(Half A Cow)
released
Buy the new Smallgoods album from Half A Cow and get either 
Listen To The Radio
or 
This Is The Show
for only $10 each
The players, in order of appearance:
Shags - synthesisers, keyboards
Ben Mason - singing, guitars, bells
Gus Franklin - singing, drums, tambourines
Lachlan Franklin - singing, guitars, whistles
B.B - bass guitar, grand piano
additional players:
Ashley Naylor - improvisational guitar (This Is The Show/Reprise), best boy
Paul Thomas - guitar, recording engineer, stage manager
overview:
This Is The Show is a journey of styles ranging from psychedelic wig-out rock, to wall-of-sound
Spector pop, to synth-driven drone expeditions
tied together by the Smallgoods' trademark
sing-along 3 part harmonies. Book-ended by the
mini-album's title track, the Show plays like a
stage musical number, complete with
over-zealous man-choir and shonky local theatre
style piano.
the programme
Act 1. This Is The Show - Good evening! Please
find your seats, and sit back as Gus welcomes
you all to the show! Even's Ashley Naylor pops
in briefly then realises he's on the wrong stage.
Things get nasty and a guitar duel ensues
between he and Ben. And keeps ensuing...
Act 2. Round and Around - Ben takes us on the rock-roundabout as the Show gets underway.
Shags flexes his slacker-synth muscles and
Gus plays his type-cast role of the girl.
Act 3. Who's Never Seen The Sun? - B.B sets
the mood and is joined by Shags, whose synth
gets set to drone. Lachy asks the pressing questions of the audience.
Act 4. Spending the Morning - The Smallgoods
go to the beach. Spector is recalled, castanets
rattle and Lachy lends the melancholy melody
while Gus and Ben sing along.
Act 5. 8 Times - The quiet lovelorn ballad every theatre production requires in order to be a
Broadway hit. Gus pulls the heart-strings while
Ben plucks the guitar strings. Please find
complimentary tissues under your seats.
Finale. This City's Lights - All the Lights, smoke
machines and special effects come out for this finale. Ben takes us to rock city. The lights
come on and just before things get shimmery
the audience is eased into a spacious
smoke-filled wig-out.
The Reprise... Just when you think the show is over, the curtains open again, and we find the guitar duel still ensuing. Shags takes one
mighty walk down his keyboard and puts an end to the titanic struggle. The players take their
bows, graciously accept their flowers and
standing ovation, and disappear from the stage...
