(Australian 1980 - 97)
The
Divinyls formed in 1980, founded by Mark McEntee and fronted by lead singer Christina Amphlett. After scoring several gigs, they were discovered by Australian director Ken Cameron. This led to Divinyls providing the entire soundtrack for his 1982 film Monkey Grip. Amphlett was also given a supporting role in the film, playing a temperamental rock singer loosely based on herself, fronting a band played by other Divinyls members. In the film, the band performed their debut single "Boys in Town", as well as other songs "Only Lonely", "Elsie", "Only You", "Girlfriends" and "Gonna Get You", the latter being the first appearance of them in the film. The soundtrack Music from Monkey Grip was acknowledged as a Divinyls album, and when released in 1982, it made the top twenty-five of the Australian Albums Chart.
Monkey Grip
Nora (Noni Hazlehurst) lives with her 11-year-old daughter Gracie (Alice Garner) in a crowded share house in inner-city Melbourne, in the late 1970s. Nora works for an alternative magazine, as she tries to write fiction. Javo (Colin Friels) is an actor, a friend of her boyfriend Martin (Tim Burns). Nora feels a powerful attraction to Javo’s reckless charm. Her friend Eve (Cathy Downes) warns her that he’s a heroin user, but Nora is already in love. Gracie accepts her mother’s choice, as does Martin. Javo becomes a regular around the house and in Nora’s bed. They are mad about each other, except that Javo keeps disappearing to chase heroin and acting jobs.
Nora calls it off and tries to move on, drifting towards an affair with Willie (Harold Hopkins), a drummer in a rising rock‘n’roll band. Javo gets thrown in jail in Bangkok for a few months. When he returns, he and Nora reunite, but he is seeing another woman, the beautiful actress Lillian (Candy Raymond). Nora, Javo and Gracie go to Sydney for a holiday. He promises to kick heroin, but that never happens. Nora returns to Melbourne with Gracie and restarts her life. She begins writing again, moves to a new share house with Eve, and starts seeing Gerald (Don Miller-Robinson), the guitarist from the rock band. Javo reappears, with another declaration of love, but he is still using heroin. Nora tries to summon the courage to end it, for the last time.
Noni Hazlehurst won Best Actress at the 1982 AFI Awards. She had originally auditioned for the role of the singer Angela, who’s played in the film by Christina Amphlett, lead singer of The Divinyls (a group formed in Sydney in 1980). Nora’s daughter in the film is played by Alice Garner, the daughter of Helen Garner. Neither Hazlehurst nor Colin Friels was well-known at the time of their casting.
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| Chrissy Amphlett |
Monkey Grip was released in Australian cinemas in June 1982. In addition to Noni Hazlehurst’s Best Actress AFI Award in 1982, the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Alice Garner), Cinematography (David Gribble) and Editing (David Huggett) awards. [Extract from
Australian Screen Online]
This post consists of FLACS ripped from my vinyl, which I bought back in 1982, more than likely from Reading Records in Carlton. Mini albums were big at the time, and this one was great value with seven tracks for $7.99 (Most mini LPs only had 5-6 tracks)
Interestingly enough, the CD release is now worth considerably more than vinyl, with eBay prices reaching above $200. Insane !
Of course, full album artwork for both vinyl and CD is included, along with label scans
Track Listing
01 - Boys In Town
02 - Only Lonely
03 - Elsie
04 - Elsie (Reprise)
05 - Only You
06 - Gonna Get You
07 - Girl Friends
Divinyls were:
Christina (Chrissy) Amphlett - Lead Vocals
Mark McEntee - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Bjarne Ohlin - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Grossman - Bass
Richard Harvey - Drums
Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I must be old as I remember this being released.