The first three albums I listened to this NZ Music Month, were of course the first three albums on my list of 150 important and/or influential Kiwi albums. I’d never heard any of these in their entirety before, though I knew a couple of songs from them. I was actually really surprised by how easy they were to find to stream. A lot of Kiwi music seems to be geographically restricted, so that while it is on Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, etc. it is not available for me to listen to in the UK. I find this really frustrating, but I guess it’s just the nature of the game. In any case, all three of these albums were there for me to stream.

The big surprise for me was that the album that impressed me the most was Jay Epae’s. I was expecting it to be The Librettos or Ray Columbus. But the sound of Jay Else’s voice and simple instrumentation is sublime - like a Polynesian Roy Orbison, pure and beautiful. Tumblin’ Down is, of course, a Kiwi classic, but I’d never heard the original until today.

I really enjoyed the Librettos, too, and this is the sort of album I would have lapped up when I was around 13 or 14 and listening mostly to music from the ‘60s. I wish I had known about it back then.

The Ray Columbus album was the one that didn’t resonate so strongly with me. I’d definitely not say I dislike it, but nor would I be rushing to say I like it. Nevertheless, there is no getting around how important and influential this album was, in proving how successful an album of original numbers could be.

So far, so good.

Two famous, or perhaps more correctly, infamous Kiwi institutions.

I knew Blerta, as I’m sure most Kiwis once upon a time did. I even knew a couple of their songs. But what I had never done is listen to one of their albums. Nevertheless the band was so important and influential in NZ music history, and this album in particular often receiving the most praise and acclaim, that they had to be included in my list, and my NZ Music Month listening. They were renowned for having far greater musical talent than one might expect, and capable of playing incredibly well, or incredibly sloppily, as the mood took them. Loosely, one could describe their sound as an eclectic, psychedelic, jazzy, Zappa-esque melange of clever, silly and bawdy music, singing and spoken word. Unfortunately their studio recordings reputedly never reached the heights of their live performances, which I can believe - as, although the albums is still far more impressive than I expected, it’s still a little underwhelming. But it is only my first listen, and I will be returning for more.

If Blerta has some spoken word, Fred Dagg has even more. In fact there’s far more spoken word than music on his debut album, “Greatest Hits”. This album remains one of New Zealand’s greatest selling albums, and has been re-released under varying names since. I was surprised by how much I knew from the album. There were some tracks I knew I knew, but far more that I didn’t know I knew. I recognised almost every skit, which I guess just goes to show that these really were Fred Dagg’s greatest hits....

Two more albums I know and love, both of which probably post punk and/or new wave, but coming from musicians formerly of prog bands, so sounding a little different and more interesting to me than a lot of other post punk bands.

Mi-Sex’s Graffiti Crimes is probably unfairly overlooked because of hit single Computer Games, which really isn’t particularly indicative of the overall sound of the album. And as much as I like Computer Games, and as much as it was the song that made me buy the album, it is probably the least interesting, and also my least favourite, on Graffiti Crimes. It feels like it doesn’t quite fit, and that’s probably because it wasn’t originally on the album at all.

Mi-Sex is easy to make fun of, but the way they blended the punky pub rock that was the norm in NZ with synth pop managed to stay on just the right side of the cool/cheesy line for me. The Stranglers and Ultravox (from whom they took their name) are both obvious influences, but I like Mi-Sex more than anything I’ve heard from either of those bands. With both a guitarist and keyboard player coming from NZ prog bands of the past, the musicianship of those plays notably in opposition to the more punk sounds of the rhythm section and vocals. It makes for an interesting collision of sounds.

The Swingers’ album is also overshadowed by one song - and one that is even more of a timeless Kiwi anthem than Computer Games. But at least Counting the Beat never sounds out of place. The album is full of gems, even if that one song does shine more brightly. The sound reflects Phil Judd’s past in Split Enz, and foreshadows the sounds to come of Schnell Fenster. I love this album. I’ve included the original Practical Jokers cover, although I think the only way you’ll find the album these days is as the repackaged, resequenced, and retitled Counting the Beat.