Looking for Jack
Colin James Hay
1987: CBS/Columbia CK 40611
Colin was/is the lead singer of Men At Work, and with “Be Good Johnny” his voice got stuck in my head for the rest of my life, that last wailing fillip wrapping around my brain stem like the balrog’s whip around Gandalf’s foot. OK, I cannot believe I just wrote that last phrase. My god, have I no shame? I should be writing for Rolling Stone if I’m gonna get that silly. After all, I already know how to use the words “oeuvre,” “eponymous,” “hard-hitting,” and “gritty.” Sheesh. Well anyway, I first heard this album’s title song on the sadly short-lived Seattle radio station KEZX around 1990 and said “wow, I know that voice and I LIKE its new setting.” So I hunted down the vinyl, then years later found a CD copy of the album too. The fact that it’s scarce is scandalous. It’s a very good album, not “great” perhaps, except in spots, but it’s a very nice snapshot of a moment in Hay’s musical journeying.
Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.