The Good Life Never Ends

Well wouldn't ya know it. Just a few weeks after I bemoaned the lack of any recent music by The Blackeyed Susans (in this post), along comes a brand new EP - hopefully the precursor to a full length album in 2017. 'Lover or the Loved' is scheduled for release on December 2nd, though one of the EP's four songs is already available to enjoy - and what a stunner it is. 'The Good Life Never Ends' was written by the late great David McComb of The Triffids for his final band Costar, though his recording has never received an official release. 'The Good Life Never Ends' clearly means a lot to The Blackeyed Susans, as they've previously recorded an intense live reading of it in 2008, for a David McComb tribute album. Here are all three versions.

The new Blackeyed Susans EP 'Lover or the Loved' is available to pre-order here. 



David McComb & Costar - The Good Life Never Ends (Demo)

The Blackeyed Susans - The Good Life Never Ends (Live 2008)

Version City #54 - The Blackeyed Susans sing Tina Turner

The Blackeyed Susans draw from the fertile pool of talented Australian players, featuring a floating line-up that has included members who have also served time with The Bad Seeds, The Triffids, Ed Kuepper, The Dirty Three and The Surrealists. The origins of the band stretch back as far as 1989 and they still play shows today, though have released no new music since 2003's 'Shangri-La'. In 2001 The Blackeyed Susans issued 'Dedicated to the Ones We Love', an album of covers. Much of the source material for the project was unsurprising - Big Star, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley etc - while other selections were less predictable. Take Mark Knopfler's 'Private Dancer' for instance. A hit for Tina Turner in 1984 and here given an effective New Orleans jazz funeral style arrangement.

Version City #12 - David McComb sings Leonard Cohen

The late great David McComb of The Triffids was clearly an admirer of Leonard Cohen, particularly, it seems, of laughing Len's least loved LP, 'Death of a Ladies Man'. First McComb (with Adam Peters) covered 'Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On' for the 1991 tribute album 'I'm Your Fan', then two years later, in cahoots with The Blackeyed Susans, he delivered this sparkling reading of 'Memories'.

Previous visits to Version City.

I Got Silver & I Got Silk