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Any Old Love

by HALFWAY

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Dropout 03:51
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Dulcify 03:07
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Factory Rats 03:24
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about

Who remembers the thoroughbred Dulcify? He had pace to make you gawk. But he was bug-eyed and badarse. He trashed a plane once, going to a big race in Perth. But when he was good he was gorgeous. Amped and full of swagger. Like when he won the 1979 Cox Plate, busting out of a rails box, taking the field in three strides and winning by seven lengths. Old-timers say he crossed the line laughing. He just had to win the Melbourne Cup. Halfway through the long run he was cruising when the field slowed. At his heels was Hyperno, who was known to be a psycho. Hyperno lunged and flayed the champ's haunch. Veering and accelerating, Dulcify sent such force through his musculature that he exploded his own pelvis. But he kept racing. For another thousand metres. Till he staggered into the off-field.

Hyperno won The Cup. In this world, what you deserve is not what you get. Dulcify took a bullet in a horse-float and was left, while the sun set, flyblown in a paddock alongside an abattoir. There's a song inspired by Dulcify on this album. It's got winners and losers and all the yearning in between. Two horses serve in it as alpha and omega. "Some days Doriemus. Some Dulcify." Doriemus? The 1995 Melbourne Cup winner. All business. Tremendous staying power. Flawless technique. Think: Glen Campbell to Dulcify's Gram Parsons.

The Halfway world is a Dulcify world. Home base is Barcaldine. Westward is Longreach. East on the Capricorn Highway takes you to Rockhampton. You drive 50 hours every week. In Emerald there's some fella with a scheme. In Rockhampton a spiv will put you on a horse if you turn up for trackwork at 5 o'clock for three mornings. The Halfway world is arid at the horizons. Slam on the brakes at a washaway bridge. Arc into a pub carpark at 100 kph. The Shakespeare Hotel. Bards on a binge. Dust all around. Glare like an axe. Don't die out here wondering. Play every punt until the pain comes. When the pain comes it comes big. Because there's only so much luck. A man will try to beat it. This Halfway world. There's a woman here too. In stark rooms in broken towns. Kids are dossing down. Top-and-tailed in a bed; maybe curled on the floor. The man comes and goes. The woman takes the kids. The kids need her help. Her car skulks through dawn. Sunlight climbs like a mean grifter over dirty window sills. It's a hard life loving him.

This world should grind you down. With its toughness. Its pain. Instead it lifts you up. Because it gives you songs from people who've learned how the main chance is entirely up to them. It depends on love. And decency. And being wide awake when the beauty comes. Listen for the beauty. There it is -- one example among many -- in the high-lonesome refrain that sweetens the chorus at the end of 'Waking Hours'. Loveliness. Good and simple. Here's a world tuned to redemption. Here's the Halfway world.

Ross Gibson -- Autor of ‘Seven Versions of an Australian Badland’ and ’26 Views of the Starburst World’

credits

released February 7, 2014

John Busby: Vocals, acoustic guitar

Chris Dale: Vocals, electric guitar

Ben Johnson: Bass, piano, vocals

Elwin Hawtin: Drums, persussion

Noel Fitzpatrick: Pedal steel guitar

Liam Fitzpatrick: Banjo, mandolin

John Willsteed: Guitars

Luke Peacock: Keys, organ, piano, vocals

Produced by Robert Forster

Recorded by Phil Graham at QUT Gasworks Studios, Brisbane.
Assisted by Tom Hunt

Mixed by Phil Graham

All mixing & overdubs at Electric Monk Studio, Brisbane.

Co-produced by John Willsteed & Peter Jesperson

Mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service

'Any Old Love Pts 1,2,3 & 4' was recorded late one night live after the regular sessions had finished.
Players:
J. Busby - Acoustic gtr & vox
C. Dale - Acoustic gtr & vox
J. Willsteed - Lead nylon acoustic gtr
B. Johnson - Piano
R. Forster - Tambourine & footsteps
J. Walker Black - False confidence

'The Waking Hours' was recorded the following day live.
Players:
J.Busby Ac gtr & vox
C. Dale - Ac gtr & vox
J Willsteed - Fretless bass
Luke Peacock - Lead nylon acoustic gtr
B, Johnson - Backing Vox

String arrangement on Shakespeare Hotel: Geoff Wilkes

Strings: Richard Grantham, Wayne Jennings and Liz Young

French Horn on Dulcify & The waking hours: Aled Humphrys

Percussion on Dulcify: Liam Bray

Live band pics by Benjamin Knight

Studio band pics by Dane Beesley

All Barcaldine pictures taken New Years Day 1980 by Michael Keniger with permission from U.Q. Library

Layout & art by The Short Answer

Album available on CD & 180gram vinyl through Plus One Records www.plusonerecords.com.au

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all rights reserved

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about

Halfway Brisbane, Australia

Halfway formed in 2000 in Brisbane, Australia.
They have released 8 critically acclaimed albums.
Their most recent LP 'On the Ghostline, with Hands of Lightning was released in Sept 2022 thru ABC Music & Plus One records. Their previous album 'Restless Dream' (2021) was a collaboration with First Nations Elder Bob Weatherall and was nominated at the 2021 ARIA Awards for "Best World Music Album".
... more

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