Core Magazine
5 stars!
LOVE THIS CITY (Warner Music/East West Records/Black Yak Phantom Records)
After playing up and down the East Coast and releasing independent albums for seven years, ‘The Whitlams’ released a song – ‘No Aphrodisiac‘ in 1997 that blew the minds of listeners Australia wide and took out Triple J’s hottest 100.
Selling 190,000 albums gave Tim Freedman the chance to make an album that had the budget and support to match his enthusiasm. Hooking up with names such as Bernie Hayes, Louis Burdett (the original F*!ked up friend from Eternal N.), Chris Abrahams and the who’s who of the Sydney’s inner west music scene, ‘Love This City‘ is a more up-beat and funky album without losing the introspective feel of ‘Eternal Nightcap‘.
The first single ‘Chunky Chunky Air Guitar‘ is an aggressively funky song that’s almost unrecognisably ‘Whitlams’ but gets a good indication of the rest of the album. Freedman also uses the album to address social issues with songs such as ‘400 miles from Darwin‘, ‘Blow Up The Pokies‘ and questions the integrity of our fair Olympic City with the title track ‘Love This City‘. Whatever you see this album as, a social comment or a collaboration of some of Sydney’s best muso’s, join forces and vote Tim Freedman for President.