Flesh and Wood


Flesh and Wood is the seventh album by Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes, which was issued in December 1993. It was recorded by Barnes and Don Gehman co-producing and used only acoustic instruments. On eight of its fifteen tracks, Barnes duets with various artists: Diesel, Archie Roach, Joe Cocker, Ross Wilson, Tommy Emmanuel, Don Walker, Deborah Conway, and the Badloves. It reached No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

Background

In 1993 Jimmy Barnes gathered a few colleagues including his guitar player Canadian Jeff Neill and Australian Country Music musician Lawrie Minson and performed an acoustic show in the studios of Channel 7 in Sydney to support the release of his Flesh and Wood album. The show featured a number of new songs along with a selection of Barnes' tracks. It was released on VHS in 1994 and on DVD in 2005.
Barnes later commented on Gehman's recording methods, "He wouldn't use any real drumkits. Every day we would put together various bits and pieces from the kitchen and hit them in front of microphones. Pots, pans, you name it, we hit it. Cardboard boxes instead of bass drums, jars filled with rice and used as shakers."

Reviews

Jonathan Lewis from AllMusic rated it as four-out-of-five stars and explained, "Flesh and Wood was Barnes' attempt at an unplugged album, and featured duets with other Australian rock luminaries. While it contains some of Barnes' own material and some covers, few songs here manage to match the originals; fewer still eclipse them. A competent album that shows a more sophisticated side to Barnes that was hinted at with Soul Deep."

Track listing

  1. "It Will Be Alright"
  2. "The Weight"
  3. "Ride the Night Away"
  4. "Guilty"
  5. "You Can't Make Love Without a Soul"
  6. "Hell of a Time"
  7. "Brother of Mine"
  8. "Fade to Black"
  9. "Flame Trees"
  10. "Still Got a Long Way to Go"
  11. "Still on Your Side"
  12. "Stone Cold"
  13. "Let It Go"
  14. "We Could Be Gone"
  15. "Love Me Tender"

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position

Year-end charts

Chart Position
ARIA Albums Chart34
Australian Artist Albums Chart6

Chart Position
ARIA Albums Chart21
Australian Artist Albums Chart3

Personnel

2015 Tour

During Barnes' 30:30 Hindsight tour in 2014, Barnes performed a number of songs from Flesh and Wood, inspiring a 2015 national tour of its own. "The band and I are looking forward to playing all these great songs again, with a bit of storytelling and strings thrown in, when we take the show around the country in July", said Barnes.
DateLocationVenue
Friday, 3 July 2015BrisbaneConcert Hall, QPAC
Saturday, 4 July 2015ToowoombaEmpire Theatre
Friday, 10 July 2015PerthCrown Theatre
Saturday, 11 July 2015AdelaideAdelaide Entertainment Centre
Friday, 17 July 2015SydneyState Theatre
Saturday, 18 July 2015MelbournePalais Theatre
Friday, 24 July 2015Gold CoastJupiters Hotel and Casino

Set list

This is the set list from Brisbane, on 3 July 2015:
  1. "Is My Living in Vain"
  2. "Wade in the Water"
  3. "Stupid Heart"
  4. "Fade to Black"
  5. "Guilty"
  6. "Hell of a Time"
  7. "You Can’t Make Love Without a Soul"
  8. "Better off Alone"
  9. "Stone Cold"
  10. "My Baby just Cares for Me"
  11. "Around the World"
  12. "Ride the Night Away"
  13. "Flame Trees"
  14. "It Will Be Alright"
  15. "Brother of Mine"
  16. "Still Got a Long Way to Go"
  17. "Over the Rainbow"
  18. "Missing a Girl"
  19. "Let It Go"
  20. "By the Grace of God"
  21. "Largs Pier Hotel"
  22. "The Weight"
  23. "We Could Be Gone"
  24. "Working Class Man"
  25. "Blue Hotel"
  26. "Four Walls"
  27. "Catch Your Shadow"
  28. "Still on Your Side"
  29. "I Put a Spell on You"
  30. "When the War Is Over"
  31. "Resurrection Shuffle"
  32. "Khe Sanh"
  33. "Love Me Tender"