Request: ABLE TASMANS - Hey Spinner!

LP / CD Flying Nun 1990



"In New Zealand, where bands routinely break up, trade members and then form anew in order to requalify for state-sponsored funding grants, the Able Tasmans managed to stay the course for over a decade. The group - whose moniker is a pun based on the name of 17th-century Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who discovered New Zealand - was able to maintain most of its original lineup from the mid-'80s through the mid-'90s, all the while peddling a unique brand of guitar/keyboard pop of consistently high quality. The Tasmans' early output, most of it quite good, is available on the CD version of A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down, which also includes the band's debut EP, The Tired Sun, and a few items from assorted compilations. The group really came into its own, however, with Hey Spinner!, one of the finest records ever to emerge from New Zealand. The band's signature sound defined by the interplay between Peter Keen's soaring, angelic voice and Leslie Jonkers' keyboards is used to its fullest effect. Despite some adornments that would sink less talented outfits (like the occasional use of a cello or clarinet and the periodic Victorian flourishes in Jonkers' playing), the intelligent scope of the lyrics and the expertly sculpted songcraft make this a major pleasure from start to finish".
(Paul Lukas, Trouser Press)

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Angry Martyr