Wonderful Things: Retrospective

Underground Lovers’ long-awaited retrospective showcases a band that refused to sit still, writes AARON CURRAN.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] "Felt like I'd been there before" are the first words sung on the aptly-titled Wonderful Things: Retrospective by Underground Lovers and good memories come tumbling back. Lazily listening to Dream It Down while getting stoned on a sun-dappled beach in Perth. Seeing the band close their support set for The Cure at Sydney Entertainment Centre with a swirling epic 15-minute version of 'Your Eyes'. The underrated Rushall Station soundtracking a holiday in rainy Fitzroy; its evocative but spare arrangements and lyrics carved from the same Melbourne streets.

Every fan will have their own vivid recollections to accompany these songs, but if you don't already own the band’s releases (mostly out of print, but reissued digitally in 2009), here's your chance to get a solid CD anthology of a memorable career; one that's recently seen new life, with many of the original members now touring and recording together again.

The Undies, as fans somewhat-nerdily knew them, were a steadfast force in Australia's independent music scene throughout the ’90s, gaining some renown in the UK, signing to 4AD and Polydor (albeit briefly), and consistently releasing quality records that reached up the ladder of success without always securing a firm hold on the next rung. Perhaps the band's own intentions made a steady ascent problematic, even if these intentions were part of what made them special. For Underground Lovers asserted the primacy of the song over self-image. As co-founder Vince Giarrusso (vocals, guitars) said in a recent M+N interview, it was not about finding and sticking with a particular approach or sound, but about what would make each track work better and "take the listener on a journey".

However, in putting the band at the service of the song, they chose not to offer the marketplace a single distinct image and sound, embracing anonymity, eclecticism and constant evolution instead. Their record covers rarely featured band members, while the band's releases veered from fey indie pop ('Losin' It) to shoegaze distortion ('Promenade', 'I Was Right'), ethereal balladry ('Holiday') and dancefloor-friendly beats ('Your Eyes Remix', 'Starsigns', and much of the later Cold Feeling and Ways T'Burn LPs). Even the continual gender shift between the shared lead vocals of Giarrusso and Phillipa Nihill (vocals, keyboards, guitar) contributed to the lack of an obvious and clear band identity. Yet, for fans, the band's elusive and mercurial nature was part of their appeal. Buying a new Underground Lovers record was an adventure in itself; you'd never know beforehand where it might take you and how your tastes might shift as a result.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Underground Lovers - 'Your Eyes' by RubberRecords

Wonderful Things is available as a single CD “best of” and a two-CD limited edition with lots of rarities on disc two, titled Everybody's Favourite. The first disc is a surprisingly cohesive listen given it stretches across seven years of releases, kicking off with the 1994 title track of Dream It Down, featuring fantastic lead guitar from band co-founder Glenn Bennie, whose spindly electric guitar lines curl around acoustic strum creating a warm buzzing brew of organic and synthesised sound. 'Dream It Down', and other evergreens here such as 'Las Vegas', 'Recognise' and then-triple j favourites 'Losin' It' and 'Beautiful World', were all produced in collaboration with David Chesworth and Robert Goodge, whose work in Essendon Airport had been an early inspiration for Bennie and Giarrusso.

"In putting the band at the service of the song, they chose not to offer the marketplace a single distinct image and sound."

Another partnership needing mention is the band's multi-album stint with producer/engineer Wayne Connolly, whose perennial contribution deftly shaped how Underground Lovers would arrange, layer and mix their music. It's heard to great effect here on tracks like 'I Was Right', 'Undone', 'Holiday' and 'Eastside Stories'. All these songs also feature the stalwart playing of bassist Maurice Argiro, who continued on with Bennie and Giarrusso after Phillipa Nihill's departure in 1996, while most feature Derek Yuen on drums, who had replaced Richard Andrew after the acclaimed Leaves Me Blind LP.

While the single-disc Wonderful Things is a nice, if not familiar overview of the band’s career, the limited-edition disc two – which journeys across the more diverse terrain of singles, EP tracks, remixes, demo versions and side projects – offers a more representative, and ultimately more satisfying, selection from Underground Lovers’ disparate but ever-dependable catalogue.

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‘Wonderful Things: Retrospective’ is out now through Rubber Records.