Icehouse (band)

Template:Infobox musical artist 2

Icehouse is an Australian Electro/New wave/Rock band, originally billed as Flowers.

Overview

They were formed in 1977 as Flowers by Iva Davies (born Ivor Arthur Davies, on 22 May, 1955, in Wauchope, New South Wales, Australia), who was the main creative force, and a classically trained musician; and bass player, Keith Welsh.

Since 1980 Icehouse has released seven albums, several compilations, and music from collaborations with other artists including dance companies. The 1987 album Man of Colours was released at the apex of their fame and international success.

Albums

Primitive Man album cover

As Flowers, Icehouse built up a strong following as a live act around Sydney, noted for their distinctive cover versions of songs by a wide range of acts including T-Rex and Brian Eno. After signing to the Festival Records label, they released their first album Icehouse in 1980, which became a hit in Australia. The single from this album, also called "Icehouse", created some interest in the U.K., partly because of a memorable video. Other singles included "Can't Help Myself" and "Walls". The album made use of synthesisers, especially the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5.

Their next album release was Primitive Man, recorded with assistance from Keith Forsey, who later worked with Simple Minds. This album was the source of the international hit-single "Hey Little Girl", which has remained their most regularly played single. Another strong track from this album was "Great Southern Land", which featured in the late 1980s film Young Einstein.

In 1985 Davies' musical standing was further enhanced when he was commissioned to compose and record the score for the acclaimed Sydney Dance Company production of Graeme Murphy's dance work Boxes.

The third album was far more sombre and reflective, featuring the tracks "I Don't Believe Anymore" and "Someone Like You". After this album the band made further inroads into the U.S. market with "Measure for Measure".

The next album, Man of Colours, was their best-selling album. It contained the hit singles "Crazy" and "Electric Blue" (a song co-written by John Oates from the band Hall and Oates). With this album, the band reached an international zenith, never surpassing this level of popularity and exposure again.

Recent history

In 1995, Davies was again involved with the Sydney Dance Company's production of Berlin. The musical score is a collection of cover versions of songs by David Bowie, Brian Eno, Simple Minds, The Psychedelic Furs, Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, XTC, Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground, PiL, The Cure and Killing Joke, which saw him collaborating with pianist Max Lambert in the development of the music.

As well as recording the score to the ballet, Davies performed these songs live with Icehouse at each show. He was an intrinsic part of the ballet, in a role similar to the one in Boxes. Iva was extremely successful in creating a translation from the dancers to the audience. Berlin was an instant success and ran for two seasons. Both shows were the most commercially successful that The Sydney Dance Company have had to date.

In 2002 Don't Believe Anymore from Sidewalk (1984) was covered by The Whitlams on their album Torch The Moon.

In 2003 Iva Davies contributed to the score of the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

June 2006 Icehouse were inducted into the ARIA (Aust. Recorded Industry Awards) Hall of Fame.

Discography

Albums

• Icehouse (1980) released under the band name Flowers : #4 AUS (released under the band name Icehouse in the US)
• Primitive Man (1982) (later re-released in the United Kingdom as Love In Motion) : #3 AUS; #64 UK
• Sidewalk (1984) : #8 AUS
• Measure for Measure (1986) : #8 AUS
• Man of Colours (1987) (one single from this album, "Electric Blue", reached number 7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart) : #1 AUS; #1 New Zealand; #48 US; #38 UK
• Great Southern Land (1989) : #2 AUS
• Code Blue (1990) : #5 AUS
• Masterfile (1992) : #25 AUS
• Big Wheel (1993)
• The Berlin Tapes (1995) (album of re-worked cover versions of songs by Lou Reed, Simple Minds, David Bowie, XTC, and Psychedelic Furs, amongst others)
• Meltdown (2002) (a tribute/best of album with dance remixes of some songs)
• Heroes (2004)
• Bi-polar Poems (2006)

Singles

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• "Can't Help Myself" (1980) #10 AUS
• "We Can Get Together" (1980) #16 AUS; #62 US
• "Walls" (1981) #20 AUS
• "Love In Motion" (1981) #10 AUS

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• "Great Southern Land" (1982) #5 AUS, #83 UK
• "Hey Little Girl" (1982) #7 AUS; #17 UK; #5 Germany
• "Street Cafe" (1983) #57 AUS; #62 UK; #28 Germany

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• "Taking The Town" (1984) #29 AUS
• "Don't Believe Anymore" (1984) #31 AUS
• "Dusty Pages" (1984) #82 AUS

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• "No Promises" (1986) #30 AUS; #79 US; #72 UK
• "Baby, You're So Strange" (1986) #14 AUS
• "Mr. Big" (1986) #18 AUS
• "Cross The Border" (1986) #65 AUS

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• "Crazy" (1987) #4 AUS, #14 US; #38 UK
• "Electric Blue" (1987) #1 AUS; #7 US; #53 UK
• "My Obsession" (1988) #12 AUS; #88 US
• "Man Of Colours" (1988) #28 AUS
• "Nothing Too Serious" (1988) #29 AUS

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• "Touch The Fire" (1989) #13 AUS; #84 US
• "Jimmy Dean" (1989) #47 AUS

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• "Big Fun" (1990) #47 AUS
• "Miss Divine" (1990) #16 AUS
• "Anything Is Possible" (1990) #49 AUS

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• "Love In Motion" (1992) #94 AUS - with Chrissy Amphlett of The Divinyls

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• "Hey Little Girl" ('97 Remixes) (1997)
• "Heroes" (2004)

External links

• Official Iva Davies–Icehouse site
• Spellbound — a detailed fanzine