Choirboys – Decade 1983 (1993)

Decade 1983-1993 is a retrospective from Australian rock band Choirboys. I confess I had never heard of the band before running across this collection at the local used CD store, but I’ve had good luck trying Australian rock bands from the `80s (Screaming Jets and The Angels come to mind), so I gave it a try.

It’s interesting to hear a band like this that was active through most of the `80s yet managed to avoid all the various genre excesses that decade had to offer. Choirboys didn’t do metal or new wave or glam, they didn’t get political (no Midnight Oil comparison here); they just stuck to steady, melodic barroom rock, and they did it really well. Cheap Trick is the only band that comes to mind as having a similar sound, though there are some songs that remind me of Tom Cochrane’s Red Rider days. The 14 tracks on Decade 1983-1993 span the band’s first three albums.
This is just a really solid, really enjoyable collection of melodic rock songs, and one that most fans of the `80s melodic rock sound should enjoy. You may not take it off the shelf all that often, but when you do, chances are you’ll have a smile on your face (and preferably a beer in hand) before the first song is over.

01 – Run To Paradise
02 – Rendezvous
03 – All Night
04 – Boys Will Be Boys
05 – Never Gonna Die
06 – Empire
07 – Struggle Town
08 – Boys In The Band
09 – Midnight Sun
10 – James Dale
11 – Talk Big
12 – Place With No Love
13 – Fireworks
14 – Bullshit

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