Urban & Eastern

Urban & Eastern is the debut album by Australian rock band Youth Group. The album, recorded with producer Wayne Connolly, was released in 2000.

Urban & Eastern
Studio album by
Youth Group
ReleasedMay 2000
Recorded2000
StudioParadise Studios, Wooloomooloo; Hothouse Studio, St Kilda
GenreRock
Length51:01
LabelIvy League Records
ProducerWayne Connolly
Youth Group chronology
Urban & Eastern
(2000)		 Skeleton Jar
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Sydney Morning Herald[1]
The Age[2]
The Courier-Mail[3]

Songwriter Toby Martin said his compositions were influenced by You Am I's Tim Rogers, particularly on that band's Hourly Daily album. In Urban & Eastern's opening track, "Blue Leaves, Red Dust," he sang: "No more songs of Tallahassee and Nashville, there are songs here right outside the windowsill." He told The Sydney Morning Herald: "I like music that has a strong sense of place in it. I like realism and like lyrics that seem like they're coming from a real place."[4]

By 2004, when the band's follow-up album was released, Martin was distancing himself from the debut. "The whole attitude and the sound is kind of naive to me now—charmingly naive, I hope," he said. "Urban & Eastern was a bit more raucous—longer songs, more elaborate arrangements. What were we thinking? We were young, we were arrogant, we thought the world was ours. I'm much, much happier with this one."[5] Martin said the limited-release debut album had become a rarity, telling one newspaper: "It's almost impossible (to find it)—I don't even have a copy at the moment."[6]

Track listing

(All songs by Toby Martin and Youth Group except where noted)

  1. "Blue Leaves, Red Dust" – 7:10
  2. "Happiness' Border" – 3:12
  3. "Appliance, Compliance" – 3:35
  4. "Guilty" – 2:53
  5. "Booth Street" – 4:07
  6. "Eric Sleeps" (Dan Allen, Youth Group) – 0:32
  7. "My Soul Takes Flight" (Andy Cassell, Youth Group) – 3:21
  8. "Eight" – 2:26
  9. "Negative Hearing" – 3:06
  10. "I Don't Care"– 2:36
  11. "Instant Charmer" – 3:22
  12. "Spry Griever" (Cassell, Youth Group) – 7:31
  13. "Song for Eric"– 7:07

Personnel
  • Dan Allen — drums
  • Andy Cassell — bass
  • Paul Murphy — guitar
  • Toby Martin — guitar

Additional personnel
  • Jason Walker — pedal steel
  • Michelle Outram — cello
  • Wayne Connolly — noises, shaking

References
  1. George A. Palathingal, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 July 2001.
  2. The Age,15 June 2001.
  3. Noel Mengel, The Courier-Mail, 25 May 2001.
  4. Kelsey Munro, "Troubled Youth," Sydney Morning Herald, 9 July 2004.
  5. Michael Dwyer, The Trials of Youth, 16 July 2004.
  6. Christine Sams, "Heady days of youthful exuberance," Sun-Herald, 22 January 2006.


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