Swingshift is a live album released by Australian band Cold Chisel

Cold Chisel

Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...

 in 1981. It was their first album to reach No. 1 on the Australian chart, debuting there in its first week.

Details

The performances on "Swingshift" were taken from concerts at Sydney's Capitol Theatre and Melbourne's Festival Hall from the "Youth in Asia" tour in the winter of 1980. Don Walker said compared to the studio versions of the songs, "Generally the feel's a lot better, and the band plays a lot better." The songs are as recorded live, but studio remixing took 125 hours.

Barnes said, "Most of the album was recorded at Sydney's Capitol Theatre on the last night of our Youth In Asia tour. It was a really hot night. Everything just happened, you know? Everyone fired." The opening acts for this night were Mental as Anything

Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything are an Australian New Wave–rock music band formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne "Bird"...

 and INXS

INXS

INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...

.

Producer Mark Opitz said of the recording process, "I just turned up at gigs with recording equipment. Half the band didn’t know I was gonna do it. I didn’t want them to know too early because I didn’t wanna get them gun-shy."

There are covers of "Knocking on Heaven's Door", Creedence Clear Water Revival's "Long as I Can See the Light", and Jesse Stone's "Don't Let Go"

Don't Let Go (Jesse Stone song)

"Don't Let Go" is a song written by Jesse Stone. The song was first a hit for Roy Hamilton in 1958. The Roy Hamilton version reached number two on the R&B charts and number twelve on the pop charts .-Cover versions:...

 on the album. Barnes introduces the latter song by saying he prefers the version done by Jerry Lee

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

.

The picture on the cover of the album is taken from a still of a video recording from when the band played the Manly Vale in April 1980.

Reception

Adrian Zupp at allmusic gave the album a score of four and a half out of five, noting, "The band was at the peak of its powers and launching from all silos, and it shows." He noted there are many highlights, including, "the band's signature number "Khe Sanh," the dark and frantic "Conversations," the beefed-up rockabilly of "Rising Sun," and the rock & roll meteor "Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)." He went on to praise the performances of support players Billy Rodgers and David Blight, but questioned the inclusion of the cover of "Knocking on Heaven's Door".

Upon release, the album was also highly praised in RAM, one of the leading Australian music magazines of the time. Reviewer Greg Taylor said, "The result is four sides of high rock and roll, brilliantly played, well recorded, and definitely worth taking home - especially if you're finding Chisel gigs a bit crowded for comfort these days." However, he does note, "The very fact that a live gig demands more up rockers than anything else precludes Swingshift from being a Very Best of Cold Chisel."

Critic Toby Creswell

Toby Creswell

Toby Creswell is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone and a founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes...

 said of Swingshift, "the amazing thing was the way they fitted together. Jimmy and Mossy deliver spade loads of emotion. As much as Jimmy has been criticised for screaming, if you listen to that record what he's doing vocally is really amazing."

Track listing

Disc: 1

1. "Conversations"
2. "Shipping Steel"
3. "Breakfast at Sweethearts"
4. "Rising Sun"
5. "Choirgirl
   Choirgirl (song)
   "Choirgirl" was a 1979 single from Australian rock band Cold Chisel. A ballad with an R&B influenced melody,the single was released months before the album East that it featured on. It was the first time the band had recorded with producer Mark Opitz....
   
   "
6. "Khe Sanh
   Khe Sanh (song)
   "Khe Sanh" is an Australian song, released as a 45 rpm single in May 1978, and named after the Battle of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War. The song, performed by Cold Chisel, having been written by pianist Don Walker and featuring the vocals of Jimmy Barnes, is about an Australian Vietnam veteran...
   
   "
7. "My Turn to Cry"
8. "Four Walls"
9. "One Long Day"

Disc: 2

1. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door
   Knockin' on Heaven's Door
   "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.-Story line and song structure:...
   
   "
2. "My Baby"
   My Baby (Cold Chisel song)
   "My Baby" was a 1980 single from Australian rock band Cold Chisel, the third released from the album East and the first of the band's singles not to be written by organist Don Walker...
   
   
3. "Star Hotel"
4. "Don't Let Go"
   Don't Let Go (Jesse Stone song)
   "Don't Let Go" is a song written by Jesse Stone. The song was first a hit for Roy Hamilton in 1958. The Roy Hamilton version reached number two on the R&B charts and number twelve on the pop charts .-Cover versions:...
   
   
5. "Long as I Can See the Light"
6. "The Party's Over"
7. "Cheap Wine"
8. "Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)"

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Australian Kent Music Report 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...  Albums Chart	1

Personnel

• Jim Barnes
  Jimmy Barnes
  James Dixon Swan , better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at...
  
   - vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Ian Moss
  Ian Moss
  Ian Moss is an Australian rock musician, best known as the guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial ten year career, Moss recorded eight albums, three of which were No. 1 national hits. His solo career began with a No. 1 album and single and five ARIA Awards...
  
   - 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...
  
  , lead vocals track 9, disc 1 and tracks 2 & 6, disc 2
• Don Walker
  Don Walker (musician)
  Don Walker is an Australian musician and songwriter known for writing many of the hits for Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel. He played piano and keyboard with the band from 1973 to 1983, when they disbanded. He has since continued to record and tour, both solo and with Tex, Don and Charlie,...
  
   - organ
  Electronic organ
  An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
  
  , piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Phil Small
  Phil Small
  Phillip "Phil" James Small is an Australian bassist from pub rock band Cold Chisel. He has written songs for Cold Chisel including, "My Baby" for the 1980 album East, "Notion For You" off the Teenage Love album and "The Game"....
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Steve Prestwich
  Steve Prestwich
  -External links:* *...
  
   - 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 ....