In this centenary year of the Gallipoli landings, we’ve seen
plenty of Anzac-related content on television (Channel Nine’s excellent but
poorly-rating Gallipoli and the upcoming Foxtel presentation, Deadline
Gallipoli), on the big screen (Russell Crowe’s excellent The Water Diviner) and
in books (Peter Fitzsimons’ Gallipoli), so it’s no surprise that the country’s
musicians are getting in on the act.
After attending the Australian War Memorial a few years
back, country artist and former Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan was
significantly moved by what he saw and read in Canberra that he set about
creating a tribute album to Australia’s rich and varied military history.
Working alongside long-time collaborators Garth Porter and
Colin Buchanan, Spirit of the Anzacs is the end result of Kernaghan’s moving
visit to the War Memorial: a vivid and far-reaching musical history of the
Anzac from April 25, 1915 through to today, where, as is often forgotten by
most of us in the course of our lives, Australians are still in harm’s way in
the Middle East.
Whilst Kernaghan is most notable for his country music
leanings, anyone who considers shunning this album because they think it’ll be
straight-up country music would be doing the work a great disservice. Kernaghan
is as varied here as he’s ever been. Yes, there’s the occasional country-driven
tune, but they are few and far between. There’s something for everyone here,
particularly the stirring, anthemic title track which features, amongst others,
Shannon Noll, Guy Sebastian, members of Sheppard, Jessica Mauboy and Noiseworks
front-man Jon Stevens.
What sets this album apart is the content. Each one of the
songs has been crafted either by drawing experiences from letters and diaries
from servicemen and women. Kernaghan and his team were given extraordinarily
and unparalleled access to the vast archives at the Australian War Memorial,
using so much source material to create some brilliant songs that will take you
on what is at times a stirring journey (and, at other times, a bleak and stark
one) through our country’s military history.
Every conflict that Australia has ever been involved in is
represented here. From the fateful Gallipoli campaign (“To the Top of the
Hill”), the light horse campaign in the Middle East (“We’ll Take Beersheba”),
the Western Front (“Oh, Passchendaele”) to the Pacific theatre in World War Two
(“Kokoda – Only the Brave Ones”), the attack on Australian soil in Darwin
(“When The First Bombs Fell”), the Korean War (“We Heard a Bugle Play”) and on
to the bitter fighting in modern-day Afghanistan (“The Dust of Uruzgan”) Kernaghan
charts the Anzac legacy, and features a guest vocal appearance by Victoria
Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith.
This is epic song-writing, some of it theatrical at times,
especially ‘We’ll Take Beersheba’ which features samples of jingling chain, men
shouting orders, horses whinnying. A far cry, for certain, from Kernaghan’s
usual musical surroundings. Each song is a journey through some of the foreign
fields of battle that have come to best define the Australian spirit. Not all
of the songs have a happy ending, but they should – and probably will – stay with
you a long time after the final track has faded to silence.
One thing that I don’t usually bother with is a physical CD,
but Spirit of the Anzacs has a great booklet that briefly mentions the origins
of each song, often with photos of the men and women whose hopes and fears
Kernaghan and his team have turned into these emotional songs.
With the 100 year anniversary of the Gallipoli landings fast
approaching, do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of Spirit of the Anzacs.
It’s a powerful testament to a century’s worth of Australian valour, courage, commitment
and sacrifice on the battlefield. It’s brilliant.
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