Cold Chisel carve out another No.1 album
‘If someone told me back in 1974 that we’d be having a number one album in 50 years, I would never have believed it,’ said guitarist and singer Ian Moss on Friday.
A mere 43 years after its first chart-topper, Cold Chisel on Friday notched another ARIA No.1 album with its compilation 50 Years – The Best Of, a 25-track set issued ahead of a sold-out national tour.
“If someone told me back in 1974 that we’d be having a number one album in 50 years, I would never have believed it,” said guitarist and singer Ian Moss, 69.
“It’s been an incredible journey and we’re all looking forward to playing together again on the Big Five-0 tour.”
Led by a new single titled You’ve Got to Move, 50 Years sold about 4500 copies on vinyl in its first week – a figure that all but guarantees an album will reach pole position due to ARIA’s additional weighting calculation placed upon physical sales over streamed songs.
Its 1981 live album Swingshift marked the Adelaide-born rock band’s first No.1; at the time, the national charts were calculated under the Kent Music Report, before the weekly sales chart began to be compiled by the Australian Recording Industry Association in mid 1988.
50 Years is the band’s third No.1 album in the ARIA era, following The Last Wave of Summer (1998) and Blood Moon (2019). As well as Swingshift in 1981, the group also topped the charts with Circus Animals (1982) and Twentieth Century (1984).
All up, it has achieved six No.1 Australian albums during its long life, which has included several reunions since initially disbanding in 1983 after four studio LPs.
The newest chart success portends more to come: with about 200,000 tickets sold across the country, its run of 23 shows – The Big Five-0, to begin in Armidale on October 5 – will likely be the best-attended concert tour of the year by an Australian act.
Its preparation has not been without speed bumps, as frontman Jimmy Barnes was recently forced to postpone seven solo shows after being struck by severe hip pain while touring in New Zealand.
After undergoing surgery in early August, he is on the mend with a physiotherapy regimen. As of this week he’s off crutches, and the band is on track to soon begin rehearsals ahead of the national tour, which is set to conclude in Sydney on December 4.
“I’m so grateful to all the doctors, nurses and physiotherapists who have helped me get back on my feet after some recent hip surgery,” said Barnes, 68, on Friday.
“I can’t wait to be on stage again with Cold Chisel and play these songs for everyone who has followed us for all these years, plus some people who might be seeing us for the very first time.”
After an eight-month drought of Australian artists topping the ARIA album chart that stretched back to October last year, the past month has now had four local acts hit No.1. New releases by Lime Cordiale, Tones and I and Amy Shark all recorded strong first-week physical product sales in August, thereby knocking perennial stream-heavy overseas artists such as Taylor Swift, Eminem and Billie Eilish from the top spot.
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