Billy Thorpe - Stimulation (1981)

(Australian 1956 - 2007)

In 1981, things began to slow down again for Thorpie. In March, Billy Thorpe turned thirty-five and it seemed to give him pause. He returned to Australia to play shows for the first time in two years, and was more than a little taken aback at the number of ‘old’ people who recognised him in the street. While the always youthful lad, Billy sometimes appeared to live in a ‘Peter Pan’ world, his audience was ageing in real time.

[Billy]  'It’s frightening. Because when you’ve been around so long people tend to think you are much older. I mean, I’m thirty-five but people think I’m fifty-five!

‘I realised America was a challenge, that there were no challenges left for me here, and people were taking me for granted because I’d been around so long. But in America if people didn’t like me it was just that. It wasn’t because of something they’d read or heard about me or something I’d done in the past . . . I’m established in America now. I’ve reached that level where I automatically get airplay. I’m over the first hurdle and off and running.’

However confident Billy sounded to Australian reporters, 'Stimulation', his third US album, hadn’t exactly delivered more hits. On this album, the ‘sci-fi androgyny’ even carried over to several incredibly high-pitched, almost feminine vocals. Billy was of course simply breaking out of his comfort zone and it was no more than any other artist of the period would have done. Disco and country music were the two most popular music forms among the wider listening audience that year, even though in the cooler parts of town, the young people were listening to the so-called New Wave bands, punk and post-punk artists and singer-songwriters who had something to say and a new—or at least interesting—way of saying it. 

[Billy] ‘With the second side [of Stimulation] . . . I tried a slightly different approach. We open up the second side with a track called “Syndrome DOA”, which is an acoustic . . . Well, it’s got an African flavour to it.’

Gil Matthews (drums), Billy Thorpe, Leland Sklar (bass)

Billy had been inspired by a documentary he’d seen about Ethiopia, and the North African motif was one that would surface again later. 

[Billy] ‘We used a couple of African drummers on it. It’s very “chanty”. Lots of voices singing the chorus and there’s a big percussion breakdown in the middle of it.’

[Cotton Bowl, Texas, 1980] With Leland Sklaar and Gil Matthews

As always, it made sense to Billy to keep developing his songwriting and image collectively as an artist, no matter what the consequences. Without the safety net of his faithful Australian audience, he had to keep pushing himself to renew his approach to music each time he made an album. This time, he’d gone as far as to record nearly every instrument on the album himself. He played bass, guitar and keyboards and programmed the ‘drums’ on some of the songs. 

[Billy] ‘On a couple of tracks on the second side, we used a drum machine and a drummer together. And it’s very effective.’ 

L to R-Billy Thorpe, Lauren Brown, Spencer Proffer

Making records that allowed him to experiment kept him interested, and he took the crowds with him. That desire to innovate is what allowed him to succeed as he did in America.

As the eighties progressed, Australian bands had really started competing for radio play in the US market. Little River Band was so big in the late seventies in the US that audiences were often surprised that Glenn Shorrock didn’t have an American accent.

Billy with wife Lynn

Olivia Newton John, with whom Billy and Lynn were close, was likewise huge there not only as a singer but as an actress; her innate charm and success in Grease had made her immensely bankable in Hollywood. AC/DC was also becoming enormous in America’s South, where their unreconstructed Rock’n’Roll was becoming as much a part of teenage culture as it was in the Australian suburbs.

There can be absolutely no doubt that Billy wanted that same success, and he tore after it with his usual flair. He had had years of insecurity in Australia, followed by years when the money rolled in and out in disproportionate amounts. Mushroom took a punt on Billy’s US songs in 1981, releasing the single "In My Room"/"She’s Alive" in February and another, "Just the Way I Like It"/ "Rock Until You Drop", in October. Neither single even registered on the Australian charts, but Thorpe went back to Australia to promote them in October, culminating that tour with an appearance at Tanelorn Festival which is still talked about today. 

The Australian reviews for 'Stimulation' weren’t quite as dire as has been hinted at since; rather, the reception was simply subdued, and no one could figure out why Billy was working so hard to break America when he could have been pushing the Rock’n’Roll barrow here, making a living and keeping the audiences happy. 

The Telegraph in Sydney cited the ‘heavily instrumented . . . breath-grabbing number’ ‘Rock Until You Drop’ as being the sort of approach Billy should continue to take, saying that the title track, with its echoing vocals and slightly reggae-ish instrumentation, was ‘an area that perhaps he should leave alone’.

While touring Australia in 1981, Billy was interviewed by Donnie Sutherland for the T.V music show 'Sounds' and talks about his then current album, Stimulation and his time in the states, in the YouTube clip below. Sadly, the clip does not feature a track from his Stimulation album, but rather his earlier single from 1976 "Almost Summer".

Rolling Stone’s Toby Creswell was less kind to Billy’s new album, describing side one as ‘watered down heavy metal and boogie’ and accusing Billy of writing lyrics that ‘rarely rise above trite’, although he praised the more contemporary sounds of side two. 

Bruce Elder reviewed the album for the short-lived magazine 'Record', and suggested awkwardly that now Johnny O’Keefe was dead, Billy was the heir apparent, even though he then dismissed the album as ‘half-masticated . . . boring . . . heavy metal schlock’. He rather unkindly used the title of the song ‘Syndrome DOA’ as being something of a prophetic metaphor for Billy’s music and career.

I think Billy had the last laugh - don't you?  [extract from 'Billy Thorpe's Time On Earth' by Jason Walker, 2009. p212-216]

Billy and his family - RIP Thorpie

This post consists of FLACS ripped from my newly acquired vinyl, which I recently purchased while visiting New Zealand.  The album is in mint condition and was sold a old 'new' stock - not bad for a mere $8 (NZ).  Full album artwork and label scans are also included.

I'm sure the wait has been worth it (if you saw my previous WOCK on vinyl 'Teaser' post) - so don't waste anymore time and grab this gem now!

Track Listing:

01  Just The Way I Like It  3:48

02  No Rules On The Road  4:50

03  Rock Until You Drop  4:49

04  You Touched Me  3:45

05  Let Me Outta Here  3:57

06  Syndrome D.O.A.  5:48

07  T.K.O.  3:40

08  Face In The Mirror  3:28

09  Stimulation  5:15

Musicians:

Drums - Gil Matthews / Alvin Taylor

Guitar - Billy Thorpe

Keyboards - Randy Kerber

Synthesizer - Billy Thorpe

Percussion - Geoffrey Hales

Background Vocals - Devin Payne

Background Vocals - Randy Bishop

Vocals - Billy Thorpe

Stimulation Link (243Mb)