Album Review: Various - When Sharpies Ruled: A Vicious Selection

19 August 2015 | 1:10 pm | Brendan Telford

"When Sharpies Ruled is perfect as both an aural and tactile testament to this overlooked scene."

This brilliantly packaged and conceived compilation shines a deserved light on an area of Australian youth culture oft-forgotten — that of the Sharpie. The sharp dressers with their tailor-made couture and close-cropped crew cuts created their own world — the Generation of Love giving way to the '70s, into something harder, more freewheeling, more subversive — the clubs were averted, the pubs converted. The blues and glam elements of the rock scene became infused with this rebellious subculture, and When Sharpies Ruled is perfect as both an aural and tactile testament to this overlooked scene.

There are a number of bands here that managed to break through this moment in history to become part of the Aussie rock vernacular, as is evidenced by the presence of Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs (Let's Have A Party), Skyhooks (Horror Movie), Ted Mulry Gang (Crazy and Jump In My Car) and Rose Tattoo (the unfuckwithable Remedy). But there are enough acts here that are both underrated and all but obliterated from the rock subconscious, and When Sharpies Ruled sets the record straight. The compilation kicks off with Coloured Balls, a wrongly considered second-tier '70s rock band who rightfully has the most songs here at three (take special note of Flash). The La De Da's cheekily chug along to The Place, Buster Brown (featuring Rose Tattoo's Angry Anderson) rock through Roll Over Beethoven, the boogie rock of Fatty Lumpkin... It's 23 tracks of solid gold. And with a glossy booklet of priceless photographs and essays on the era, this is an essential package.