Tall Dwarfs - Bovril (2018)

Officially sanctioned by the Tall Dwarf-men Alec Bathgate and Chris Knox this tape-only release gets together in one convenient place (if you have cassette player) rarities, oddities, live material, solo outings (more recent Knox with the Rackets on Gagarin, Bathgate on the unreleased Crushed Velvet) and more. It draws from such diverse sources as the Marc Bolan tribute album Great Jewish Music (Ride a White Swan), the Enemy live at the Windsor Castle (with the raw 1978) and Flying Nun compilations (Under the Influence, God Save the Clean, Abbasalutely) which have long been unavailable. There are also 10 International Tall Dwarfs tracks from recordings in the Helen Young Studio of Radio NZ with the likes of Scott Mannion, Stefan Neville, Sam Hamilton and Kingsley Melhuish. It is excellent (tip of the hat to recording engineer Andre Upston who has the best ears in the business) because the session was funny, casual but professional, and clever. And the Dwarfs songs were reinvented as more downbeat for "a general audience" to reveal their musical essence and craftsmanship. They became so much more musically approachable than many preconceptions of TDwarfs might allow. Closer to alt.folk than alt.rock. Get this, even though you might have to buy a cassette player or dust off the bottom-drawer Walkman.

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Tall Dwarfs - The Short and Sick of It (1992)

'The Short and Sick of It' combines the Tall Dwarfs' first full-length, 1985's 'That's the Short and Long of It,' and the 1986 'Throw a Sickie' EP for your listening pleasure. So, whoever requested the debut, this is your lucky day! That is, if you actually remember requesting it in the first place; it has been a few weeks. Why was it called 'That's the Short and Long of It,' you ask? Well, one side of the 12" LP featured 10 songs that played at 33rpm, and the other side featured 2 songs (one a surprisingly successful 6-minute, "Wall of Dwarfs" reworking of "Nothing's Going to Happen") that played at 45rpm. Short and long. Get it? Anyway, if you've ever heard a Tall Dwarfs release, you know what to expect. And check out Alec Bathgate's wonderful solo album, Gold Lamé, while you're here; it deserves more listeners.

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Tall Dawrfs - 3 EP's (1994)

A handy collection of 3 EP releases: A Question of Medical Ethics, Sam's Spaniel & Up The Down Stair Case.

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Tall Dwarfs - Stumpy (1996)

You too can be a Tall Dwarf!" declared the cover of "3 E.P.s", "Send us your rhythms!". Who wouldn't? Who could refuse such an opportunity? At least 16 people around the world couldn't and didn't. Alec Bathgate and Chris Knox used these 16 cassettes as basis for "Stumpy", sometimes developing the raw material into a "song", sometimes using it as the seed for something completely different. At the beginning i didn't know what to do of the idea. Is it an attempt to appeal to the fans? an easy way to overcome a "writers block"? Is it vain? is it humble? the answer came quickly after listening: when your music is as sincere as Bathgate's and Knox's you are neither- you just do what you do. When you put out such great music as the Tall Dwarfs you could be either as far as i care. And "Stumpy" comes as great as any Tall Dwarfs album. This is YOUR music. Go out and listen to it.

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Tall Dwarfs - Hello Cruel World (1987)

Leaving the bulk of their catalog to the Flying Nun label, Tall Dwarfs have found another friend in the Homstead imprint for releasing this excellent collection of tracks from a handful of the group's rare EP's. The New Zealand lo-fi innovators are certainly well-represented with these 22 varied and top-notch sides from the first half of the '80s. With plenty of deft guitar, organ, and handclapping work to go around, fans new to Hello Cruel World will soon understand why it gave the Dwarfs their widest audience after being released in the late '80s.

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