Ian Moss www.mosstrooper.com.au
“Only once in a blue moon would I try doing a solo show in the old days, and that was with an electric guitar. I thought this would be easy but it wasn’t. You have to reappraise the whole thing, play differently, change your soloing style. You have to go back to the song, look at what the lyrics are about, find a new way to express them. It’s a real challenge, but a rewarding one.”
Six Strings, Ian Moss’s first album in eight years, is an instant classic from one of Australia’s true rock legends, recorded at Sydney’s Sandringham Hotel with a Maton 808 acoustic guitar, three pick-ups, three microphones, and some of the greatest throat strings this country has ever heard. Cold Chisel greats, platinum solo singles, new songs and relics from Hendrix and Creedence are rendered with an impossibly warm timbre and bluesy lilt that are instantly recognisable, but with a thrilling sense
of immediacy. No wonder the crowd sounds like it’s holding its breath. “It’s nice, particularly with some of the more melancholy ballads, to be able to hear a pin drop,” Ian says. “At the end of some songs there’d be this long pause where people are still lost in the song, which is a strange moment as a performer where you’re wondering ‘Did you like that?’” The very question is a sign of the relentless quest for perfection that has contributed to Ian’s long absence from the new release racks. “Shall I?” he asks the audience after an offhand snatch of Purple Haze has them
practically hypnotised. Thankfully, yes, he does. Six Strings is the freewheeling sound of a master craftsman in full command, from the elegant ‘30s jazz standard Angel Eyes to the first Chisel song he ever sang in ‘74, The Party’s Over, to Message From Baghdad,
a topical and incredibly poignant new song by his brother, Peter Moss. Other Chisel essentials include Bow River, My Baby, Never Before and a surprising version of Saturday Night. “My policy with Chisel is I only do stuff I sang or wrote,” Ian says, “so this is one of the first times I’ve ever encroached on something Jim (Barnes) is better known for.” This version of ARIA’s Song of the Year 1989, Tucker Daughter’s, arrived by a more gradual process of mutation: “I adapted the original, possibly over-orchestrated, over-engineered, over-produced recording to a three-piece blues band years ago,” Ian says. “This version is an extension of that.
“Doing these shows reminded me again that it’s all about how you play. I’m amazed at how much colour and variation and emotion I’ve been able to get with just voice, guitar and a foot tapping on the floor. Less is more.”
TIMELINE
1973 : Ian Moss founds Orange in Adelaide with songwriter
Don Walker
1974 : Orange becomes Cold Chisel
1978 : Ian sings lead on One Long Day, B-side of debut single Khe
Sanh Cold Chisel album goes gold Ian’s version of Georgia On My Mind is a highlight of Chisel shows
1979 : Breakfast at Sweethearts LP hits #4, sells double platinum
1980 : East album features three of Ian’s lead vocals, including
single My Baby and self-penned Never Before Ian plays
on debut Icehouse LP
1981 : My Baby is Chisel’s first US single Swingshift live
album hits #2, sells triple platinum
1982 : #1 album Circus Animals features Ian’s signature tune,
Bow River Ian plays (un-credited) on Richard Clapton
LP The Great Escape
1983 : Chisel play record-breaking Last Stand tour
1984 : Posthumous Twentieth Century LP is another
double platinum #1
1986 : The Ian Moss Band hits the pubs Sessions with
Marc Hunter, Jenny Morris
1989 : Debut solo single Tucker’s Daughter hits #1 Matchbook
album is instant classic: #1, triple platinum, four singles and
five ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist, Best Album, Best Debut Album, Best Debut Single and Song of the Year
1991 : Worlds Away album, Ian’s last for five years Plays on Don Walker’s Catfish LP, Ruby
1992 : Worlds Away released Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
Scandinavia Ian plays on Ain’t Love The Strangest Thing on the Black Sorrows’ Better Times LP.
1993 : Plays on Jimmy Barnes’s Heat Richard Clapton’s Distant Thunder
1995 : Plays on Don Walker’s We’re All Gunna Die
1996 : Hard-edged Petrolhead album critically acclaimed
1997 : Ian Moss Live album issued
1998 : Chisel reunite for Last Wave of Summer tour & LP, a hugely
successful project that occupies best part of three years
2001 : A Night Out Live at the Basement DVD features Ian singing Georgia
2003 : Second Chisel reformation for Ringside DVD and album
2004 : Ian plays on Richard Clapton’s Diamond Mine LP
2005 : Appears on Jimmy Barnes’s Double Happiness duets album
Chisel play Tsunami Benefit in Melbourne Ian Moss releases
Six Strings through Liberation Blue Acoustic label
