Australian Crawl - 1980 - The Boys Light Up FLAC

My Coffee's Gone Cold/Man Crazy/Way I've Been/Chinese Eyes/Downhearted/Beautiful People/Indisposed/Walk My Way/The Boys Light Up/Boot Hill/Red Guitar/Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama



Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David Reyne (drums) in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough (vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl swimming style also known as the Australian crawl.

Australian Crawl were associated with surf music and sponsored a surfing competition in 1984. However, they also handled broader social issues such as shallow materialism, alcoholism, car accidents, and cautionary tales of romance.

After their 1980 debut album, The Boys Light Up reached No. 4, Australian Crawl had two No. 1 albums; 1981's Sirocco and 1982's Sons of Beaches. Their early singles reached the top 25 but none broke into the Top Ten;[1] their best performing single was No. 1 hit "Reckless" which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits, and came from their 1983 Semantics EP.


The Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian pub rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People". The album reached #4 on the Australian album charts and remained in the charts for an unbroken 101 weeks, eventually selling over 280 000 copies (five times platinum).

The title track was written by James Reyne. It contains the invented word "dorseted": "People aren't used to hearing 'dorseted', and it's not actually a word - it's from the Dorset Gardens - I'm trying to be as suburban as possible, and it rhymed with 'corseted'." - James Reyne, 2003

Various band members were involved in songwriting, often with relatives or former bandmates. Rhythm guitarist Brad Robinson's father James Robinson was a Federal Arbitration Court Justice and co-wrote two songs for this album. Reyne's bandmate from Spiff Rouch, Mark Hudson co-wrote their first single, "Beautiful People" (1979). "Downhearted" was written by Bill McDonough and his bandmates from The Flatheads, Guy McDonough (his brother, who later joined the Crawl) and Sean Higgins. Producer, David Briggs (Little River Band guitarist), co-wrote "Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama" with Reyne.

The album was re-released in 1992 in CD format (see cover right below), and as a 2-CD set with follow-up album Sirocco in 1996. In October 2010, Boys Light Up was listed in the top 50 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.