Ed Kuepper

The Exploding Universe Of... FATAL

This is the man who made me walk out of a Birthday

Party gig at the height of their considerable powers because I knew they didn’t have a hope in hell of following his band Laughing Clowns’ delirious skewed jazztinged Sydney dance. You want a new messiah? Look no further.

In typical belligerent Kuepper style, he has released three collections to celebrate 45 years as a recording artist (beginning as guitarist in Brisbane’s The Saints – punk rage and primal classicism, unmatched). For fans such as me, the double album of his solo singles, Singles ’86-’96, is near-nirvana. It’s the first time they’ve been collected together, featuring timeless classics such as Also Sprach, the downbeat splendour of Nothing Changes In My Heart and many others – the essence and soul of isolationist windswept reckless Australian rock.

Laughing Clowns’ Golden Days/When Giants Walked The Earth is, if possible, even finer, an entry point into the pantheon of the greatest live band I ever witnessed. Debut UK single

Mad Flies, Mad Flies puts every rival in the shade, and it’s not even the greatest song here.

If The Aints!’s Live At The Bowlo – pulled together from tracks Kuepper wrote during and prior to the formation of

The Saints (‘69-‘78) – pales in such company it would be no disgrace. But it doesn’t. Everything the man does is honey-spun gold. ■■■■■■■■■■