Goodwills, The – Loungeroom Legends

After a couple of years wondering if we’d be brave enough to record another CD, we had the good fortune to meet Pix Vane-Mason, a talented sound engineer who just happen to have a studio at Conondale, about half an hour’s drive from our home in Maleny.
So one evening in August we invited 40 people over to our place for a house concert in our lounge room. Pix Dismantled his studio and set it up in our spare room to record the event!
We were very happy with the end result, which incldues some special moments with our local choir, Tapestry.
Our musical collaborator Silas Palmer played piano, fiddle, mandolin and chimed in on harmony vocals a few times.

CD REVIEW – by Richard Owen

The Goodwills (aka Bob and Laurel Wilson) left behind the hustle and bustle of Brisbane in 2002 for a “Treechange” in the Queensland Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Maleny.

However, the metamorphosis would not be complete until Bob broke The News Corporation’s grip on his journalistic talents and started writing songs again in retirement, resulting in the release of The Goodwill’s new Loungeroom Legends album (in November).
The album is so named as it was recorded live in Bob and Laurel’s home one night in August this year under their own label before a necessarily small, but suitably adulatory, group of hard-core supporters.

Recording quality has not been sacrificed in pursuit of such indulgence though, thanks to the efforts of sound engineer Pix Vane-Mason who also managed to accommodate performances on two tracks by the 18-strong Maleny community choir Tapestry.
The musicianship of piano, violin and mandolin virtuoso Silas Palmer deserves special mention in dispatches for his uplifting influence on the group’s sound and dynamics.
Those not familiar with The Goodwills’ body of work to date will no doubt find the equally well-produced eight pages of album notes of assistance while tuning-in to The Goodwills’ wavelength on tracks such as “Small Frog Song”, ”Crossroads of Love” and “She’s Apples”.

Bob Wilson’s clever lyrics and liberal application of dry wit in his insightful analyses of the every day and some of the more confronting conundrums of life (or Laurel’s mastery of the kazoobugle for that matter) may not appeal to all folk aficionados.
If so Loungeroom Legends caters for purer tastes through the inclusion of traditionals like “(Poor) Wayfaring Stranger”, Antoine Gerin Lajoie’s “Un Canadian Errant” and “Women of the West” penned by GE Evans and Sandy Wybird – a founder with husband John of Toowoomba’s legendary Quart Pot Folk Club where Bob and Laurel once performed regularly.

The chatty commentary and live format effortless transport The Goodwills from their loungeroom in Maleny to yours for a polished and entertaining performance reminiscent of those intimate country town folk concerts of yesteryear.
4. Shoot to the Moon is released under a Creative Commons Licence. This means that people can copy and share it for creative and non-commercial uses. “We want out music to make a social and cultural contribution. Hopefully, listening to The Lurkers will encourage people to make their own music and be active in their communities,” said Nick Mueller, double bass player.
5. The Lurkers coined the phrases ‘Lurkerism’, ‘feeling lurky’ and ‘get lurked’ to describe their brand of antihumourless activism.
6. Musically, The Lurkers have taken the conventions of bluegrass and hillbilly music and married this with the folk tradition of the protest song.
7. The Lurkers have a combined age of 82.
The Lurkers – Shoot to the Moon CD Review by Chris Spencer
The short review of this cd is: The Lurkers are a bluegrass trio that perform political songs. The long review: I’m not familiar enough with the bluegrass tradition to know if any other previous bluegrass band performed political songs. Almost every song, with the exception of “Got My Boots On” and “Lay Me Down” which could be about someone gradually losing their memory, has a political or environmental theme. “Get Foxy News” is a critique of the media empire of Rupert Murdoch; “Environmental Evangelism Makes No Friends” is about … environmental evangelism; Banjo player, Mithra Cox takes lead vocals on “Rotten to the Core” commenting on the lack of ethics by the major banks, while Martin Cubby sings about the worries of having a mortgage that he can’t afford in “$300,000 Blues”. Cox also sings on the sparse, slower “You Girls” which laments the dangers women face when walking alone at night. Most of the tunes are written and sung by Nicholas Mueller, who plays double bass, banjo and mandolin. I assume he takes lead vocals on “Couldn’t be Better” that comments on people putting their head in the sand to ignore climate change, he’s particularly savage on religious people relying on God to save them with his ‘intelligent design’; “Got my Boots On” and the title track that deals with man’s greed in devouring all the Earth’s (and the Moon’s) natural resources. “DIY Armageddon” is another swipe at religion’s and society’s continued misuse of the Earth’s resources. Readers who are offended by swearing may fi nd some of the band’s language unacceptable, but in the context of the songs, the use of swearing isn’t out of place. “Keeping a File on Me” is about governments and organisations such as ASIO keeping tabs on [potential] troublemakers! The last song “North Shore Pirates” is about rising sea levels, performed in the mode of a sailors’ jig, complete with pirate sounding vocals, just to lighten the mood! All the tracks are recorded using acoustic instruments, guitar, banjo and double bass. No sound of a drum to be heard. Each track varies with the use of slightly different arrangements, and different genres: country bluegrass, folk bluegrass, blues bluegrass! I found this album interesting, particularly “Lay Me Down” and “Environmental Evangelism”. Recommended if you’re wanting to listen to something different, engaging and philosophical.