Can't Help Myself
Encyclopedia
"Can't Help Myself" is the debut single released by Australian synthpop
/ rock band
Flowers, later known as Icehouse
. It was released in May 1980 as a 7" vinyl single
on independent label, Regular Records, five months ahead of debut album Icehouse
. A 10" vinyl single was released in July and featured a cover depicting individual images of band members diagonally across the band's name and the single's title (see infobox at right middle). It peaked at #10 on the Australian Singles Charts
.
The music video was filmed in 1980 in a car park in Chatswood, Sydney
, New South Wales
, Australia
. (http://www.spellbound-icehouse.org/howtoraisearockstar.html)
It was also released in the UK on Chrysalis Records
in October 1981 as the second single under the band name Icehouse (see infobox at right below) as both a 7" and 10" vinyl single and later in the U.S. as a 7" and 12" single. A remix version by Australian Trance
DJ
, beXta
, was released on the Icehouse album Meltdown
in 2002.
(vocals, guitar
, bass guitar
, keyboards
, oboe
), a classically trained musician, and their main creative force; with bass
player Keith Welsh. Davies was working as a part-time cleaner at a squash court managed by Welsh's mother, they lived nearby and were both interested in forming a band. Additional musicians used by Flowers in 1978 were Anthony Smith, who was some times called Adam Hall, on keyboards and Don Brown on drums
. The band built up a strong following as a live act around the pub circuit
, providing distinctive cover version
s of songs by Roxy Music
, David Bowie
, Lou Reed
, T-Rex, Ultravox
and Brian Eno
.
By mid-1979 John Lloyd (ex-Paul Kelly and the Dots
) replaced Brown on drums and Michael Hoste replaced Smith on keyboards. After signing to the independent Regular Records label, distributed by Festival
, Flowers released their debut single in May 1980, "Can't Help Myself", written by Davies, which hit the Australian Top 10 in June 1980. This was followed by their debut album Icehouse
, which reached #4 on the National albums chart and became one of the year's biggest selling albums in Australia. Further singles "We Can Get Together
" (October, 1980) and "Walls
" (January, 1981) from Icehouse also hit the Top 20.
Following their signing with Chrysalis Records
in early 1981 for the European, Japanese, UK and US releases Flowers had to change their name due to legal restrictions preventing confusion with a Scottish group The Flowers. Therefore when this single was released on the international markets, in October 1981 by Chrysalis, it was released under the band's new name, Icehouse.
(as Ivor Arthur Davies) unless otherwise indicated.
Recording details
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
/ rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Flowers, later known as Icehouse
Icehouse (band)
Icehouse is an Australian rock band, formed as Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock style, they later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synthpop style music and attained Top Ten singles chart success in both Europe and the U.S...
. It was released in May 1980 as a 7" vinyl single
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on independent label, Regular Records, five months ahead of debut album Icehouse
Icehouse (album)
Icehouse was the debut album released by Australian rock Synthpop band Flowers, later known as Icehouse, on the independent label Regular Records in October 1980. The title and the artist are sometimes incorrectly swapped, because the band changed their name from Flowers into Icehouse after this...
. A 10" vinyl single was released in July and featured a cover depicting individual images of band members diagonally across the band's name and the single's title (see infobox at right middle). It peaked at #10 on the Australian Singles Charts
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
.
The music video was filmed in 1980 in a car park in Chatswood, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. (http://www.spellbound-icehouse.org/howtoraisearockstar.html)
It was also released in the UK on Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
in October 1981 as the second single under the band name Icehouse (see infobox at right below) as both a 7" and 10" vinyl single and later in the U.S. as a 7" and 12" single. A remix version by Australian Trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, beXta
Bexta
BeXta is a female Trance DJ and producer currently based in Melbourne. Originally from Brisbane, she studied classical music before turning to electronic dance music in the mid-1990s....
, was released on the Icehouse album Meltdown
Meltdown (Icehouse album)
Meltdown is a remix album by Australian rock synthpop band, Icehouse with tracks remixed by Australian electronic musicians and bands including Infusion, sonicanimation and beXta. It was released in October 2002 within Australia by dIVA Records under Warner Music Australia. The single "Lay Your...
in 2002.
Background
Flowers were formed in Sydney in 1977 by Iva DaviesIva Davies
Iva Davies , is the frontman for Australian electro/new wave/rock band Icehouse.-Biography:...
(vocals, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
), a classically trained musician, and their main creative force; with bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
player Keith Welsh. Davies was working as a part-time cleaner at a squash court managed by Welsh's mother, they lived nearby and were both interested in forming a band. Additional musicians used by Flowers in 1978 were Anthony Smith, who was some times called Adam Hall, on keyboards and Don Brown on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
. The band built up a strong following as a live act around the pub circuit
Pub rock (Australia)
Pub rock is a style of Australian rock and roll popular throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and still influencing contemporary Australian music today....
, providing distinctive cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of songs by Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, T-Rex, Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
.
By mid-1979 John Lloyd (ex-Paul Kelly and the Dots
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
) replaced Brown on drums and Michael Hoste replaced Smith on keyboards. After signing to the independent Regular Records label, distributed by Festival
Festival Records (Australia)
Festival Records was an Australian music recording and publishing company which was founded in Sydney in 1952 and operated until 2005....
, Flowers released their debut single in May 1980, "Can't Help Myself", written by Davies, which hit the Australian Top 10 in June 1980. This was followed by their debut album Icehouse
Icehouse (album)
Icehouse was the debut album released by Australian rock Synthpop band Flowers, later known as Icehouse, on the independent label Regular Records in October 1980. The title and the artist are sometimes incorrectly swapped, because the band changed their name from Flowers into Icehouse after this...
, which reached #4 on the National albums chart and became one of the year's biggest selling albums in Australia. Further singles "We Can Get Together
We Can Get Together
"We Can Get Together" is the second single released by Australian rock band Flowers, later known as Icehouse. It was released in October 1980, on independent label Regular Records from their debut album Icehouse, two weeks before the album itself was released...
" (October, 1980) and "Walls
Walls
- Other uses :*Wall's , a company that makes ice cream*Wall's sausages, a British sausage brand*Walls, an episode of Power Rangers S.P.D.- Music :*Walls EP, a 2005 album by The Red Paintings*Walls , 2007...
" (January, 1981) from Icehouse also hit the Top 20.
Following their signing with Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
in early 1981 for the European, Japanese, UK and US releases Flowers had to change their name due to legal restrictions preventing confusion with a Scottish group The Flowers. Therefore when this single was released on the international markets, in October 1981 by Chrysalis, it was released under the band's new name, Icehouse.
Track listing
All tracks written by Iva DaviesIva Davies
Iva Davies , is the frontman for Australian electro/new wave/rock band Icehouse.-Biography:...
(as Ivor Arthur Davies) unless otherwise indicated.
7" single (Australian release)
- "Can't Help Myself" - 3:10
- "Send Somebody" (Iva Davies, Michael Hoste) - 3:42
10" single (Australian release)
- "Can't Help Myself"
- "Send Somebody" (Davies, Hoste)
- "Can't Help Myself" (Extended version)
12" single (UK release)
- "Can't Help Myself" (Club Mix 1)
- "Can't Help Myself" (Club Mix 2)
- "Fatman"
12" single (US release)
- "Can't Help Myself" (Version 1) - 5:56
- "Can't Help Myself" (Version 2) - 5:56
Personnel
Flowers members- Iva DaviesIva DaviesIva Davies , is the frontman for Australian electro/new wave/rock band Icehouse.-Biography:...
– vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Michael Hoste – keyboards
- John Lloyd – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, backing vocals - Keith Welsh – Bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals
Recording details
- Engineer: John Bee, David Cafe, Gerry Nixon
- Producer: Cameron Allan, Iva Davies
- Studios: Studio 301 except "Can't Help Myself" and "Send Somebody", recorded at Paradise Studios.
- Re-mix — Ed Thacker, Daniel Coulombe
- Mastering: David Hemming, Rick O'Neil