Business as Usual (Men at Work album)
| Business as Usual | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Men at Work | ||||
| Released | 9 November 1981 (AUS) 22 April 1982 (USA) |
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| Recorded | Spring-Autumn, 1981 | |||
| Genre | New Wave Pop rock |
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| Length | 38:11 | |||
| Label | CBS / Columbia | |||
| Producer | Peter McIan | |||
| Men at Work chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Rolling Stone |  [2] |
Business as Usual is the debut album of Australian band Men at Work, released in November 1981 in Australia and April 1982 in the US. The Australian release of the album included a black and white cover design; overseas releases had the same design but in a yellow and black color scheme.
Business as Usual was one of the most successful albums internationally by an Australian group. It spent an unprecedented 15 weeks at #1 on the American album charts from late 1982 to early 1983 and five weeks at #1 in the UK in early 1983. It spent nine weeks at the top of the Australian album charts from December 1981 through March 1982.[citation needed] Business as Usual was one of the most commercially successful albums in the early 1980s, with 6 million copies sold in the US and 15 million sold worldwide.[citation needed]
The song, "Who Can It Be Now?" was first released as a single in Australia in June 1981, prior to the recording of the rest of the album. The single peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart in August that year.
In February 2010 a Federal Court judge in Sydney found that the flute riff from "Down Under" had been plagiarised from the classic Australian song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree", written in 1934 by Marion Sinclair. The Federal Court determined that the copyright was still current (Sinclair died in 1988) and had been assigned to Larrikin Music. The judge found that "a substantial amount of the original song" had been reproduced in "Down Under". Larrikin Music had suggested 60% of the royalties would be appropriate compensation, but the court decreed they shall receive only 5%, and only on mechanical rights for the song since 2002, and on future profits.
In October 2010, Business as Usual was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Who Can It Be Now?" | Colin Hay | 3:25 |
| 2. | "I Can See It in Your Eyes" | Hay | 3:32 |
| 3. | "Down Under" | Hay, Ron Strykert | 3:45 |
| 4. | "Underground" | Hay | 3:07 |
| 5. | "Helpless Automaton" | Greg Ham | 3:23 |
| 6. | "People Just Love to Play with Words" | Strykert | 3:33 |
| 7. | "Be Good Johnny" | Ham, Hay | 3:39 |
| 8. | "Touching the Untouchables" | Hay, Strykert | 3:41 |
| 9. | "Catch a Star" | Hay | 3:31 |
| 10. | "Down by the Sea" | Hay, Strykert, Ham, Jerry Speiser | 6:53 |
| 2003 Remaster Bonus Tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 11. | "Crazy" (B-side from 'Down Under" single) | Strykert | 2:37 | ||||||
| 12. | "Underground" (live) | Hay | 3:42 | ||||||
| 13. | "Who Can It Be Now?" (live) | Hay | 4:06 | ||||||
| 14. | "F-19" (B-Side from "Be Good Johnny" Australian single) | Hay | 3:52 | ||||||
Both live tracks on the 2003 Remastered edition are from the 1998 live album Brazil.
[edit] Personnel
- Russell Deppeler - telephone, calculator.
- Nathan D. Brenner - Co- Manager
- Greg Ham - flute, keyboards, saxophone, background vocals, lead vocals on track 5
- Colin Hay - guitar, lead vocals
- Johnathan Rees - bass, background vocals
- Jerry Speiser - drums, background vocals
- Ron Strykert - guitar, background vocals, lead vocals on track 11
[edit] Production
- Producer: Peter McIan
- Engineers: Jim Barbour, Peter McIan, Paul Ray
- Cover Illustration: Jon "JD" Dickson
[edit] Charts
[edit] Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart | 1 |
| 1982 | ||
| 1982 | Billboard 200 | 1 |
| 1983 | ||
| 1983 | Black Albums | 29 |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Who Can It Be Now?/Down Under" | Club Play Singles | 33 |
| 1982 | "Who Can It Be Now?" | Mainstream Rock | 46 |
| 1982 | "Who Can It Be Now?" | Pop Singles | 1 |
| 1983 | "Be Good Johnny" | Mainstream Rock | 3 |
| 1983 | "Down Under" | Adult Contemporary | 13 |
| 1983 | "Down Under" | Pop Singles | 1 |
| 1983 | "Underground" | Mainstream Rock | 20 |
| 1983 | "Down Under" | Mainstream Rock | 1 |
[edit] References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Rolling Stone review
- ^ O'Donnell, John; Creswell, Toby; Mathieson, Craig (October 2010). 100 Best Australian Albums. Prahran, Vic: Hardie Grant Books. ISBN 978-1-74066-955-9.
| Preceded by American Fool by John Cougar |
Billboard 200 number-one album 13 November 1982 – 25 February 1983 |
Succeeded by Thriller by Michael Jackson |
| Preceded by Raiders of the Pop Charts by Various Artists |
UK Albums Chart number-one album 29 January 1983 – 4 March 1983 |
Succeeded by Thriller by Michael Jackson |
| Preceded by Ghost in the Machine by The Police |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one album 21 December 1981 – 31 January 1982 15 February - 7 March 1982 |
Succeeded by The Best of Blondie by Blondie |
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