I Come From A Land Down Under...Well Kinda Sorta

Following on from the phenomenal success of Men At Work was always going to be a challenge for former frontman Colin Hay. With the release of his debut solo album 'Looking For Jack' - credited to Colin James Hay - the man who sang 'Down Under' but was actually born and raised in Scotland, faced a steep challenge to leave the past behind. In spite of the obvious quality of songs like 'Hold Me' and 'Can I Hold You?', both singles and albums failed to make much of an impact on the charts ('Hold Me' did reach #40 in Australia), and Hay was now consigned to trying to fill local pubs and clubs instead of stadium and arena. Gone was the pseudo Australian accent and eccentric stage presence that had been part of his role with Men At Work, but still present was an accomplished writer and performer.

Another slight tweak in moniker followed with 1990 album 'Wayfaring Sons' being credited to the Colin Hay Band. 'Into My Life' was another classy song lifted from an album that explored the singers Celtic roots but once again Hay's audience remained elusive. Two more albums followed but failed to register a blip on the chart radar, and Hay explored other artistic endeavours including acting, before taking a revamped version of Men At Work back on the road in the mid to late 90s. His latest album is 'Are You Looking For Me' released in 2007.

The track I'd like to share is 'Hold Me', taken from the album 'Looking For Jack'. I bought it on 45 at the time of its release and later found a second hand copy of the album on CD. I truly love this song, it is rich and layered and incorporates simply sublime vocal harmonies into the intro and chorus, very reminiscent of the vocal choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Although several Colin Hay CD's are available via his website, 'Looking For Jack' doesn't appear to be one of them.

To experience the splendour of Colin Hay's 'Hold Me', have a look at the following (very high quality copy) promo clip:

Check out Colin Hay's website here: http://www.colinhay.com/ where you can read about Colin's exploits with the latest incarnation of Ringo Starr's Allstar Band.