EAST

In honour of the 40th anniversary tomorrow of one of the great albums in Australian music, I have written the below tribute. Done in the style of a Don Walker essay to keep with the theme.

East. An acknowledgment that we were a part of Asia. Welcoming those from Cambodia as they escaped the Khmer Rouge. Welcoming those from Vietnam. The least we could fucking do. Girlfriends heading to Japan set to the sound of 12 bar blues. An uncontrolled Youth In Asia, gonna make those fools understand. 40 years goes by in a flash. The whole of this writer’s life. Strange to think it was released at the start of Winter because this record has the scorch of Summer permeating throughout. We’re all reasonable men and women but sometimes this heat makes us do stupid things. You want to close our pub? We’ll riot. Maybe I can rob a betting agency and live the good life? Fuck this working for a living. There’s no jobs anyhow. Bugger it. I’ll just sit at home and have impure thoughts about a magazine editor. East’s accomplishments double as the millstone around their neck. Don asks the others to contribute and Phil gives them ‘My Baby’ their poppiest song yet, and ever. Even a song about abortion becomes a hit. They couldn’t miss. We can often take this set of songs for granted because they are the foundations for FM Radio. Lee Simon came down from Mount Sinai with 12 songs for us to abide by. So how did the band take to their fame? By turning up to an award show, refusing to accept any of the 7 statues they were awarded, then proceeded to trash the set to end the night. For forty minutes, forty years later, we too can be outside the law. I don’t wanna know about tomorrow. Just set me free tonight. Cheers to Don, Jim, Ian, Phil and Steve.