THE TRIFFIDS : STOCKHOLM

  1. Property Is Condemned
  2. Hell Of A Summer
  3. Personal Things
  4. Raining Pleasure
  5. Lonely Stretch
  6. Sure The Girl I Love
  7. Wide Open Road
  8. Keep Your Eyes On The Hole
  9. In The Pines
  10. Billy
  11. I Am A Lonesome Hobo
  12. How Could I Help But Love You?

Label : Mushroom

Venue : The Bommen Show, Swedish National Radio Studio, Stockholm, Sweden

Recording Date : May 30, 1989

Release Date : July 1990

Length : 45:26

Review (AllMusic) : After a decade spent slamming themselves against the ramparts of musical complacency and cliché on the Australian rock scene, the Triffids finally gave up the ghost in 1989. The next year, Island Records - who were still owed one more Triffids album - released this post-mortem live set, recorded shortly before the band's dissolution. Containing a mixture of early and latter-day material, Stockholm: Live functions as both primer and goodbye letter. The similarities between Triffids frontman David McComb and Nick Cave in sound, attitude, and mood are immediately apparent, but neither artist was an influence on the other; they were simply kindred spirits whose aesthetics developed at the same place and time. While Cave eventually found a worldwide audience, the Triffids never quite transcended cult status even in Australia. In fact, longtime Triffids bassist Martyn Casey had already become one of Cave's Bad Seeds by the time Stockholm was released. One thing this recording makes clear is what an intense, passionate, and powerful frontman McComb could be. He could come off as a sentimental romantic, soft-pedaling the love ballad "Sure the Girl I Love," he could whoop and sputter like an Aussie Iggy Pop atop the pounding intensity of "Property is Condemned," or he could take the role of expansive, storytelling troubadour on the slowly unfurling "Wide Open Road," all with equal aplomb. The rest of the Triffids match their fearless leader step for step, whether spitting out saber-toothed post-punk riffs, swimming around in the dark, swampy waters of one of the band's moodier pieces, or indulging in the Americana influences that became a significant part of the Triffids' musical personality as they evolved. McComb passed away a decade after the concert captured here, but as a final statement on his work with the Triffids, Stockholm stands up straight and tall.

Review (Wikipedia) : Stockholm is a live recording by Australian folk rock group, The Triffids, released in July 1990 and is the final official recording by the band.All tracks were recorded live in Stockholm in 1989 for Swedish National Radio, The Bommen Show. The album was produced by Lars Aldman, engineered by Michael Bergek, and mixed at Planet Sound Studios, Perth on 15, 16 and 17 September 1989 by James Hewgill and David McComb. The album was released after the Triffids officially disbanded in August, 1989 in order to fulfill the band's contractual obligations with MNW. Island were not happy with the band using any material previously released under the label (i.e. Calenture or The Black Swan) as a result the recordings highlight the Triffids' pre-Calenture era. "Evil" Graham Lee said, "We owed our Swedish label an album, and we knew people in Swedish radio who suggested that in the middle of our tour we pop into their complex in Stockholm and make an album. So we did. It was recorded in one day. We were so tired that we were delirious, but it turned out pretty well." The audience sounds were dubbed in.