The Apartments – The Evening Visits…And Stays For Years
Born of the small but vibrant Brisbane punk/new wave scene of the late
Seventies, Peter Milton Walsh began to cultivate the mysterious, moody myth that
would follow him through out his career that has taken him around the world. But
before setting out abroad, Walsh certainly made his mark on the Brisbaine scene.
His band, The Apartments, formed in 1978 and spent the next year playing ample
amounts of shows around Brisbaine. With a reputa- tion that preceeded him, Walsh
was saught out by Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, members of one of
Brisbaine's most noteworthy bands, The Go-Betweens. Having been offered an
8 album deal by Beserkly Records, Forster and McLennon asked Walsh to join The
Go-Betweens as their fourth member in late 1978. The union was, however, short
lived. There were personality differences, which led McLennon to famously say
“Walsh is night, we are day. We're sun, he's rain.”.After the deal with
Beserkly fell through, Walsh returned to The Apartments, leaving The Go-Betweens
as a three piece. They went on to affectionately write a song for Walsh,
entitled “Don't Let Him Come Back”, which included the line “Here he
comes, with his twelve o'clock junk…who's that dressed in black? Who's that
in his apartment?”. Things weren't sour between the two bands and The
Apartments recorded their first EP, “Return of the Hypnotist” on The
Go-Between's Able Label. But before the EP was even released, The Apartments
broke up and Walsh left for New York City. During his time in NYC, Walsh played
mustic with a number of bands and recorded many songs that would serve as demos
for future releases for the still defunct Apartments.Returning to Australia in
1984, Walsh got the band back together and recorded a few singles, including
“All You Wanted”. All the while the band were also recording demos, which
led to a record deal with London's legendary Rough Trade Records, prompting
Walsh to move to London. It was there that he recorded his first proper LP,
“The Evening Visits… And Stays for Years”. The album received strong
praise and drew comparisons to a wide range of acts such as Cocteau Twins, Nick
Drake and Bob Dylan. The NME said of the record “after whetting our appetites
with last year's classic import single ‘All You Wanted’ The Apartments have
stunned us to a reverential silence. This album is a pure heart-wrencher, and
should only be listened to after dark.”.Although The Apartments and Walsh
continued to tour and record with a variety of line ups, it is these early works
that provide a definitive look at their sound. Available all together for the
first time, Captured Tracks are pleased to present “The Evening Visits… And
Stays for Years” along with “The Return of the Hypnotist”, the “All You
Wanted” single and a collection of demos from “The Evening Visits…”.
Complete with liner notes by Robert Forster and Walsh himself, this incredible
collection of Walsh's first seven years of recordings is not to be missed.
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