Beargarden - All That Fall

Beargarden

All That Fall

1986

New Wave Synth Rock

Australia

Tracklist:


01. A Minute In Black & White
02. The Tell Tale Heart
03. A Year In The Shade
04. I Write The News
05. Drink Drink Drink
06. A Seaside Song
07. All That Fall
08. She's Crying
09. Bright Penny
10. Drink Drink Drink (Extended)
11. Instrumental No. 1 (Bonus Track)
12. Lounge (Bonus Track)


     Beargarden was a new wave band from Melbourne, Australia which, though well regarded critically, failed to achieve widespread success. It evolved directly from the post-punk group 'The Ears' which disbanded in 1981 and reformed under the new name with Ross Farnell replacing Cathy McQuade on bass. The other members were Sam Sejavka ( vocals) Mick Lewis (guitar), Carl Manuell (drums) and Gus Till (keyboards). Lewis was replaced later that year by Shane Andalou.

     All That Fall is the debut album by Australian New Wave group Beargarden. It was released in 1986 on Chase Records.
     Beargarden were selected by Virgin Records Australia as their first Australian signing. Under their new label the band released a single, "The Finer Things", which was produced by Ross Cockle at AAV studios in South Melbourne and released in October 1984 with a film clip directed by John Hillcoat and featuring a young Noah Taylor. The single however made little impact on the charts.
     In July 1985, Beargarden began recording their debut album, All That Fall, at Albert Studios in Sydney with producers Bruce Brown and Russel Dunlop. A second single, "I Write the News", resulted from these sessions. The B-side, "Sixty Perfect Windows", had been recorded previously at Richmond Recorders, Melbourne, and was produced by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farris (Hutchence provides backing vocals for the track). A film clip for "I Write The News" was directed by Paul Goldman (Australian Rules, The Night They Called It a Day, The Ben Cousins Story).
     All That Fall took a great many months to complete and during this time the band's inner turmoil again boiled to the surface. Bassist Ross Farnell was replaced by Simon Polinski, and Shaun Andersen (brother of guitarist Shane Andalou) was recruited as second guitar. These changes exacerbated the band's pre-existing instability and, after the release of a third single "Drink Drink Drink"', it folded. Paul Goldman directed a clip for "Drink Drink Drink" but, given the suggestive nature of the song title and the mistaking of burning scarecrows for burning crucifixes by the producers of Countdown, it failed to air and the single made little impact.
     Beargarden's disintegration was accompanied by acrimony and incidents of poor and/or outrageous behaviour on stage. Virgin quickly divested themselves of the product and All That Fall was ultimately released to little fanfare on Chase Records, accompanied by a fourth and final single "A Seaside Song".
     Originally appearing on vinyl, it never received an official CD release, though in 2010 became available for download, initially through Bandcamp.