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Artist Biography
by Kelvin Hayes
Originally a five-piece formed in Melbourne in 1985, Australian rock band
Boom Crash Opera,
like many before them, got their grounding from the pub rock circuit.
Their striking debut blended the muscular rock of "Listen Like
Thieves"-period
INXS with an almost English melodic richness not dissimilar to
Tears for Fears. Power vocalist
Dale Ryder
was backed by trademark chant style vocals from the other bandmembers,
including group co-founders and writing partners guitarist/bassist
Richard Pleasance and guitarist
Peter Farnan (credited also as executive producers), alongside producer
Alex Sadkin, who tragically died shortly after he finished working on the band's 1987 self-titled debut. Keyboardist
Greg O'Connor and drummer
Peter Maslen completed the
BCO
lineup. After five hit singles at home, including the number one "Great
Wall," another single, "Her Charity," did well in getting them noticed
in the States, as did "Onion Skin" (a Top Ten rock chart hit) and "Talk
About It" from the band's second disc,
These Here Are Crazy Times. However, the hand of fate that helped
INXS,
Icehouse, and
Midnight Oil find success abroad eluded
BCO,
although many argued they deserved wider acclaim and recognition.
Further misfortune would occur upon the departure (due to tinnitus) of
Pleasance, as well as wrangles with their label. They finally settled on BMG for their next album,
Fabulous Beast, which marked the debut of
Pleasance's replacement,
Ian Tilley. Many more singles were notched up in Australia, culminating in a 1998 best-of appropriately titled
Best Things, after which
O'Connor left.
Pleasance went on to produce other artists such as
Deborah Conway (Do Re Mi) and
Noiseworks'
Jon Stevens; he also worked with
Suzanne Vega and
Elvis Costello. Two
Pleasance solo albums,
Galleon and
Colourblind, were issued by
John Farnham's Gotham Records.
Tracklist
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