razorback music credits

original music
composed
and performed by
Iva Davies
music recording
Spencer Lee
'Blue Eyes'
written and composed by
Elton John
and Gary Osborne
and released by
The Rocket Record
Company Limited
usage by permission of
Happenstance Limited
and Big Pig Music Limited
'New Moon On Monday'
written and performed by
Duran Duran
courtesy of
EMI Records
published in Australasia by
Chappel & Co.
(Australia Pty. Ltd.)
'Reckless' (Don't Be So)
written by
James Reyne
© Wheatley Music
courtesy
℗ EMI and Geffen
Records 1983
'Hey Little Girl'
video segment provided
courtesy
Chrysalis Records
Iva Davies is a well known performer and composer of popular music, with a
large number of charting singles, though he has composed other music, such
as his works Boxes and Berlin for the Sydney Dance Company, and The Ghost
of Time, performed with Richard Tognetti and the Sydney Symphony orchestra.
Davies won an APRA award and an AFI nomination for his work on the film's
score.
There is a lengthy interview with Davies here, and this is excerpted as he
talked about his work at the time and his use of the Fairlight to compose the
score:
Iva Davies: Icehouse stopped actively performing in 1994, but resumed again
in 2010. However from 1994 on I was involved in a series of quite high profile
projects. I had written my first contemporary ballet score, "Boxes" for the
internationally renowned Sydney Dance Company in 1985 (using mainly
Fairlight). I had also, in 1984, (using mainly Fairlight once again) composed my
first score for a feature film Razorback (directed by Russell Mulchay, who was
probably the world's leading director of music videos at the time). In 1995, after
I had stopped actively touring, I wrote another ballet for the Sydney Dance
Company, "Berlin". The two ballets, "Boxes" and "Berlin" are the Sydney Dance
Company's most successful works to date. When Graeme Murphy, the creator
of the company, Artistic Director and choreographer retired in 2007, he chose a
return season of "Berlin" to finish with….
...CAROL DUNCAN: What gave you the confidence to leap into these new
technologies?
IVA DAVIES: Perhaps it was more out of ignorance than anything, I certainly
didn't see any risk involved, but the main driver for me was that these were
new toys. Every time something new was invented, my eyes would light up and
I'd think, 'Imagine the possibilities!'
I remember expressly that conversation I had with our management where, out
of sheer co-incidence they'd moved offices from where they were in Bondi
Junction to the top storey of a two-storey building in Rushcutters Bay and the
ground storey was where they made Fairlights, believe it or not. Management
were oblivious to this, they had no idea what was going on down there. But I
did and I came to the managers one day and said, 'I desperately want to get
one of these machines, they are amazing.'
Of course, I was proven correct because they revolutionised music forever. I
think apart from the technology of recording, the sampler - which is what a
Fairlight was - was the single most influential piece of technology ever created.
I said this to my management, that I was desperate, that I'd really like one, but
the catch was they were $32,000. That was in 1981 or 1982 so you can
imagine how much money that was then - it was half a small house.
But I got one, and interestingly enough my management were quite
philosophical about it. They said, 'Well, it's a lot of money, but according to our
calculations you'll pay for this with the first two projects you use it on.' And they
were right. The first project I used it on was my very first film score for Russell
Mulcahy's 'Razorback', which is about 95% Fairlight.
The great irony of that was that I kept producing bits of music, because Russell
Mulcahy was out in the desert filming scenes and he kept dragging up Peter
Gabriel's fourth album, the one with Shock The Monkey on it, and they were
out in the desert with this blasting away on a ghetto blaster and I got it into my
head that this was what Russell likes. So I kept producing Gabriel-esque
soundscapes and so on, and the producers of the movie kept coming back to
me and saying, 'No, no no - that's not what we want, we don't want this.' In the
end I was getting various clues from them but didn't really know, but I had
another go along the lines of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' - a fairly mad piece of
classical music. I constructed all this with the Fairlight, it was a quasi-orchestral
thing. I took it back to them and they said, 'Yes! That's exactly it!' and I said,
'Well, if you wanted that sort of thing why didn't you go and get a classical
composer.'
In its day, 'Rite of Spring' was a controversial piece of music, and Iva Davies
shares a birthday with Stravinsky.
Considering that it was 1913 when that piece first hit the stage for Diaghilev's
ballet company. It wasn't just the music; it was actually the subject matter of the
ballet that I think was fairly upsetting to a lot of people. It's all about primal
sexualism, basically, so you can imagine that to an audience of 1913 that sort
of idea was fairly horrifying.
CAROL DUNCAN: In 1984, you've got Razorback, also 'Sidewalk' - the third
album from Icehouse, at this point did you consider that you didn't actually
have to be a pop star?
IVA DAVIES: No, I had a very strange life prior to that because I had a
completely Jekyll and Hyde existence. I took up the guitar when I was 13, and
taught myself, and it was probably also the year that I started taking oboe
lessons. I had these two parallel lives and completely separate lives. I had a
set of classical people - when I was in high school I played in a wind quintet
and we used to rehearse every Saturday morning. We all had our first cars at
that point. They were my friends and we went off and won the City of Sydney
Eisteddfod and so on. They never, ever met the guys that I was in the acoustic
band with. Ever! Because I just had these two lives. So my course was fairly
accidental all the way through, it was probably always going to be accidental.
To this day, I keep remembering things that I did. I remembered that I was in
the orchestra that was primarily made up of members of the Sydney Symphony
and the senior Conservatorium orchestra, of which I was a member, for the
staging of the two first Australian ballets in the Opera House. I would have
been about 19 and, of course, that's a fairly big moment for the Opera House
to have a night featuring Australian opera in that building, and I'd completely
forgotten about it. There are things from both lives that I've forgotten about.
Davies wrote the music for the film in a front bedroom studio in a house in the
inner western suburb of Sydney (he also wrote the music for Primitive Land
(including 'Great Southern Land') in the house, which he sold in 2013 after
living in for 32 years.
Davies has an informative website here, and a wiki here. The soundtrack
album is listed on his website here.
Details of the album, which was widely published as an LP and as a CD, and
remains widely available, including streaming:
As featured on the Icehouse website:
LP EMI P-430006 1984 Gatefold
Music Composed and Performed by Iva Davies
Produced by Iva Davies
Engineered by Spencer Lee
Mixed by Tim Kramer
Recorded at Studio 301, Sydney, Australia
Mastered at Studios 301 utilising the “Maxicut Process.” Pat. App. Guitars on
“Saltlake Walk” and “The Desert” by Bob Kretschmer
Bass Guitar on “The Desert” by Guy Pratt
Sound Effects courtesy of Greg Bell and Associates
Iva Davies appears courtesy of Regular Records
I.D Music - Cat Songs except * Reprise
SIDE 1:
Theme From Razorback (4'12")
Sarahʼs Theme (2'46")
Hatchet (0'18")
Saltlake Walk (2'27")
Jakeʼs Virgil (1'13")
Kangaroo Shoot (6'10")
SIDE 2:
Jakeʼs Death (3'10")
The Desert (1'53")
“Jesus Wept” (2'13")
The Visit (2'22")
Bethʼs Rape (5'16")
Petpak (2'30")
Theme From Razorback (Reprise) * (2'37")
The music was released on a two CD set, with the second CD featuring
Davies' work for 'Boxes', the 1985 score for the work performed by the Sydney
Dance Company.
Universal DIVAU1009 2014 "Razorback / Boxes"
Theme From Razorback
Sarahʼs Theme
Hatchet
Saltlake Walk
Jakeʼs Virgil
Kangaroo Shoot
Jakeʼs Death
The Desert
“Jesus Wept”
The Visit
Bethʼs Rape
Petpak
Theme From Razorback (Reprise)
The score was also given a release on Milan, and in Japan, and it remains
available via iTunes and other streaming services, indicating that, relative to
other Australian movie scores, it remains popular:
Iva Davies' website carries this biography:
One of the most iconic Australian bands ever ICEHOUSE was formed by Iva
Davies, the front man and musical creative force, that lead the band to an
amazing 28 platinum albums, eight top 10 albums and over thirty Top 40
singles.
Iva was born as Ivor Davies on the 22nd May 1955 in NSW, Australia. He later
adapted to Iva after there was a misspelling on the label of a single released
prior to the formation on Flowers/ICEHOUSE. The youngest of three siblings,
Iva grew up in a musical household with both parentsʼ members of the local
choir.
When only 6 years old, Iva fell in love with his first of many instruments, the
bagpipes, and after begging his parentʼs for lessons, Iva had to wait till he was
seven before his fingers could stretch over the chanterʼs holes in order to learn
how to play the instrument. Iva later made the move to the oboe with the help
of his first year music teacher at Epping High.
It was in July 1975 that Ivaʼs career really began with the release of his first
single by RCA with “Leading Lady” and B side “Iʼm Gonna Give You All My
Love.” But it wasnʼt until January 1980 that Iva put his name on the map when
the successful pub band he founded, FLOWERS, signed a recording contract
with Regular Records. In 1980 their debut album, ICEHOUSE, made it into the
Top 5, becoming the highest ever selling debut album in Australia.
ICEHOUSEʼs success continued with the band performing their first overseas
tour and the release of their second album, PRIMITIVE MAN, which surpassed
the success of their debut album. It was this album that produced the anthem
for Australians, Great Southern Land, which made it into the Top 5.
Whilst touring the band seized different opportunities that arose including Iva,
who travelled to Tokyo in 1984 to write the song, Walking to the Beat, for the
Yellow Magic Orchestra star, Yukihiro Takahashi. Two months later, Iva
returned to Japan to tour as a member of superband, drawn from all over the
world by Takahashi.
ICEHOUSEʼs success continued with the album, MAN OF COLOURS which
contained the hit singles Crazy and Electric Blue that topped both the US
airplay and sales charts. This album became the highest local selling album by
an Australian group ever. For MAN OF COLOURS Iva himself created the
artwork of a man clasping a bunch of coloured flowers by investing in a box of
5 crayons (which he still has till this day) and a black felt pen.
Beyond ICEHOUSE Iva has, and still continues, to showcase his musical skills
for films, ballet, television and special events. Over the years he has composed
scores for two of the most successful ballets for the Sydney Dance Company,
Boxes (1985) and Berlin (1995). True commendation for his works came when,
after 30 years as founder and Artistic Director of the Sydney Dance Company,
Graeme Murphy chose to close his Directorship with a return season of Berlin
in 2007.
Ivaʼs score The Ghost of Time was also performed with Richard Tognetti and
Sydney Symphony Orchestra on Millennium Eve at the Sydney Opera House
as part of International Millennium Celebrations telecast to over 3.5 billion
people worldwide.
In 2003 Iva also co-composed the film score for Peter Weirʼs Master and
Commander starring Russell Crowe. Critics from around the world praised his
work with the Washington Post saying, “…an unforgettable score.”
ICEHOUSE and Iva Davies have won many awards including the Countdown
Award for the Most Popular Male Performer, an ARIA award for the Best Album
for Man of Colours, an ARIA for Highest Selling Album for Man of Colours, and
an ARIA Award for The Ghost of Time in 2000. The band was inducted in the
ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006. In recent years Iva Davies has maintained a
presence in the Australian media with appearances in a variety of music &
entertainment, TV and radio shows, and in interviews and featured press
articles. 2011 and into 2012 saw Iva Davies and ICEHOUSE headline a
number of major music festivals in Australia and New Zealand including
Homebake and the Breath Of Life Festival, which brought him more prime time
media appearances including a number of on-air live performances. This
coincided with the highly successful special release of the ICEHOUSE WHITE
HEAT greatest hits CD & DVD which sold to Gold levels in just 2 weeks.
In January 2012 he was made a Friend Of Australia for the GʼDay Australia
campaign in the USA where he wined and dined with Hollywood stars, music
celebrities and government ministers and performed a live set including Great
Southern Land and Electric Blue. On January 26th 2012 he was honoured as
official Australia Day Ambassador including featuring in a number of Tourism
Australia videos.
Iva was made an Australia Day Ambassador in 2001 and every year on
Australia Day travels to a different region of New South Wales, on behalf of the
Australia Day Council, to take part in and perform official duties for local
Australia Day activities. Ou
tside his musical activities, Iva has a long history of contributing back to the
community from which he comes. Since the 1990s he has been, and remains,
an Ambassador for the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Australia, a non-profit
organization which assists in treating those with physical and intellectual
disabilities via the power of music. He has a long association going back to the
late 1980s with the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal where he works every
year that he is in Australia, either door-knocking or at one of the events on the
day. Iva is also a Patron of Entertainment Assist, the local arm of Music Cares
which supports artists and their families who have fallen on hard times.
All albums in the ICEHOUSE catalogue were re-released in May 2012 with a
focus on the 30th Anniversary Edition of Primitive Man and the 30th
Anniversary Edition of Man Of Colours. Between October and November of
2012 Iva Davies and ICEHOUSE performed to sell-out audiences on their
Primitive Colours Tour which showcased the songs from the two Anniversary
albums plus other favourites from the ICEHOUSE pantheon of hits. Due to the
success of the Tour, the band has been invited to present several ʻEncoreʼ
performances in January 2013. ICEHOUSE was also invited to perform several
special events during the year.
In June 2013 Iva was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for
ʻsignificant service to the music and entertainment industry as a songwriter and
performer, and to the communityʼ.
Davies is closing 2013 with a bit of fun called DubHOUSE, where he and an
expanded band rework the songs of ICEHOUSE and some much-loved cover
songs with reggae, bluebeat and dancehall feels and is looking forward to
continuing his and ICEHOUSEʼs musical journey through 2014 and beyond.
(Below: Iva Davies, in his early years, performing with Ice House, and in later
years)