drinks. “This is Australia!”, you sang – you were right.