"An enemy of art and ethics he reconciles the rational and irrational in TACTICS..."
News!: "My Houdini" and "Glebe" have been re-released (on October 7th 2006) as " The Sound Of The Sound Vol 1 " on Reverberation .
TACTICS
FROM THE DESERT OF WIND AND WHITE STONE TO THE YELLOW - TOP - HAT - CENTREPOINT IN THE CORPORATE BLUE; SONGS FROM THE THROAT OF THE HERE AND NOW, WHAT HAS BEEN AND WHAT WILL BE AGAIN SONGS FLOATING BY LIKE POETS FALLING OUT OF WINDOWS, PICKED UP IN THICK ASBESTOS GLOVES.
TACTICSFormed in the late 1970's in Canberra by David Studdert (guitar, vocals, songwriting), Angus Douglas (guitar), Robert Whittle (drums), and Geoff Marsh (bass), Tactics soon moved to Sydney and quickly became known for going against the grain musically, lyrically, and stylistically. Mixing music that someone once described as "sped up [...] frenetic, discordant, full of unusual rhythms..." (but definitely not punk or New Wave), with lyrics that were Australian but never lost sight of the rest of the world, they became legendary in the inner-city Sydney music scene they themselves never quite fitted in to. The lineup changed a bit over the years (Ingrid Spielman on keyboards, Garry Manley on bass, etc.) before Tactics finally called it a day in the mid-1980's, but the overall effect remained the same: music and lyrics that have aged a lot better than most of the stuff from that time and place, and a set of releases that decades later still grab and surprise listeners who may never have heard of Tactics before.Tactics first album, "My Houdini", was recorded and released in 1980; "Glebe", their second, followed it in 1981. These two were followed over the next few years by "The Bones Of Barry Harrison" (a live album), "Holden Interview", and "Blue and White Future Whale".
Twenty five years later, Memorandum Recordings in conjunction with Reverberation has released a new archival compilation from Tactics, entitled The Sound of the Sound Volume 1.
This double CD package features the band's first two albums, "My Houdini" and "Glebe" plus a good helping of unreleased songs from the era and a few from "Bones of Barry Harrison". All tracks have been re-mastered specifically for this release, with the "Glebe" album also having been remixed from the original multi-track masters.In conjunction with this release, Tactics played a couple of well-received reunion concerts in Sydney (September 2006), and plans are afoot to continue the reissue of more Tactics material.
TACTICS
MY HOUDINI TIED IN PADLOCKS WALKS THE LINE BETWEEN MORALITY AND LAUGHTER. AN ENEMY OF ART AND ETHICS, OF EVERYTHING FIXED; RECONCILING OPPOSITES IN A WHIRL OF LEAVES, OF DANCING AND DRUMS. MEN IN CHAINS MOVING LIKE MARIONETTES, STINGING SALT GUITARS SO LOUD, DANCING VOICES MALE AND FEMALE CROSSING AND CHANTING, HIGH EVERYDAY NOISES OF BUSES AND TRAINS. WE ARE THE TAPE RECORDING LIVER OF THE HERE AND NOW IN 2200 THEYLL DIG UP OUR CONTAINER, THEYLL HEAR THE STORY, THEYLL KNOW WE WERE, WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE WILL BE
TACTICS: THE SOUND OF THE SOUND
