Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Eskimo Joe, Warner Music Australia 2018.
Ghosts of The Past is the second re-release by Eskimo Joe to celebrate 21 years of the band.
I reviewed the first re-release (Girl) a couple of months ago and in so doing explained that I was a fan and would probably review each of their planned celebration releases.
This album has been released as a limited edition blue vinyl as well as a CD that includes the original re-mastered album paired with eight additional demos.
Front man Kav Temperley recalls that a number of the songs that appeared on the Ghosts album evolved from a month of solo performances in his home town, Fremantle, that were meant to be low key.
He would turn up at his obscure local café with no songs and just a few drum machine loops and some piano riffs and he’d see what would happen.
Unfortunately, the word got out and every week the crowd got bigger. Eventually the place was packed and over the weeks the songs gradually emerged.
I really admire musicians who are confident enough to approach their writing in such a public way. I know I can’t do it.
A song has to be largely complete before I’m prepared to let anyone else hear it let alone perform it in public. Even then I have masses of songs that I play only to myself.
This album has a different feel to it compared to Girl which is probably a result of the writing process.
The songs seem to have an organic element. As they progress they develop and grow.
Ghosts of The Past contains the wonderful single Speeding Car, a song that has always been one of my favourites.
It is really interesting comparing the demo versions with the album cuts.
Speeding Car for example appears twice – once as a strings mix (which I really like), and the second is very close to the finished album version.
Most of the other demos are near perfect copies of the album versions, however there are two tracks that didn’t appear on Ghosts.
Fires with its fuzz bass is great and Bad Blood, recorded with only acoustic guitar backing, is equally as strong.
