THE VISITORS

The Visitors
Title: The Visitors  -  Company: Phantom (Aust)  -  Cat No: (ph 4)
Format: 12" EP  -  Released: 1980  -  Status: Deleted

 

All of the Visitors recordings emanated from one afternoon session at Palms Studio, a small 8-track that was mainly used for radio ads and jingles. Charles Fisher booked it for the Visitors to record demos. The band set up live and more or less played their current set.

 

Track Listing:

Side 1:
Brother John ( D Tek ) (4:26 m:s)
Life Spill ( D Tek ) (3:42 m:s)
Side 2:
Journey By Sledge ( D Tek / M Sisto ) (4:30 m:s)
Hell Yes ( D Tek ) (3:17 m:s)

 

The Musicians:

Mark Sisto - Vocals & Backing Vocals

Deniz Tek - Guitar
Ron Keeley - Drums

Pip Hoyle - Piano, Organ & Backing Vocals
Steve Harris - Bass

Angie Pepper - Backing Vocals

 

Technical Details:

Produced by Deniz Tek and Charles Fisher

Engineered by Alistair McFarlane

Recorded live at Palms Studio 1979

Mixed by Rob Younger

 

Of Interest:

The only overdubs were some vocal parts. The quality of the live performance that day was such that Phantom Records wanted to put out an EP of the best cuts. That is what appears here. This EP features guitar parts in Life Spill which were edited out of later releases, and is a completely different mix to the full-length albums that came later.

Soon after the Visitors session, Deniz produced the Lipstick Killers first single at the inexpensive Palms. Thereafter, it became thought of as rather "hip" to record there, and Palms was elevated from obscurity to being the site of many Sydney punk and New Wave recordings in the early '80s.

The Visitors
Title: The Visitors  -  Company: Citadel (Australia)  -  Cat No: (citlp 502)
Format: 12" lp  -  Released: 1983  -  Status: Deleted

 

Originally recorded under the auspices of Trafalgar Music, the tapes were left to sit for four years with no interest bar the Phantom EP release. The insistence of Citadel to make the material available convinced Trafalgar into agreeing to allow Citadel to finance the remixes.

 

Track Listing:

Side 1:
Living World ( D Tek ) (2:54 m:s)
Brother John ( D Tek ) (4:29 m:s)
Haunted Road ( D Tek ) (3:34 m:s)
Life Spill ( D Tek ) (3:44 m:s)
Journey By Sledge ( D Tek / M Sisto ) (4:34 m:s)
Side 2:
Sad TV ( D Tek ) (3:47 m:s)
Miss You Too Much ( D Tek ) (2:58 m:s)
Euro Girls ( M Sisto / P Hoyle ) (1:52 m:s)
Let's Have Some Fun ( D Tek ) (2:08 m:s)
Hell Yes ( D Tek ) (3:15 m:s)
Disperse ( M Sisto / P Boyce ) (4:32 m:s)

 

The Musicians:

Mark Sisto - Vocals & Backing Vocals

Deniz Tek - Guitar

Ron Keeley - Drums

Pip Hoyle - Piano, Organ & Backing Vocals

Steve Harris - Bass

Angie Pepper - Backing Vocals

 

Technical Details:

Produced by Deniz Tek and Charles Fisher  /  Engineered by Alistair McFarlane  /  Recorded live at Palms Studio 1979  /  Remixed at EMI 301 by Deniz Tek and Pip Hoyle  /  Except Disperse by Rob Younger  /  Remix engineered by Alan Thorne

 

Of Interest:

Deniz was available for the remixes that were done at EMI 301's hole in the wall eight track studio. He wasn't available to assist with the artwork though, and this then dragged on for ages. The resulting cover was directionless and ultimately one of Citadel's worst.

The Visitors
Title: Visitation '79  -  Company: Red Eye (Aust)  -  Cat No: (redcd39)
Format: cd album  -  Released: 1994  -  Status: Deleted

 

Except for the improved repackaging and the extra track, the details for the Red Eye CD release are essentially the same as for the original Citadel release.

 

Track Listing:

Living World ( D Tek ) (2:54 m:s)
Brother John ( D Tek ) (4:29 m:s)
Haunted Road ( D Tek ) (3:34 m:s)
Life Spill ( D Tek ) (3:44 m:s)
Journey By Sledge ( D Tek / M Sisto ) (4:34 m:s)
Sad TV ( D Tek ) (3:47 m:s)
Miss You Too Much ( D Tek ) (2:58 m:s)
Euro Girls ( M Sisto / P Hoyle ) (1:52 m:s)
Let's Have Some Fun ( D Tek ) (2:08 m:s)
Hell Yes ( D Tek ) (3:15 m:s)
Disperse ( M Sisto / P Boyce ) (4:32 m:s)
Skimp The Pimp ( D Tek / C Jones ) (5:18 m:s)

 

The Musicians:

Mark Sisto - Vocals & Backing Vocals

Deniz Tek - Guitar

Ron Keeley - Drums

Pip Hoyle - Piano, Organ & Backing Vocals

Steve Harris - Bass

Angie Pepper - Backing Vocals

 

Technical Details:

Produced by Deniz Tek and Charles Fisher  /  Engineered by Alistair McFarlane  /  Recorded live at Palms Studio 1979  /  Remixed at EMI 301 by Deniz Tek and Pip Hoyle  /  Except Disperse by Rob Younger  /  Remix engineered by Alan Thorne

 

Of Interest:

The extra track, Skimp The Pimp, was an old TV Jones original and a staple of the Jones live set. It was done here tongue in cheek with ad-libbed humour from Sisto during the impromptu jam.
The inside photo, which depicts the band sitting around a table, was shot at a "press conference" at the Hyatt Hotel in Kings Cross, which the band hubristically announced the evening before their debut gig. Not one journalist showed up. Not deterred, the band cheerfully drank the refreshments anyway.

The Visitors

Title: The Visitors - Company : Citadel ( Australia )

Cat No: Citcd561 - Format: CD album - Released: 2008 - Status: in print - order HERE

 

Reissue of original Citadel album plus the extra track. Same as Visitation'79 but with all different and much better packaging featuring artwork by Sisto and Deniz on front and back cover and a 12 page booklet with extensive liner notes and lots of photos.  

 

Track Listing, musicians, technical details and of interest : same as above.

 

 

For further information, Radio Birdman biographer Vivien Johnson wrote the only definitive article on the band to ever appear: