Desperate (Divinyls album)

Desperate is the debut studio album and second overall album by Australian rock band Divinyls, released in 1983 by Chrysalis Records. The album contains the hits "Boys in Town", "Science Fiction" and "Siren (Never Let You Go)".

Desperate
Studio album by
Divinyls
ReleasedJanuary 1983
Recorded1981-1982
GenreRock, new wave, pub rock
Length30:38 (Australian release)
33:25 (International release)
LabelChrysalis
ProducerMark Opitz
Divinyls chronology
Monkey Grip
(1982)		 Desperate
(1983)		 What a Life!
(1985)
Singles from Desperate
  1. "Boys in Town"
    Released: September 1981
  2. "Science Fiction"
    Released: November 1982
  3. "Siren (Never Let You Go)"
    Released: April 1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Village VoiceA–[2]

Background

Divinyls formed in 1980, founded by Mark McEntee and fronted by lead singer Chrissy Amphlett. After scoring several gigs, they were discovered by Australian director Ken Cameron. This led to Divinyls providing the entire soundtrack for his film Monkey Grip (1982). Amphlett was also given a supporting role in the film, playing a temperamental rock singer loosely based on herself, fronting a band played by other Divinyls members. In the film, the band performed their debut single "Boys in Town", as well as other songs "Only Lonely", "Elsie", "Only You", "Girlfriends" and "Gonna Get You", the latter being the first appearance of them in the film. The soundtrack Music from Monkey Grip was acknowledged as a Divinyls album, and when released in 1982, it made the top twenty-five of the Australian Albums Chart.

"Boys in Town" was a success in Australia where it made the top ten, peaking at number eight in 1981. The next year, "Science Fiction" was released and was also a success, peaking at number thirteen. When Desperate was released, it climbed the albums chart and eventually peaked at number five. In addition, it proved to be among the top twenty most successful albums of 1983, ranking in at number seventeen according to the Kent Music Report end of year chart.

The track listing of Desperate differed between the Australian release and the international version. Because Divinyls had already released the Monkey Grip soundtrack, which contained the songs performed in the film, in particular the single "Boys in Town", they were not included on the original Australian release of Desperate. This meant that "Science Fiction" was released as the official lead single. On the international release of Desperate, some of the songs from the Monkey Grip soundtrack were included as official album tracks, such as "Boys in Town", "Only Lonely", "Only You" and "Elsie".

The majority of the songs on Desperate were written by Amphlett and/or McEntee except "Siren (Never Let You Go)", which was written by band member Bjarne Ohlin, and "I'll Make You Happy", which was a cover of the original 1966 song by The Easybeats.

Caroline Records[3] announced that a remastered CD version of the international version of Desperate album was released on February 5, 2008. In 2020, Rubellan Remasters released a remastered CD version of Desperate that compiled all the songs from both versions.[4]

"Ring Me Up" was used in the teen comedy film Sixteen Candles (1984).

Track listing (Australian release)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I'll Make You Happy"Stevie Wright, George Young3:21
2."Science Fiction"Christina Amphlett, Mark McEntee3:32
3."Casual Encounter"Amphlett, McEntee3:05
4."Victoria"McEntee3:22
5."Siren (Never Let You Go)"Bjarne Ohlin2:28
6."Motion"Amphlett, McEntee3:16
7."Ring Me Up"Amphlett, McEntee3:07
8."Take a Chance"Amphlett, McEntee3:23
9."Sahara Rock"Amphlett, McEntee2:35
10."Don't You Go Walking"McEntee6:09

Track listing (International release)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Boys in Town"Christina Amphlett, Mark McEntee2:50
2."Only Lonely"Amphlett, McEntee3:15
3."Science Fiction"Amphlett, McEntee3:32
4."Siren (Never Let You Go)"Bjarne Ohlin2:28
5."Elsie"Amphlett, McEntee6:42
6."Only You"Amphlett, McEntee2:48
7."Ring Me Up"Amphlett, McEntee3:07
8."Victoria"McEntee3:19
9."Take a Chance"Amphlett, McEntee3:23
10."I'll Make You Happy"Stevie Wright, George Young3:21

Charts

Personnel
  • Christina Amphlett — lead vocals
  • Mark McEntee — lead and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
  • Bjarne Ohlin — keyboards, backing vocals, guitars
  • Rick Grossman — bass
  • Richard Harvey — drums
  • Bob Clearmountain — mixer
  • Jeff Hendrickson — engineer
  • Malcolm Pollack — engineer
  • Mark Opitz — producer
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References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. Christgau, Robert (29 March 1983). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  3. ":: welcome to caroline records ::". Carolinerecords.com. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  4. "RUBY13CD". RubellanRemasters.com. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
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