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Track Listing
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· The Last Time (1)
· No Ordinary World (2)
· Lonely Man (3)
· When I Can't Have You
· Undeniably Real
· Keep Talking
· Sometimes
· One More Try
· Even After All This Time
· Eternally
(*) Best Tracks
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Recent Discography & (Rank)
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· Whispering Jack (2)
· Age Of Reason (3)
· Chain Reaction (1)
· Full House (Live)
· Then Again (5)
· Romeo's Heart (4)
· Anthology 1, 2 & 3
· The Main Event (8)
· 33.3 (7)
· The Last Time (6)
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Buy it if you liked:
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John Farnham - Romeo's Heart
Richard Page - Shelter Me
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JOHN FARNHAM
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The Last Time
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BMG / Gotham
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· Produced By: Ross Fraser & John Farnham
· Running Time: 38.42 · Genre: MOR
· Release Date: Out Now · Released: AU
· WebLink: John Farnham · LabelLink: BMG Australia
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Sometimes a negative review can be construed as the reviewer not understanding or not personally liking the artist in question. That's an unfair assumption, as sometimes a release just does not cut the mustard.
That's the case here - I am a monster Farnham fan. John is the good guy of Australian music. No one has a bad word to say about the man and that's the way it should be. He is a genuinely nice bloke and can still captivate an audience with his phenomenal voice and stage presence.
Unfortunately, that is not replicated on record.
This is John's final record and final tour. Another record won't come for a long time he says - if at all. There certainly won't be another big tour. So this is farewell and this record is his finale. What a sad way to go out.
I am more upset at the fading star of an immense talent, wasting his time singing this set of bland, boring, middle of the road songs. The bio says the song reflects John's maturity. He's just getting old I guess.
Farnham's producer and manager picked out 10 tracks of all the songs submitted to John for inclusion on this album.
What were they thinking? Apart from a few tracks, these are some of the blandest songs I have ever heard Farnham sing. Not quite as bad as the 33 and 1/3 covers album, but nowhere close to the glory days of Age Of Reason, Whispering Jack and Chain Reaction.
The opening track and lead single The Last Time is the only track of any substance here. The Rolling Stones track manages half a swagger and it's uptempo beat and strong guitar break only serves to tease the audience - yes we can rock, but nah...we really don't want to.
The mid-tempo pop of No Ordinary World features a strong lead vocal and deftly crafted Westcoast vibes, but aside from these two tracks, there isn't much here for AOR fans or classic Farnham fans.
Elsewhere John seems more content to croon through very middle of the road ballads or acoustic pop with a hint of country twang.
What's even more dismaying is the shit-hot band featured - Noisework's Stuart Fraser is on guitar, Angus Burchall on drums, Steve Williams is back on harmonica on two tracks and long time friend Chong Lim is featured on keys and piano, plus orchestration.
A limited edition version of the album is available - the first 70,000 CDs feature a CD-ROM disc, a Flash Animation photo album of behind the scene's studio pics and notes by John himself. Rather cool - but essentially useless, as if the album holds no affection with the listener, these extra's won't change that.
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The Bottom Line
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Farnham's heart and his passion, so familiar on fantastic releases such as Whispering Jack and Chain Reaction, is just not present here. This is a record by numbers - it just feels stale. From the lack of advance hype and publicity, his record company knows it.
Expect the tour to rank as the biggest in Australian history. Expect the record to fade quickly and not be mentioned again.
Sundries: Pretty plain cover, but an ok running order. Running time is 10 minutes 10 short, but if it meant more tracks of this album's nature, then those 10 minute would be wasted.
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Line Up
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· John Farnham: Vocals
· Stuart Fraser: Guitar
· Chong Lim: Keyboards
· Angus Burchall: Drums
· Craig Newman: Bass
· Steve Williams: Harmonica
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