MICK THOMAS – THE LAST OF THE TOURISTS

A Mick Thomas album release is a cause for joy amongst an all too small group of hardcore fans; be it Weddings, Parties, Anything, or The Sure Thing, or now Mick under his own steam. At Mick’s “stage of the game” – his words – he is showing no signs of a fourth quarter fade out. And while in years to come you will still enjoy many corners of The Last Tourist, I can tell you right now it’s main claim to fame in the decades to come will be as “the album that has Gallipoli Rosemary on it”. Mick has penned his share of classic songs, Fathers Day, Step In, Step Out, Away, Away…and now you can add to that list Gallipoli Rosemary. The simplest of tales of a herb bush plucked from the battle fields by the great grandfather of a friend of Thomas’ that now resides by Mick’s backdoor is the perfect tale of what connects the us to our past. “You grew from a cutting from a bush that grew from a cutting from a bush that grew from a cutting from a bush that drown in a living hell”. “Gallipoli Rosemary, how did it look to them / Walking down the old main road, such proud and broken men / They buried you in an old plain lot, out in the bed by a willow tree / The second best thing that came back / Gallipoli Rosemary”. Guthrie, Dylan, Seeger…Thomas. These are the great folk songwriters.

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