If this album were any more 1990s, it would come with a Hawkeian cigar and a Rachel haircut
“H
e’s been wondering lately, where did all the good times go?” While this line in the opening song on Jimmy Barnes’ new album is ostensibly about a couple struggling to make ends meet, it’s hard not to think of Barnes lying in a hospital bed, a recurring sight in recent years: recovering from infection, then hip surgery, then bacterial pneumonia, then open heart surgery, then hip surgery again … but eventually “it’s a new day”, as Barnes sings on the second track, a sentiment delivered without a question mark.
If you’re wondering where all the good times are, it seems Barnes’ answer is: wherever the hell I want them to be and, until it all ends, I’m going to be a rock star. Specifically a rock star of the late 80s and early 90s, when he didn’t have to dress down, à la grunge, or gloss up, à la ozone-depleting poodle metal, and instead slipped on a leather jacket and leaned into the camera as a freight train pulled out behind him.
Defiant lands smack bang in the middle of that Peak Barnes Moment and it is no coincidence that while Barnes shared the songwriting with some old hands and near-family, the production is given over to that master of Australiana rock, Kevin Shirley. You’d know his work from early Silverchair, the Screaming Jets, the Angels, Baby Animals, Cold Chisel … and Tina Arena. You’d know his work by the ringing clarity in your ears.
