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I got pretty excited when I saw the album -- atmospheric photos from the North American Indian Collection but then the angry hippy started screeching at me.

There's lots of exotic percussion listed: 'agogo', 'berimbau'; 'udu pot'; 'surdos' and hand claps... sounds exciting, but really it's Steve Tallis and his guitar with a fiddle running along behind hill-billy style. Tallis doesn't sing, he grits his teeth and forces out the words, following the same rhythm for every line and more or less every song. The lyrics are dire: " You're my sickness/ You're my cure/ You're my addiction/ My hands are on fire."

Tallis is Australian, Macedonian by birth and we're told he grew up surrounded by the music from there and nearby Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey and this music with its trance-like rhythms and singing inspired him. Great stuff.

He started by listening to The Animals, Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, The Yardbirds, The Kinks on the radio and then searched back further to the roots of the music -- and then further still to "the source" -- Africa. Whatever that means, and there's very little evidence of that in his music. Perhaps you could hear hints of Howling Wolf or Tom Waits but I couldn't say for sure.

He's obviously a spiritual guy, he's been called the 'Australian griot' and the 'Blues Shaman' and that's seen in his lyrics. He's political too: the vitriolic tracks 'Coward Howard' and 'Stop the Racist Bus' tells us that he's using his music to make his feelings heard.

The first track 'The Blessing' is an exciting start -- fast hand clapping and a capella women's vocals - but then the relentless singing and fiddles begin...

Discography:
The Armstrong Sessions 1974
On The Floor 1979
Live in New York 1982
Live at The Stoned Crow 1988
First Girl On The Dance Floor Wins A Night Out With The Sax Player 1991
Zombi Party 1993
Monkey Skulls and Thunderstones 1997
The Paris Sessions 1998
ZOZO 1999