music by Chris Neal

Computer Sound Effects Chris Neal Music Recording Studio Emerald City Studio Recording Engineer Ian Davidson

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"Blacktown to Bondi" performed by Mental As Anything

Composer Chris Neal's score was an early example of Australian feature film electronica. It was his first score for a feature film and Neal would go on to a long career as a composer of scores for film and television (recording engineer Ian Davidson, who worked on the film, would also become a composer of film and television scores).

At time of writing, Neal had a brief wiki here.

He also had his own website here.

The site contained this biography:

Early years studying classical piano and music theory were followed by an intensive period of progressive jazz study and practise, inspired by the recordings of such great artists as Bill Evans, Bobby Timmons, Oscar Peterson et al. By the time of the new excitement delivered by the likes of Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, it became obvious that eclecticism was the only way forward. The 1960's were alive with music. There were gigs around Sydney with my jazz piano trio (usually Tony (Toot) Simon on drums and John Butterworth on Bass)as well as the absolute joy of playing keys and guitars for many gigs with such well established rock bands as The Showmen and The Powerhouse, while the love of songwriting and composing grew..... In 1968, the opportunity arose to assist legendary composer Peter Sculthorpe create the score for the Anglo/Australian movie The Age Of Consent, starring first-timer Helen Mirren. What a journey. What a gift. A bizarre, life-changing accident led to a few months in Vietnam entertaining US troops. The time spent "hanging out" in Saigon set up the next extraordinary chapter of this strangely fortunate life.... Then followed the creation of the hippie, flower-power rock musical, Manchild, which toured Australian capital cities during 1971/72, creating several box-office records along the way. A focal point of the early '70s was the creation of the solo prog rock album Winds Of Isis. This epic instrumental outing developed a small, but committed following and remains in demand to this day. Another high point of the '70s was the development of an electronic score for Fritz Lang's silent classic, Metropolis. Live concerts featuring the soundtrack played live on the first commercially available microprocessor-based digital sequencer (The Roland MC-8)were presented around Sydney, while a film company sourced a high quality print to synchronise the music to. When the project was well into development, the word got out that Hollywood was working on a similar idea and the release did not go ahead . However, most of the music still exists in demo form. The commercial scene in Sydney was thriving in the '70s. Movies, TV, TVCs and records - it was all happening. Ads for clients such as : Sunbeam, Goldenia Tea, Levis, Gilbey's Gin, 2UE, 2GB and Home Journal filled in the weekly slots not used up by record production work for The Marshall Brothers Band, Bob Hudson, Maureen Elkner, The Radiators, to name a few....and there was even an extraordinary situation in which I found myself engineering for the great, sublime Stephane Grapelli..... By the time the '80s arrived, a career in film scoring was well underway, with many features, TV series, documentaries and kids dramas making up the slate. This remains the main focus today..... In 1980, The Living Room suite of recording studios was setup at Chatswood on Sydney's North Shore. This became home to the creation of many scores and soundtracks for featurs films and television dramas for the next twenty years. In 2001, we moved to Avalon on the Northern Beaches and set up Springboard Studios, which is still home... (Below: Chris Neal) The site also provided this TV and filmography up to 2010: (* Co-composed with Braedy Neal)

2010 CASTAWAY series Northway Prod 2008 BETWEEN IRAQ AND A HARD PLACE doco PrecisionPics 2006 THE SLEEPOVER CLUB 2 series Southern Star* 2005 MDA – Eps 5–8 series ABC 2004 FOREIGN EXCHANGE series Sth Star/Magma* NOAH & SASKIA series ACTF/BBC* 2003 THE CROP feature Miracle Pics* 2001 THE CRASH ZONE 2 series ACTF/Disney 2000 FARSCAPE 2 series Jim Henson Co* 1999 FARSCAPE series Nine TV/Henson* TIME AND TIDE telemv ABC Prod 1998 THE CRASH ZONE series ACTF/Disney* MUMBO JUMBO telemv Artist Services 13 GANTRY ROW telemv Rob Bruning Prod 1997 PACIFIC DRIVE 2 series Village Roadshow* 1996 PACIFIC DRIVE series Village Roadshow* 1995 CORRELLI series ABC JOHNSON & FRIENDS 6 series Film Australia* 1994 HEARTLAND series Northway Prod* THE DAMNATION OF HARVEY MCHUGH series ABC GP 6 series ABC/Matt Carroll* LIFT OFF 3 series ACTF Prod* JOHNSON & FRIENDS 5 series Film Australia* 1993 LAW OF THE LAND series Roadshow Coote Carroll JACK BE NIMBLE feature Zee Films (NZ) GP 5 series ABC/Matt Carroll LIFT OFF 2 series ACTF Prod JOHNSON & FRIENDS 4 series Film Australia FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY 4 series Pro Films (NZ) 1992 THE NOSTRADAMUS KID feature Simpson leMesurier LIFT OFF 1 series ACTF Prod FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY 3 series Pro Films (NZ) BUTTERFLY ISLAND series Mediacast GP 4 series ABC/Matt Carroll JOHSON & FRIENDS 3 series Film Australia 1991 TURTLE BEACH feature Village Roadshow GP 3 series ABC/Matt Carroll JOHNSON & FRIENDS 2 series Film Australia FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY 2 series Pro Films (NZ) 1990 JOHNSON & FRIENDS series Film Australia FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY series Pro Films (NZ) THE PAPER MAN series Roadshow Coote Carroll TROUBLE IN PARADISE feature Regency Pictures 1989 SHADOW OF THE COBRA series View Films CELIA feature Seon Films THE BIG WISH telemv ACTF Prod 1988 EMERALD CITY feature Limelight Prod GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM feature Smiley Films MARY McKILLOP telemv Film Australia SOLDIER SETTLER telemv Film Australia PETER & POMPEY telemv ACTF Prod PRINCESS KATE telemv ACTF Prod BARRACUDA telemv Amalgamated Portman 1987 GROUND ZERO feature GZ Productions THE SHIRALEE series SA Film Corp 1986 BULLSEYE feature PBL Prod THE PLACE AT THE COAST feature Daedalus Films ARMY WIVES series Village Roadshow 1985 NIEL LYNNE feature David Baker Films SHORT CHANGED feature Ross Matthews Prod AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 WAYS feature Palm Beach Pictures 5 TIMES DIZZY series Samson Films THE LONG WAY HOME telemv ABC DOUBLE SCULLS telemv Smiley Films ARCHER telemv Village Roadshow NATURAL CAUSES telemv ABC 1984 BUDDIES feature JD Prod REBEL feature P Emmanuel Prod BODYLINE series Kennedy Miller PALACE OF DREAMS series ABC CRIME OF THE DECADE telemv ABC TOP KID telemv ACTF Prod TARFLOWERS telemv ACTF Prod QUEST BEYOND TIME telemv ACTF Prod 1983 THE CITY'S EDGE feature CB Films 1981 CROSSTALK feature Walltowall Films

The music for Crosstalk was released as an LP, and still retains a cult following:

LP (ST) Grass Roots GRF 1003 1982 Music Written and Performed by Chris Neal (Chris Neal), Matthews (Aust. Comps) Executive Producer: Phil Matthews, A Grass Roots Release

SIDE 1:

1. Crosstalk (2'45") 2. Night (4'00") 3. Conversations (2'42") 4. Last Moments (3'42") 5. The Sound Of Murder (2'43") 6. While She Is Alone (3'08")

SIDE 2:

1. Eye - 500 (5'00") 2. Terminal (3'22") 3. Man Music (3'55") 4. Machine Music (2'11") 5. Red Alert (1'40") 6. Dawn (3'52")

A 45 was also released: Music from the film was also released in 2005 for mp3 download, with Crosstalk occupying track 7, with a 2'48" timing:

Mental As Anything's song Blacktown to Bondi, used in the film as background music, was recorded for their second album Espresso Bongo. The lyrics for the song were handwritten by Reg Mombassa on small sheets of notebook paper. More details, along with the notes below, at the Powerhouse Museum, here:

Conceived at art school, Mental as Anything was born on a pool table in Sydney's Unicorn Hotel, where crowds for the fledgling cover band each Monday night in 1977 rivalled those gathered for the angry sounds of Radio Birdman further up the road at the Paddington Town Hall. The Mentals' music couldn't have been more contrary to the prevailing punk of the time, with quirky brothers O'Doherty and Mombassa, throaty vocalist Martin Plaza, zany harmonica player Greedy Smith and stoic drummer Wayne 'Bird' DeLisle pounding out pop classics by the Monkees and Wreckless Eric. It was only natural then that filmmakers Cameron Allan and Martin Fabinyi - reared on the pop planet of Phil Spector - decided to create a label just to record the Mentals. First release on the freshly minted Regular Records label was a novel triple A-side three-track extended play from the band, Mental as Anything plays at your party, which included the song 'The nips are getting bigger'. Sydney's ABC rock radio station 2JJ jumped on the song, and when the band's first album Get wet was released the single became a national Top 20 hit - one of many hits the band has achieved. In fact the Mentals still hold the record of having more Top 40 singles to their credit than any other Australian band (even Sherbet) - 19 in fact. Big-selling albums and singles followed as the Mentals parlayed their cult art-school hi-jinks into popular beer-barn success, guided by their savvy manager Jeremy Fabinyi. Classics such as 'If you leave me can I come too?' and 'Too many times' - both from the platinum disc Cats and dogs - shoved the band into the pantheon of Australian rock icons, with 'If you leave me' winning best single at the 1980 Australian Rock Awards. The Mentals teamed with fellow kooks Men at Work as special guests on the Men's North American tour before releasing the breakthrough album Fundamental. Greedy Smith's ode to the lonely, 'Live it up', catapulted the band into the UK Top 10 and the they spent many years touring through Europe and America. Back home the crowds, as well as the nips, continued to get bigger as the band toured across the country and continued churning out the hits. Smart, witty and incisive, the Mentals clever lyrics and stage antics provided an amusing alternative to conventional rock-star posturing. As well as designing many of their own record covers and posters and conceiving filmclips for their songs, all the band members are highly successful visual artists. Truly one of Australia's most original bands Mental as Anything have been a major stylistic influence on Australian popular music and continue to tour and record, scoring a hit with the song 'Mr Natural' in 1995.

Mental as Anything have a wiki here.

(Below: Mental as Anything)