Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By The Aints!, ABC Music/UMA 2019.
Everyone has heard of the legendary Australian band The Saints, well Ed Kuepper, one of its founding members (along with Chris Bailey) has teamed up with Peter Oxley, Paul Larsen Loughead, Alister Spence and Eamon Dilworth to create The Aints!
Formed in 2017, The Aints! original brief was to recreate the sound and energy of The Saints, from 1973 as they celebrate 40 years since the release of that band’s ground-breaking debut, (I’m) Stranded (1977).
With such talent in The Aints! It wasn’t long before they started to create material of their own.
An album, The Church of Simultaneous Existence, comprised entirely of Kuepper originals written between 1969 and 1978, was released internationally to much fanfare and was a hit with fans and critics alike.
“It’s like manna from heaven to anyone who’s worn smooth The Saints three Harvest albums”… Mojo
“It blisters. It belts. Man, it’s so damned good”… Classic Rock
“For songs that range from 40-50 years old, they sound timeless”… Baltimore Out Loud
Now they have released the next instalment.
5-6-7-8-9 is a five track mini album comprised of alternate versions of album tracks from The Church of Simultaneous Existence.
The five are Goodnight Ladies (single edit) and Country Song in G (acoustic) plus reworked versions of tracks from Kuepper’s 50 album catalogue including Memories Are Made Of This (The Saints 1978) Laughing Clowns (Laughing Clowns 1980) and Hang Jean Lee (Ed Kuepper & The Kowalski Collective 2007)
Ed Kuepper is amazingly prolific and his albums are amongst the most played in my collection.
I have seen him many times and The Aints! are heading out on the road to support this new release.
In the process they will be heading to the nation’s capital and I’ll be in the audience once more.
