Man of Colours


Man of Colours is the fifth studio album by Australian rock band Icehouse, released locally on 21 September 1987 by Regular Records and Chrysalis Records.

Cover art

The cover artwork, designed by Iva Davies and Robert Kretschmer, depicts a human figure holding three different coloured flowers. An alternate Limited Black Sleeve release depicted the cover art on a reversed background from Regular Records in Australia but had the same track listing.

Release and reception

The album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian album charts for 11 weeks from 5 October 1987 and has sold over 700,000 copies. "Electric Blue" was their only Australian No. 1 single, the release of the album and its five singles marked the zenith of Icehouse's commercial success, both locally and internationally. Several other songs from the album also charted well.
It was the first Australian album to supply five top 30 hit singles "Crazy", "Electric Blue", "My Obsession", "Man of Colours" and "Nothing Too Serious". With US chart success for "Crazy", which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on its Mainstream Rock chart, and "Electric Blue", the album Man of Colours reached No. #43 on the Billboard 200.
The album won the ARIA Award for Album of the Year and ARIA Award for Highest Selling Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 1988; the associated song "Electric Blue" won 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work' at the Australasian Performing Right Association Music Awards for its writers Davies and Oates.

Reissues

Different versions of the album have been released, the initial Australian release by Regular Records was as a ten track vinyl LP or as a music cassette or as a twelve track CD with two additional mixes of "Crazy". The US / UK release by Chrysalis Records had a different track order from the Australian LP, and the track lengths for the two big singles are longer on this version of the album. The 1997 Japanese CD version released by For Life Records had two different tracks added. In 2002, Warner Music Australia re-released Man of Colours, with Davies and Ryan Scott digitally remastering, including five bonus tracks. In Australia, the album was also offered on three limited edition coloured vinyl pressings, which were the colours of the flowers that the human figure on the cover was holding.

Covers

Fellow Australian rock band Unitopia recorded the title track, "Man of Colours", on their own album Covered Mirror Vol. 1: Smooth as Silk, a collection of mainly classic progressive rock covers, in 2012.

Track listing

Songwriters according to Australasian Performing Right Association.

Personnel

Icehouse members
Additional musicians
  • Andy Cichon – bass guitar
  • Stuart Gordon – strings
  • David Lord – additional keyboards
  • Glenn Tommey – guitar, percussion
  • John Oates – backing vocals on "Electric Blue"
  • Shena Power – backing vocals
  • Tommy Dassolo – triangle
  • Karl Chandler – tuba
Recording details
Art work