FARMYARD, AT AUDIOCULTURE (2021): Learning 'bout . . . stuff?

 |   |  1 min read

FARMYARD, AT AUDIOCULTURE (2021): Learning 'bout . . . stuff?
Wellington band Farmyard may have had a short career – just two albums in two years at the dawn of the 70s – but their progressive folk-rock and sometimes penetrating lyrics on their self-titled debut captured the mood of that changing time.

The joy-filled and youthful optimism of early 60s, when teenagers put their parents' post-war generation behind them, had begun with buoyant Beatlemania and morphed into the acid reign period at the end of the decade.

But that brief and colourful moment gave way to the uncertainties of young adulthood for many in a generation which saw the war in Vietnam just over horizon and the responsibilities of life beyond adolescence coming in all too soon.

hero_thumb_FarmyardAnd much of that was reflected by the five-piece Farmyard whose songs – like their two-part 'Which Way Confusion'on that debut of late 1970 (“Confused, don't know which way to go . . .”) – spoke to the sense of alienation the hippie generation was starting to feel.

Also on that impressive album was'Those Days Are Gone'(“age is all I have . . . once my days would drift along . . . but suddenly I have nowhere to hide”) and the country-rock of 'Learnin' 'bout Livin 'in which the singer has “a beard of grey”, is looking back and “it appears to me we've got to tow the line”.

Farmyard was saying the past was great, the present was tense and the future looked grim . . . but always delivering these thought-provoking lyrics in memorable songs.

That's because there was quite a pedigree in the group which had emerged out of the hefty r'n'b band Tom Thumb and even more interesting reference points.

The former Tom Thumb members were bassist/singer Rick White (also in pre-Thumb band Relic), and drummer and self-confessed “jazz fan” Tom Swainson (also in the pre-Thumb Spyce of Lyfe) .

They initially teamed up with . . . 

To read the rest of this article go to Audioculture here.

Audioculture is the self-described Noisy Library of New Zealand Music and is an ever-expanding archive of stories, scenes, artists, clips and music. Elsewhere is proud to have some small association with it. Check it out here.


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Absolute Elsewhere articles index

BANDSTAND, AT AUDIOCULTURE (2019): Kiwi musicians on Australian screens

BANDSTAND, AT AUDIOCULTURE (2019): Kiwi musicians on Australian screens

Video may have killed the radio star for the MTV generation, but during the 1960s in Australia, radio stars became household faces when they appeared on the small screen. In New Zealand the... > Read more

JOY DIVISION REISSUED (2015): The art at the heart of darkness

JOY DIVISION REISSUED (2015): The art at the heart of darkness

Many decades ago on his Graceland album, Paul Simon sang, “Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts”. New Zealand threw one of the most unexpected up its singles chart: At... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Ireland: Ancient stones and pathways

Ireland: Ancient stones and pathways

As an example of Kiwi understatement it was masterful. As he emerging from the 5000 year old tomb, blinking into the bright Irish sunlight, the strapping lad from Taranaki was asked what he... > Read more

ANTOINE WIERTZ: Rape, damnation and the art of darkness

ANTOINE WIERTZ: Rape, damnation and the art of darkness

Antoine Wiertz was one pretty sick bastard all right. The gallery he demanded be built to house his gigantic paintings in his adopted hometown of Brussels is  testament to an artist obsessed... > Read more