Produced by Mark Opitz and Jimmy Barnes
Released: 1984
When Jimmy Barnes released this scream from the garage, the beast that had been Cold Chisel had only been dead for ten months; their final studio album had only just fallen off the charts. Bodyswerve lacks the polish and commercial appeal of his other albums and is totally bereft of the superstar duets and endless power ballads that littered those works. This is probably why his solo debut is one of the most overlooked recordings of his catalogue, but it is also the reason this remains one of my favourite Jimmy Barnes albums.
Barnes' songwriting has less finesse than either Don Walker or Steve Prestwich, but essentially Bodyswerve is very reminiscent of the earliest Cold Chisel outings. A balls-out uncompromising rock record, Bodyswerve alternates between the smouldering heavy blues of "Daylight" to flat-out belters like the hard-partying anthem "Paradise" to the fury of "Boys Cry Out for War" that is almost metallic in its raw intensity. "No Second Prize" is a simple, slow-burning rocker that highlights the sheer power of Barnes' voice and also lets guitarist Mal Eastick shine; the remixed version from For the Working Class Man dropped a vocal track over the long fade of this track, robbing it of some of its purity but here it is the stand out that remains solid even now. Some of the other songs aren't quite as memorable and the covers of "Piece of My Heart" and "A Change is Gonna Come" probably add little more than some extra minutes to the playing time. Barnes made better records both before and after this, but the energy and passion on display here makes this a pretty worthwhile hard rock album.
Released: 1984
When Jimmy Barnes released this scream from the garage, the beast that had been Cold Chisel had only been dead for ten months; their final studio album had only just fallen off the charts. Bodyswerve lacks the polish and commercial appeal of his other albums and is totally bereft of the superstar duets and endless power ballads that littered those works. This is probably why his solo debut is one of the most overlooked recordings of his catalogue, but it is also the reason this remains one of my favourite Jimmy Barnes albums.
Barnes' songwriting has less finesse than either Don Walker or Steve Prestwich, but essentially Bodyswerve is very reminiscent of the earliest Cold Chisel outings. A balls-out uncompromising rock record, Bodyswerve alternates between the smouldering heavy blues of "Daylight" to flat-out belters like the hard-partying anthem "Paradise" to the fury of "Boys Cry Out for War" that is almost metallic in its raw intensity. "No Second Prize" is a simple, slow-burning rocker that highlights the sheer power of Barnes' voice and also lets guitarist Mal Eastick shine; the remixed version from For the Working Class Man dropped a vocal track over the long fade of this track, robbing it of some of its purity but here it is the stand out that remains solid even now. Some of the other songs aren't quite as memorable and the covers of "Piece of My Heart" and "A Change is Gonna Come" probably add little more than some extra minutes to the playing time. Barnes made better records both before and after this, but the energy and passion on display here makes this a pretty worthwhile hard rock album.
- Vision
- Daylight
- Promise Me You'll Call
- No Second Prize
- Boys Cry Out for War
- Paradise
- A Change is Gonna Come
- Thick Skinned
- Piece of My Heart
- Fire
- World's on Fire
Rating: 65%
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