Girls on the Avenue

Girls on the Avenue
The album title and the artist's name are written near the top. The main part is a black-and-white photo of three women and the artist. He has his right hand over his right eye, while the other eye is closed.
Studio album by
Richard Clapton
ReleasedApril 1975 (1975-04)
StudioFestival Studio 24, Sydney
GenreRock
Length40:02
LabelInfinity/Festival
ProducerRichard Batchens
Richard Clapton chronology
Prussian Blue
(1973) 		Girls on the Avenue
(1975) 		Main Street Jive
(1976)
Singles from Girls on the Avenue
  1. "Travelling Down the Castlereagh"/"Girls on the Avenue"
    Released: January 1975
  2. "Down the Road"
    Released: June 1975

Girls on the Avenue is the second studio album by Australian rock music singer-songwriter, Richard Clapton, which was released in April 1975. It peaked at number 33 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart.[1] The title track reached number 4 on the related Singles Chart.[2] It was originally released as the B-side of "I'm Travelling Down the Castlereagh", after considerable radio play, it was named as the A-side. The album was produced by Richard Batchens who later produced albums for the Australian band Sherbet, and was released on CD in 1990.

At the 1975 Australian Record Awards, the album won Male Vocal Album.[3]

Reception

In May 1975 Tony Catterall of The Canberra Times felt Girls on the Avenue showed that Clapton was, "suffering from a case of rock schizophrenia: he can't make up his mind whether to be himself, or Australia's answer to Van Morrison... [he's] better off being himself and stick to his fine, gentle rock with his distinctive, melodic voice because it's on tracks, like the title cut where he's at his best... [He] is capable of writing above average lyrics when he's working from his own travelling experiences, [but] when he tries to extrapolate too far from them he falls into banalities that are only made worse by a singing style intended to make them sound profound."[4]

Australian rock music journalist, Ed Nimmervoll, observed that, "Almost universally [the title track] was assumed that his song was a sympathetic ode to street walkers... Girls on the Avenue, the song and the album, assured that [Clapton] had Australia's attention from now on. The rest of the album's songs revisited the themes on [his] first album... [The second album's cover] saw Richard depicted with what appeared to be the heroines of his song. One really was!"[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Richard Clapton,[6] unless otherwise indicated

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Girls on the Avenue"4:02
2."Down the Road"4:29
3."Blue Bay Blues"4:48
4."Throw Me Down a Line"3:13
5."Burn Down Your Bridges"4:09
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Rose Wine Cafe"5:29
2."Ode to a Slowboat"5:44
3."I Fell for You"3:49
4."The Ride Out"4:29

Personnel

Band Members
  • Richard Clapton – guitar, lead vocals
  • Red McKelvie – lead guitar
  • Brian Bethell – bass guitar
  • Tony Ansell – keyboards
  • Dave Ovendon – drums
  • Cleis Pearce – Viola
Production

Charts

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[7] 33

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalog
Australia April 1975 Infinity Records LP, Album; Cassette L 35508; C35508
Australia 1990 Festival Records, Infinity Records[8] CD (Re-Release) D 35508/D 19582

References

  1. ^ "Richard Clapton – Girls on the Avenue (Album)" at Australian Music Database
  2. ^ "Richard Clapton – 'Travelling Down the Castlereagh' / 'Girls on the Avenue'" at Australian Music Database
  3. ^ "Australian Music Awards" (PDF). Billboard. 29 November 1975. p. 54. Retrieved 12 November 2021 – via World Radio History.
  4. ^ "Rock Music: Schizophrenia Mars Gentle Works". The Canberra Times. Vol. 49, no. 14, 075. 26 May 1975. p. 13. Retrieved 6 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ Nimmervoll, Ed. "Richard Clapton". Howlspace – The Living History of Our Music (Ed Nimmervoll). White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 28 April 2004. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  6. ^ "'Girls on the Avenue' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). Retrieved 6 November 2019. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search again' and then 'Enter a title:' &/or 'Performer:'
  7. ^ Kent, David (1975). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives: Australian Chart Book. p. 94. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 19 June 1988.
  8. ^ Richard Clapton - Girls On The Avenue (CD Version) at Discogs